News from our Members
Fred W8FR up in Blue Mountain, MS
VHF/UHF:
Most recent accomplishment was to set a new record for the June QSO Party
(VHF/UHF) for
Mississippi
section, placed #1 with 58,065 points. I
use a 3-element 6-meter lt. wt. (2lb) Yagi by MFJ, Cushcraft 10 element Yagi on
2 meters, and an 11 element Cushcraft for 432.1 MHz.
All three aerials mounted on masting at 12, 13, and 15 feet!
I live on Bald Knob at ~600 ASL with 360 deg. look w/o obstacles…
HF:
I use a pair of 2-element collinear arrays on each band, 15-40 meters and
several Classic end-fed Zepp’s (all Hang N’ Play by MFJ for whom I designed
them; 62xx, 61xx, and 64xx series of MFJ antennas). On 80 meters, I use an
End-fed Hertz, hung as an Inverted “L” (30V X 90H feet)…
MW:
On 160 meters, I use an End-fed Hertz, hung as an Inverted “L” (30V X
230H feet)…
LW:
Trying to get 160-190 and 500 KHz licenses; researching possibilities…
Comments:
I enjoy rag-chews and some public service nets as well as chasing DX,
especially on 160, 80, and above all on 40 meters.
SSB mode is my first choice, as my fingers don’t talk well because of
arthritis any more… A keyboard is
helping there slow but surely… I
especially like VHF/UHF, with plans for 222.1 and 1296 in the future…
I celebrate 50 years operating (1st 25 on 160 exclusively) in
March 2007… MS is the best place I
ever operated from (even better than DX locations in KL7, VE8, KH6, DL4, and MM
1, 2, and 3 afloat)…
Ed and BJ Byrd KA5VFU & KB5CSQ of
Gulfport MS and a post Katrina report.
MDXA,
We are coming back after Katrina with our radio station. We are
rebuilding our station one more time.
We lost our DX station back in 1998 when Hurricane George came
in and took our antennas down. We had just put them up a couple of months
before. We left our equipment in place inside the shack and did not have the
money nor the time to put the station back up. We could not tell our friends
that we did not have the money to do so and we just did without radio
equipment and went on with our lives.
Then in 2005 my brother David Byrd WD5FBE called and wanted to
know why we had not put our station back up. I told him we had lost
interest and just could not get back into it. He got in his car and came down
and started looking at the station and said he thought he could have us
back on in a couple of days. So we started one Friday night and found that we
had big trouble. All the radios and power supplies were damaged by lighting.
BJ got all the boxes down and we shipped the radios back to ICOM while we
started on the other equipment.
My son Stephen N5WGE came over and climbed the tower and had to
cut the mast pole out and took all the old antennas down to start over.
We pulled the Rotor out and rebuilt it
first, put the new mast pole in and rebuilt the stacked 11 element two meter
antennas. We placed a two meter antenna up for the MDXA repeater on the very
top. Then installed the stacked 11's.
We had a TH-36 HF antenna that been laying in the back yard for
5 years so we rebuilt it. We installed the HF antenna in Feb. 2005.
My brother and I were working on the power supplies and waiting
on the radios to come back and David told me he need to go home for a few
days, he had been down for two weeks at this point.
While he was gone I received a call that all of the radios we
sent back to ICOM were DOA.
It would be better for us to start over for the amount of money
it would take to repair them.
We decided to make a trip up to the Jackson hamfest to see
what we could find. We purchased new cable for the tower top to bottom.
Replaced all cable in the shack. Purchased a new repeater for the MDXA to go
back on the air but could not find an HF radio we wanted, but it was nice
to see all of our ham friends again.
I was looking in a book we picked up at the hamfest
and saw the ICOM 756 PRO II and asked BJ if she would like it for her
Valentines present and she jumped up and said "If it comes in PINK".
So you know what she received for Valentines Day.
We operated from April to August when Katrina came into town
and took out the station again. We had not purchased the ARRL insurance and
our homeowners insurance did not cover our loss so we were back to square one
again.
So once again we started all over and to make a long story
short we are up and running again. It nice to have the friends in MDXA to pull
you along. Thanks for Cliff N5WI who came over when I was at work and built
all the rebar for the new tower base. My Brother did not get to see the
station as he passed away unexpectedly in Dec. 2005.
We can't wait for all to come over in Oct. for the CQWW SSB
contest/Fall cookout and have fun & fellowship. (Ed. A great time was
had by all who attended. Ed and BJ have a beautiful station. Check
out the pictures on the web site!)
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