Well,

Unforunately one railfan received confusing instructions from a Police Officer regarding the parking situtation for Homewood Days.  The village allowed parking in their lots in order to attend the event.  However, this railfan misattributed the instructions to mean the parking lot across the street adjacent to the tracks.

Do not park in this lot.  It requires a monthly permit.  The parking lot is privately owned.  Your car will be towed in a SHORT DURATION.  I guarantee it.  It is $125 to restore your car to you.

Additionally, do not cross the tracks at all.  Use the underground passageway, which is maintained by the village.  You can stand on the Amtrak Platform or the Metra Platform.  Metra is now free to enter without tickets.  You must present your ticket to the conductor on the train.

Many of the freights will park by the former Hines Lumber south of the Village station. The signals are always lit.  Freights will also pull up and park north of the station.

Several trains run through to Glenn Yard.  Most will enter the yard.  The Intermodal trains will head through the yard to reach MIT.

You can drive the perimeter of the Woodcrest Shops, but do not enter their property.  The NOC is across the street from the shops next to the old Thornton Quarry lead(pulled).

Calumet and Harvey are good stations to stand and get a peak of the Intermodal facilities.

The switcher in the industrial facilties east of the yard in Glenwood and Harvey are difficult to photograph.  Do not trepass.

Good shots of southbounds can be had in the afternoon by Homewood Tower.

Remember do not Trepass.  This is the sign that the railroad recently posted.

Also the sign now referrs to CN.  The Illinois Central Railroad is starting to disappear.

N1EY

We always like to hang out at Hinsdale on the CB&Q Race Track.

Lots of METRA trains run by the station.  Plus the BNSF freights run by.  This includes several manifests, intermodals, and the UPS intermodal train.

The two Amtrak trains run through this line as well.

N1EY

We have returned from Homewood Days. Many thanks to Dave Lisabeth, Kirk Reynolds, and Paul Burgess for their wondeful slide presentations. The GMO presentation was awesome and showed a lot of love for the GMO.

We got to see 6071 outside, but it wasn’t parked in the perfect spot for taking photography. CN moved it out onto the switching lead and placed two protective details to guard the unit and an executive car.

We also got to ride little Obie. She is now in CN paint. She was repainted from the former IC livery. Nothing will escape CN paint.

N1EY

I just came back from Chicago.

I rode this trail. It is the Old Plank Trail. It was originally the NYC line to Joliet. It doesn’t reach Joliet, yet. It was a fun ride. I was able to maintain a good pace on the line, but I did have to power up and down for numerous grade crossings. In the old days the railroads got to move non stop through the crossings for an effortless ride.

I suggest anyone in the area of Homewood, Flossmoor, Matteson, etc. to visit the trail for a ride. It has several ecological zones as well. The railroad heritage is not predominantely displayed in most places, however.

The trail is 21 miles long.  I was able to easily complete the trail roundtrip in about fifty miles and start from Homewood, IL.
N1EY

Check out the doings of the K1USN club at http://www.qrz.com/k1usn/

n1ey

Well, I will not be attending Hamvention this year. I have been invited to give a talk and slide show on my recent travels around the United States for the upcoming Homewood Days in Homewood, IL. I will be part of a speaker series from 7 PM to 10 PM on May 20th, 2006. The event will be held on the village’s joint park district Auditorium. I encourage everyone to attend and light refreshments shall be served.

N1EY

Nothing much has occurred here at N1EY.  The rain is holding back yard work and antennae installations.  I haven’t done much railfanning.  I only got out for 75 miles last week on the bike.  I was hoping to build some serious mileage.  No construction has started on the tower base at the clubhouse, yet.  When will the rain stop?  Q begged and begged for no rain on Hosstraders.  Now the master of Lightning has declared rain for all of May.

I caught a bunch of new railfans.  They look like they belong to the junior class.  These were taken after the schools in Randolph would have let out for the day.

They were very excited to see the train swoosh past them at sixty miles per an hour on its way to a stop at the Holbrook/Randolph station.  The hobby shall never die.

N1EY

I’ve included a few pictures of the cut under construction on May 6th, 2006 in Weymouth. This would allow the future Greenbush train to avoid a grade crossing through the landing.

Click here to visit the album.

N1EY

I’ve posted a few pictures from the latest Sangerchor dance. The German American Lady of New England was also in attendance. There are several pictures of Ms. Catherine Reinbold. There are even several pictures of myself.

The choir chose to focus on several pieces relating to the springtime in Heidelberg.
Click here to view the album.

N1EY

I have taken a few pictures of the Military collection. Mr. James Fahey is a devoted curator and has worked hard to build a collection for the historical society.

The collection has an ecelectic mix of weaponery, defensive clothing, uniforms, correspondence, and literature from various miltary services throughout the world including the United States Armed Forces. Many of the pieces were excuavated by Mr. Fahey.

N1EY

My birthday was the other day.  The new breakfast place doesn’t give a discount for one’s birthday.  I was really hoping.  We know how hams really are.

Pictures of some construction work along the cut in Weymouth landing for the commuter rail will be forthcoming in the photo section.

I’ve also taken some pictures of the activities at the last dance at the BSV.

I was not successful in the NE QSO party.  My vertical(GAP Titan) is acting up.   I’m thinking of just taking it down to convert it to a 1/4 20 meter vertical dipole.

N1EY

Few things are planned at N1EY this week. I am going to a seminar at Bridgewater State College on Friday. I don’t know if I am going to Hosstraders. I don’t want to drive up on Saturday and miss all the deals while I stand in the rain.

The bands have been sort of tough this week.

I have been trying to determine how to finalize the design of my loop. I have only placed one support for loop. Why? The rain and time have become limiting factors. However, I have also become stuck in making up my mind in the direction to proceed.

My design goals for the loop were originally the following

• to provide 80 meter and 40 meter coverage
• to provide High Signal to Noise Ratio
• to provide long range communications of at least 1,000 miles

I’ve been debating on how to proceed. I figure that the 1,000 miles could be covered by a horizontal loop. I’ve worked 2,000 miles on 75 meters with 10 watts towards a vertical. I knew this could feasible in real life.

Yet, I am wondering this could be a much better as a vertical loop. The question of feedpoints arises. I have purchased a SGC coupler to handle possibily high voltage and current. If I locate a balanced feedline to the side of a vertical loop, then the couple would be connected to the highest current and potentially best signal for 80 meters.

However, I think that if I put the connection on the bottom of the loop, then the antenna would work better on the other bands.

The coupler would automagically make the antenna work on all of the bands. The loop could really work as a nonresonant antenna on many bands and some of them would fall near multiples of 80 meters. I’ve been reviewing Cebik’s website, and his NEC modeling is also very interesting.  He also discusses corner feeding, which is yet another new thought.

Now do you see why I can’t figure out how to go on the loop?

Anwyays, I’m hoping to get on my bicycle a little bit this week, but the rain has issued its refusal. It has been stalwart opponent.

I just joined the Bolyston Schul Verein. This is a social club for Germans and German-Americans. It is located in Walpole. Sommerfest is fast approaching.

No one has attacked the mailbox, yet. Are you all wimps, now?

N1EY