Hi again Pat,

After doing a little thinking and talking to my X Y L, we decided we know 
who you are.  We met you and your wife, Ann, four or five years ago at an 
ICB convention in Peoria.  You and your wife showed us the Humanware 
Trekker, which we eventually purchased.

Fortunately I can have a tower and antennas here in Springfield.  I have all 
the antennas assembled, taking up the back yard.  I am just trying to figure 
out how to get them on the tower.  My tower is a crank-up, tilt-over type, 
so at least I won't have to climb.  It's just that the beams are so large 
that they're hard to handle.

 73's

Howard T.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pat Byrne" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, August 12, 2011 7:05 PM
Subject: Re: Reflecting back!


> Hey Howard,
> Welcome to the list.  I am Pat, K9JAU and I live in Glen Ellyn
> Illinois, twenty miles directly west of Chicago.  Got my general in
> the summer of 1957 just after I graduated from high school.  My first
> receiver was a Heath AR3.  A high school friend wired it for me and
> of course it didn't work!!!  We bhoth had lots of guts and very
> little experience.  Sent it back to Benton Harbor along with the $5
> service charge and they sent back a working receiver.  And a note
> that said that received condition was poor!!!  Something about many
> cold soldered joints!!
> It probably took me nearly twenty-five years to get my Extra and
> would have taken longer but my wife, WmM9L went from no call to
> Advanced in a year and a half and I was damned if she was going to
> beat me to Extra!!  I won but not by very much!!
> I have had beams and towers at several homes, however we moved here
> about three years ago and I decided that installling a tower was
> pretty priccy, was complicated by the village building department and
> all of their requirements and it seems to be a bit tough to get
> Saturday afternoon help any more.  I am one of the younger guys in
> our local ham club at seventy and lots of us have reservations about
> climbing things more complicated and less safe than stairs!!  So now
> I have a G5RV and a Carolina Windom up in a couple of pretty high
> trees and they work pretty well.  I might eventually miss the gain
> and selectivity of a beam, but life goes on!!
> When you get up and running we should be easily able to work on forty 
> meters.
> Thanks for reading.
> Pat Byrne, K9JAU At 09:32 PM 8/4/2011, you wrote:
>>Hi all,
>>
>>I am new to this list since Monday Aug 1.
>>
>>I have been listening to all the comments and find them all interesting.
>>
>>I thought I would give you all a little history about me.
>>
>>I have been visually impaired all my life, however I had pretty good =
>>vision, I thought, even though I was legally blind.  I read large print =
>>and did not use braille.
>>
>>I am now 58 years old and I lost almost all of the vision I had about 13 =
>>years ago.
>>
>>I was employed at one of our local hospitals for about 20 years =
>>repairing medical electronics until my loss of vision forced me to quit.
>>
>>I received my novice license in eighth grade in 1968, my general about =
>>nine months later, my advanced as a junior in high school and my extra =
>>last year.
>>
>>While I was in college studying electronics I received my second class =
>>radio telephone license.
>>
>>My first station was a Knight Kit T-60 CW transmitter that was rock =
>>bound.  The receiver was a Drake 2A.  A couple of years later I picked =
>>up a Hallicrafters HT-37 transmitter.
>>
>>In the middle 70's, I worked at Heath Company in Benton Harbor, MI in =
>>the service department, and picked up their first 2 meter synthesized =
>>rig, the HW-2036 I believe. =20
>>In the early 80's I picked up a pair of Drake twins the T4XB and R4B.  I =
>>still have all of this equipment except the Heath 2 meter radio.
>>
>>By the early 90's my beam antennas had pretty much deteriated and I was =
>>off the air, except for 2 meters.  Also at that time my children were =
>>born and there didn't seem to be enough time for ham radio and to get =
>>the antennas replaced.
>>
>>Now my sons are in college and I am working on getting back on the air.  =
>>I just purchased an 11 element beam that covers  20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 =
>>meters, a 2 element beam for 40 meters and a 5 element beam for 6 =
>>meters.
>>The antennas will be at 70, 80 and 90 feet. All three antennas came from =
>>Opti-Beam in Germany.
>>
>>I will be using a Kenwood TS-570 rig.
>>
>>The antennas are all assembled, I just need to get them on the tower, =
>>hopefully in the next few weeks.
>>
>>I can't wait to get back on the air.
>>
>>I consider myself to be  one of the old timers, and I have been =
>>listening to all the comments about how ham radio has changed, however, =
>>I realize we need to change with the technology or our hobby will die.  =
>>There is enough out there for all interests.  I am fortunate to live in =
>>a house and to have room for a tower and the antennas, however, I =
>>realize that many of you live in apartments or places where there are =
>>restrictions on antennas and some of the new ways to communicate is the =
>>only choice you have.
>>
>>I don't know much about all the new digital modes and how the internet =
>>can be used in conjunction with them, so I hope I will be able to learn =
>>from many of you.
>>
>>I will be looking for help from many of you as to how my computer may =
>>aid me as a blind ham in today's ham radio.
>>
>>I am sorry for the long winded message, isn't this the way it is =
>>supposed to be with us hams?
>>
>>73's,
>>
>>Howard, W A 9 Y B W, Springfield, Illinois