N1EY: I am N1EY. This is the webpage about the adventures through time and space of Bill O’Hara, N1EY. My email is n1ey@n1ey.com

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Mon
19
Feb '07

Shep

Part of webmaster's adventure in Site News

Shep says “You get another name…you get a callsign.”Ê I’ve been listening to hours and hours of Shep as recorded by my friend.Ê Shep was a master storyteller.Ê If we have an eyeball then I will tell you how he is called in Gaelic.


N1EY

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Sat
10
Feb '07

Wooden Towers

Part of webmaster's adventure in Site News

My good friend K1LWI has been a ham for many years. K1LWI lived in Quincy in a house with a lot of heritage and stories from previously families. He was infected with the CW bug early in childhood. He had a great set of parents. K1LWI’s father worked at the Quincy shipyard. When K1LWI asked if he could build a tower system from the 1952 ARRL Handbook, then K1LWI’s father sought engineering assistance from a co-worker in the shipyard’s engineering department.



K1LWI made several modifications over the years. The tower was a tilt-up. The Tilt occured right at the base of the tower. He used a block and tackle by the house to support the tower during its descent onto a-frame. Now, perhaps you do not know this, but K1LWI’s tower was made of wood. It was unguyed except for the modification in the later years to support a taller mast. The tower was a bit over sixty feet. Remember ROHN 25G requires at least two guying points for the equivalent height.


After some discussions with people about cubical quads I became interested in the design so I asked K1LWI about cubical quads. He told me that he used them for two years on top of his wooden tower. I was absolutely amazed.


I soon learnt that other people had wooden towers in the areas south of Boston. One fellow had a huge tower with a decent size work platform eighty feet in the air for his VHF/UHF antennae; I do not think that the ham really did any HF work in his latter years. He only did intensive work on the upper bands.


K1WCC sent me an email with a little information about W1TJW. W1TJW also had a wooden tower of at least eighty feet in height down in Falmouth. He did not have guys either.



One of the hams that has given me a lot of help since I passed my examinations several years ago is K1RV. He told me about his wooden tower! I am quite amazed. K1RV and his father purchased a wooden tower made by W1BBP. W1BBP was moving to Florida and needed to remove the tower from his old house. K1RV used a boat trailer to push the tower with ten fellows from the Capeway Radio Club across the streets of Weymouth without any car or truck. This reminded me of the time that I carried an extension ladder and a 20 feet-plus CB groundplane across the streets of Abington sans automobile in the pursuit of aluminum.


K1RV even told me that K1DFJ(his elmer) climbed the tower to repair the rotator up on the tower once. I have heard many stories about K1DFJ and he had not bounds, which I find remarkable for his handicap. Unfortunately, K1DFJ was blind. K1RV told me that his mother was in shock when she found K1DFJ up on the tower busy as he worked diligently on the rotator.
Ham radio is often about people working together to build things. It like a Mutual Admiration Society.



N1EY

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Sun
4
Feb '07

Things going on.

Part of webmaster's adventure in Site News

Well, we did not have many exciting things going on this past month. I went to the train show in Springfield. I hopefully will add some of my pictures from the show to the archives. I made a few purchases from various vendors including a Pentrex tape with 8 hours of California railroad action. I was saddened to hear about the demise of the fellow from SolderSmoke.



We are still working on the K1USN club tower, but we have tired of the cold weather and little is being done at the moment. My friend, K1LWI, and I talk about railroading all the time on the Quincy(146.67) machine. K1LWI sent me a picture of the train that he rode once. It is still around, today. However, the route has changed and the equipment has changed. K1LWI has ridden most of the AMTRAK routes and pre-AMTRAK routes. I have only ridden a few AMTRAK routes such as the Lake Shore Limited, which I have ridden frequently. To me there is something about the words, “All Aboard!”


I do remember a time when the LSL was pulling into Back Bay station. Back Bay is an almagation of its former self. At one time there were several stations with a couple from the New York Central and the New Haven. Through service to many exciting locations were available in addition to suburban trains. As the LSL pulled into Back Bay, the conducter yelled, “Train to Chicago!” I remember a young woman in her twenties that began instantly snickering in contempt. Few realize that railroading is what transformed the country.


Few realize that railroading helped to supply the granite for many projects such as the Bunker Hill Monument. Without the railroads our country would be vastly different. Language has evolved from railroading and we take it for granted without reference. Where did sayings such as One-track mind or commuter originate? These came into common usage due to railroaders using these terms. Remember, we used all take the railroad to get from Abington to Boston. There was no alternative. Some people would take the train every day and they would use a pass to commute the fare, which means to lessen. The price of a recurring ticket would be less than one ticket purchased for a special occassion, thus the term of commuter blossomed into common usage.


This picture was taken by K1LWI of the Southwest Chief.
N1EY

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