Speaker


October 28, 2014: Ray Day N6HE: Rancho Palos Verdes ARC activates Catalina Island IOTA NA-066


In February of 2014, 11 members of the Palos Verdes Amateur Radio Club again ventured over to Santa Catalina Island and made 1,840 QSO’s: CW: 75, SSB: 1,330, RTTY: 410, PSK-31: 11, Satellite: 14. They worked all 50 states, 45 DX entities, and 19 CQ Zones, operating on 160, 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12, 10, and VHF/UHF — they had a blast at “Ham Camp.” The slide show illustrates planning, boat travel, antenna and station set-up (5 stations), on-the-air operation, food arrangements, contact stats, and antenna and station take-down. Many funny, odd, and humorous things happened!

Here is Ray’s biographical description in his own words: I started as WN4LFP at age 19 in Maimi Springs, FL on 12/7/62 with a Globe Chief and a National NC-188. WA4LFP in 1963 in FL and Atlanta, GA (Georgia Tech). WA2TEI in NY in 1969. W B 6 Jelly Filled Doughnut (9/26/75) in CA, then N6HE (8/12/77). Rig is the fabulous TenTec Omni VII on CW, SSB, PSK-31, and RTTY.

Antennas: 80M: Hy-Power shortened dipole; 40/20/10M: Hy-Power OCF40 Off-Center-Fed Dipole; 15M: fan dipole shared with the 80M shorty. All are disgustingly low (about 25' up) but work as expected. Just set up a reconditioned SB-220 and wired 220VAC into the shack. QRO operation finally — life is good!

I love entering “RadioSport” events, especially on RTTY. I love CW contesting, too, but I can copy faster than my two poor little fingers can type, so it’s more work; thus I mostly Search and Pounce. Ditto SSB contests, even more so. I enter for the fun of it rather than trying to come out on top (or, truth be told, even near the top!) — although I routinely hunt for my missing band/mode states and DXCC countries. Low wire antennas, some CC&R’s, and a huge close-in hill to my NE limit my competitive abilities. But.... hey, it’s all a blast, yes?

XYL is Donna, W6DLD (since 2003 as a General Licensee), ex-N6HTH (1982-2003) and ex-KA6AKL (1978-1982). We’ve been married for 46 years as of June, 2014.

Graduated from Georgia Tech in 1966 as an RF-oriented Electrical Engineer. Member of TKE fraternity. Have worked for Pan Am (1962 - 1974) and Continental Airlines (1974 - 1982), and have been a financial planner since 1982.

I’m also an ARRL Official Observer and an ARRL Volunteer Examiner.

Other hobbies: Photography, scuba diving, and international travel (preferably, all at once!)