IT'S FUNNY HOW THINGS WORK OUT SOMETIMES

[unit_399]

It's funny how things work out sometimes. I ran across a friend who knew of a ham operator who was moving and selling his antenna setup. I ended up buying an 18 meter tower, rotor, coax, Hy Gain antenna, et al. The ham intro'd me to a guy who owns/operates a company that builds and services communication towers. I hired the guy, Daniel, to erect the tower on our farm. When we met, and he saw my shop, he told me that he's a CBer too, and his home base station is a Cobra 148GTL. Turns out that there are lot of CBers here and they use 27.445. I never talk much on the uppers, so I had no idea. As we worked together these past 2 weeks, we talked a lot and have become very good friends. He's a licensed amatuer, and introduced me to another friend, Roberto, who's a VE. Roberto arranged for me to take the amatuer exam this past weekend, which I passed, and when the paperwork is finished I'll get my license.

We ran into a few hiccups when putting up the tower which slowed things down a bit. The local guy who welded up the tower guy wire anchors for us did a half-assed job, and a weld broke. We almost lost the tower, but the concrete base and the tower were both strong and it didn't come down. Then last Wednesday was Colombian Independence Day ( and my Birthday ) so we just shut down until this coming Monday. We're going to replace the guy wire anchors because we just don't trust the welds on the ones we have now. Daniel was freaked out, but I told him to relax and just be happy that he wasn't on top of the tower when the weld broke.
So my antenna is taking more time then we planned. But, I've made several good friends, got my amatuer license, and the whole country celebrated my birthday last Wednesday. .

- 399

 

[Holydvr]

Great to see!! Congratulations on the passing of the test! I missed it by two questions twice in a row on two different tests. I did not study one bit prior. I was happy at the time to get that close in that situation to be honest!

 

[Crawdad]

You just never know what's around the next corner, eh?

Congratulations on getting your ticket and good luck with your tower. We get a lot of SA traffic here when the higher HF bands open up. Hope to work your new station!

And oh yeah, Happy Birthday!

7 3

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

Happy birthday and congratulations on your ticket! I keep trying to study, but I can't even keep the grass mowed. Maybe I should just go and take the test.

That's a fantastic looking tower, be sure to let us know when you get on the air, I will try to point my beam at you.

73
Chris
Delaware Base Station #808

 

[W4KVW]

We get South America most every day here in North Florida so it's very possible we could work there with little effort. Congratulations on the tower.

 

[Enterprise312ok]

Next time I hear Columbia come in I will give it a try on 27.445, Rx only

 

[AudioShockwav]

Congrats Jim!
Look forward to talking to you.

73
Jeff

 

[Crawdad]

We get a lot of SA traffic here when the higher HF bands open up. Hope to work your new station!

As a matter of fact I worked two Colombian stations on 10m this evening! Hope we can connect once you're up and running 399.

7 3

 

[unit_399]

Jeff -
Ditto.
I 'm looking forward to talking with as many of our forum members as I can. I've been off-the-air for almost 10 years, and I'm so ready to hit it again. I've bought every thing I needed for my station, and when the antenna system came up for sale, it sealed the deal. If no more hiccups, I'll be on the air next week. Crossing my fingers.

- 399

 

[guitar_199]

Congratulations all the way around 399! It's good that you can get back on the air!!!!

And a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

 

[Enterprise312ok]

My radio is full of people here stateside calling Unit 399 columbia

 

[unit_399]

My radio is full of people here stateside calling Unit 399 columbia

WOW! When we got everthing on the antenna finished, we hooked up my 139xlr to see how the receive sounded. We could hear a lot of stations on 27.385, but there was so much static that it covered them up. I turned off the LED lights in my shop. The static disappeared and we could hear stations loud and clear. I called CQ-DX, and 250 ROADRUNNER, Central Tennessee came back. We talked for several minutes and signed off. I could hear other stations calling me, but we shut down because we needed to finish things up before it got dark. It was amazing that we could dx the US on just a my barefoot 5 watt radio. Antenna is AMAZING!!
Over the next few days, I'll get my station completely put together , and I'll FINALLY be back on- the-air.

- 399

 

[Enterprise312ok]

I could hear roadrunner on top of the pile and it sounded like the whole southeast us was calling. I look forward to a good qso when conditions are in my favor

 

[snippits75]

@unit_399

I heard you this past Monday evening here in NC. You were talking to 850 in Pensacola, Florida. You were S7 on my receiver.

I heard you say you were on a four element, and on a barefoot Cobra radio. Tried to call you, but I never heard you again that evening.

 

[loosecannon]

congrats Jim!

i'll be listening for you and maybe this time we will both be able to hear each other LOL.

What freqs are you hanging out on these days?
LC