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K8BL Bob Liddy Mentor, OH QCWA # 38408 Chapter 1 |
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Previous Calls: KN8CVJ, K8CVJ, AD8CVJ, WA2RGW. Applied for & received K8BL in 1977 (NOT a Vanity Callsign). My Twitter Address is @K8BLbob
First licensed in 1961 as a Junior in High School, 2021 is my 60th year in Ham Radio!!
DX calls: VP2EOH, ZL0AAE, VK4BTL + K8BL/ over 30 different DXCC Entities on all Continents (except Antarctica).
The picture above was published in the May 2012 issue of QST, Page 84. They were doing an article on the results of the ARRL November CW Sweepstakes and requested pictures of Hams that scored well. My XYL Marcia snapped the photo and we were surprised and happy to see they decided to print it in the magazine.
I often operate from my Daughter's home in Shreveport, LA, EM32 (HF/FT8/QRP) as K8BL/P and rove around to nearby Grids for Satellite activations as K8BL. Then, we usually drive to visit my Brother in Venice, FL, where I rove a few more Grids. These SAT Roving QSOs are only confirmed in LoTW, NOT eQSL, sorry.
At the "Dayton" HamVention, you can find me in Fleamarket Space 7640 with K8FH, W8JH, N8BOO, K8NVR, K8JVR and KD8GGM.
During August 2014, I was privileged to be one of the W1AW/8 Stations for the ARRL Centennial Celebration giving out QSO's for Ohio!
During 2019, I was privileged to operate with AMSAT's Club Call as W3ZM/0 ND and W3ZM/8 WV to assist with AMSAT's 50 States for WAS during their 50th Anniversary Celebration.
Operation is about 80% CW, 5% SSB, 10% Digital and 5% Misc. and on-air time is about 1/2 Contesting and 1/2 DX'ing. Been on FT8/FT4 for several months & enjoying it immensely.
CW Operator's Motto - "You can take my CW Key when you pry my cold dead fingers off the Paddles!"
ARRL Member 50+ years. AMSAT #6593 (since 1979). Member of Northern Ohio DX Assn. and Lake County Amateur Radio Assn. TEN/TEN #4995 (since 1972). ARRL Volunteer Examiner. ARRL VUCC Awards Manager. Member of North Coast Contesters and Contest Operator at K8AZ Super Station. License Trustee for Club Call N8BC and 3 Club Repeaters N8BC/r. Trustee for Special Event Station W4G in August 2019 for the 103rd Anniversary of the US National Park Service operating from the President James A. Garfield Historical Site in Mentor, OH.
DXCC Honor Roll Mixed/CW/Phone, DXCC-Digital, 9BDXCC, 5BWAS+160/30/17/12M, 5BWAZ, ARRL Triple Play, 6M & SAT VUCC, Diamond DXCC, WAS-SAT, WAS-FT8, WAS-FT4 and VUCC-R on SAT (Roved 120 Grids) and AMSAT-Rover #19.
I retired after 44 1/2 years from AT&T as Senior Technical Manager (Tech Support - Data Communications). During those years I worked for Ohio Bell Tel. Co., Western Electric Co., Bell Laboratories, Ameritech, SBC and AT&T, but all my service was bridged throughout the entire period for retirement.
At home I have an ICOM IC-7700. Backup rig is an IC-775 which is too nice to EVER part with. In the event an Amp is needed, I have an Ameritron ALS-600 Solid State. I recently acquired an IC-703 to try out QRP'ing. For VHF/UHF, I use an IC-820H.
Since moving to the new/present QTH, my antenna situation has been severely diminished. Currently, there are no towers/beams. So, I'm doing the best I can with an End-Fed 124.5 Ft Longwire through a Balun Designs 9:1 UnUn through the trees up about 40 Ft at the highest point. This tunes and works pretty well 160-10M. I also have 40M and 80M Double Bazookas at about 30 Ft as Inv-Vees.
My solution for antennas was planned to be a SteppIR UrbanBeam. It was my hope to get me on 40 thru 6M with a directive antenna. I spent weeks putting it together between my basement and garage and backyard as it got bigger and bigger. All went well in every way thanks to the excellent tutorial by VA2PV on YouTube. Everything checked perfectly while on the ground. However, once it was on the roof and rotator, it would NOT calibrate/resonate anywhere properly. Using the troubleshooting procedures, I found that the retract wiring for the parasitic element was open at the last point entering the motor assembly. This meant that the element had extended but would not retract. Therefore, the Driven Element could not fully extend without being blocked by the fully extended parasitic element. This is a mess and cannot be repaired until returned to the ground. This will be my main project when Spring returns to Norhtern Ohio. BUMMER!!
I enjoy exchanging QSL Cards. But, with the cost of mailing these days, you MUST enclose return postage IF you would like to receive mine. Buro is OK, but I prefer LoTW above all.
| The picture above is from my 2011 trip to VE9/VE1/VY2 and VT/NH/ME where I saw the World's Highest Tides at the Bay of Fundy (50 ft.) and drove to the top of Mt. Washington (scary, windy, snowy). These locations were items from my "Bucket List". Look these places up on Wikipedia and you'll see how awesome & interesting they are. |
January 20, 2021