 Operating at VP6DX |
Andrew M. 'Milt' Jensen Virden, NM QCWA # 27305 Chapter 186 |
Well-Known DXer, DXpeditioner Milt Jensen, N5IA, Dies in Tower Fall
TAGS: ARRL Life Member, Band operation, base stations, DXpedition team, electric power distribution, July/August issue, New Mexico, Well-known DXer
06/10/2016
Well-known DXer and DXpeditioner Milt Jensen, N5IA, of Virden, New Mexico, died on June 10 after falling from an Amateur Radio tower. An ARRL Life Member, he was 73. According to the Pima County Sheriff's Department, Jensen was working on a tower on Arizona's Mount Lemmon when he fell. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A Tucson News account cited a sheriff's deputy who indicated the fall was accidental, but the mishap is still under investigation.
"Milt was on one of his many tower climbing adventures, and by no choice of his, it became his last," his oldest son, Jason, said in a post to QRZ.com.
Licensed in 1960, Jensen had lived in Virden for his entire life. Especially well known for his 160 meter activity, he spent several years constructing an "8-circle array" of full-sized 160 meter verticals - each 125-foot towers - at his station site south of Safford, Arizona, near the New Mexico border, Lee Finkel, KY7M, wrote in an article set to appear in the July/August issue of NCJ. Jensen operated his "dream station" remotely from his home, often using the call sign N7GP in contests. In addition to his Top Band operation, Jensen was heavily involved in designing, installing, and maintaining VHF and UHF mountaintop repeaters, remotely controlled base stations, and linking systems. As a contester he often landed in the Top 10 standings.
Jensen took part in three DXpeditions. He and his wife Rulene, KB5VTM, took part in the 1998 XZ1N team in Myanmar. In 2000, he returned to Myanmar as part of the XZ0A multinational team. In 2008, he was part of the Ducie Island VP6DX DXpedition team.
Jensen was a graduate from the El Paso School of Electronics and was retired from the electric power distribution industry following a 40-year career.
Jensen and his wife were the parents of 7 children.
"His legend will live on for generations to come,. said his son, Jason. He loved to help others, especially in his chosen hobby, Amateur Radio. He truly cared about his hobby and took every aspect of it to heart".
Hello Fellow Amateur Radio enthusiasts worldwide,
My name is Andrew Milton Jensen, and I use a shortened version of my middle name, MILT, in everyday life and for my radio contacts. I am a native of the State of New Mexico, my great grand parents having settled in this area in the 1880s. My home and station location are in the small farming community of Virden, Hidalgo County, NM, situated in the valley of the Gila River just 3 miles east of the Arizona State Line.
I was first licensed as a Novice in 1960, with the call sign KN5FPO. I upgraded to Conditional in 1961, and operated as K5FPO. My equipment for that period of time was an Eico 720, a Knight Kit VFO and a National NC-60 with a homebrew Q-Multiplier. In 1964 I had the privilege of guest operating from Chester Cunningham's station, CE3XA, in Santiago, Chile.
In 1965 I upgraded my station to be SSB capable with a Swan 350. In 1977 I selected N5IA for my station call sign. My licenses from the late '70's and '80's had the Primary, Auxiliary and Control privileges that were necessary at that time for legal control of repeaters and to operate auxiliary link transmitters.
In 1972 I outfitted my Datsun pickup with a Swan Cygnet 270B and Hustler. I had lots of fun with that mobile setup, in particular during a round trip to Ft. Benning, Georgia. I provided lots of county contacts for Ray, K7CUY,one of Elmers. In 1973 I was able to upgrade the home station and was the proud owner of a Drake C Line and a Heathkit SB-220.
In 1981 the SB-220 had been exchanged for a brand new Alpha 76. Outside a KLM 10-30 Log Periodic at 50' on a wooden pole did a great job. Yaesu FT-980's were my contesting transceivers in the early 1990's. Yaesu FT-1000-MP's became the main rigs during the late '90's and most of the first decade of the 2K century. I currently have a complement of Elecraft K3 transceivers for my contesting efforts. I use the Elecraft K3-0 and Microbit RemoteRig black boxes for remote control.
I received my education in Electronics at the El Paso (Texas) School of Electronics and have held an FCC commercial license with radar endorsement since 1961.
In December 2008, I retired from working in the electric power distribution industry for 40 years. In December 2013, I retired from full time employment upon completing a 5 year, 2nd career, as Manager of Development and Deployment for a Broadband Wireless ISP.
I have been active in Amateur Radio all these years with the first 14 years exclusively in HF. From 1974 until the present I have also been very involved in designing, installing, and maintaining VHF and UHF mountaintop repeaters, remotely controlled base stations, and linking systems. See.............. http://eaars.com/ and http://jpara.net/ for info and photos about the groups and activities I am involved in.
Currently my main HF activity is contesting, in particular on 160 Meters. I was the team leader for the Eastern Arizona Amateur Radio Society (K7EAR) Field Day operations for 11 years from 1966 through 2006. From 2007 through 2013 I led a county line expedition outing in the 7th District QSO Party.
See the results at http://www.eaars.org/fd7qpstats.pdf . See 160 M contesting activity at http://eaars.com/ni5t/. Take a look at the K7EAR 7QP photos at http://www.ws7n.net/7QP/new/PicPage.asp?content=2012_7QP .
I especially enjoy the challenge of constructing antenna systems, both transmit and recieve, that make my station competitive on Top Band. Operating in High Power (1.5 KW), Low Power (100 Watt) and QRP (5 Watt) categories I have been able to place in the top 10, world wide, in a few contests.
Among those finishes I have 3 plaques for World #1 finishes in 160 Meter contests. The most satisfying #1 World finish was in the 2008 CQ 160 SSB from the middle of the South Pacific, operating as VP6DX during the middle of the southern hemisphere summer.
I have been privileged to participate in three DX-peditions. In November of 1998 my wife, Rulene, and I were part of the XZ1N team in Yangon, Myanmar. In January 2000, I was an integral part of the XZØA multi-national team to Thahtay Khun Island, Myanmar, in the Andaman Sea.
At XZØA, besides all the other antennas, we constructed a full sized 4-square for 75/80 Meters with elevated base and radials, and a full 1/4 WL, elevated Ground Plane for 160 Meters with the base and radials at 40 feet AGL. It all worked fabulously. Four of us operated the CQ 160 CW contest. The team consisted of Ray-G3NOM, Robin-WA6CDR, George-V73GT, and Milt-N5IA.
In February, 2008, I was one of the 13 team members of the DX-pedition to Ducie Atoll, VP6DX. With less operators and less on-the-air days this group set TWELVE WORLD RECORDS. VP6DX was the run-away winner of the DX-Pedition of the Decade.
I currently am involved in constructing my 'DREAM' station near Safford, AZ, which is totally remote controlled from my home in New Mexico. I typically operate the remote location with the call sign of N7GP. This is a club call sign for which I am the trustee. My home operations in NM as done as N5IA and the remote operations in AZ as N7GP. This keeps the two separate state operations in proper perspective.
On the evening of the 23rd of December 2014, I was able to put the finishing touches on the control circuits for the full size 160 Meter 8-Circle transmit antenna. The eight 1/4 WL tall towers are set in a 5/8 WL diameter circle which places the adjacent elements (towers) at 1/4 WL spacing. The 8-circle uses 4 elements actively in a broadside endfire configuration for each of 8 azimuth selections; one each 45 degrees of the compass. The entire array, including a 32 radial ground screen grid around each tower, occupies a 10 acres piece of high desert land.
The actual RF portion had been completed for one month previous and made its initial 'on the air' debut for the CQ WW CW contest the last weekend of November. It was this antenna which produced a #1 World finish in the Stew Perry Distance Challenge contest the last weekend of December, 2014.
My wife Rulene's station call sign is KB5VTM. She and I have 7 children, of which six are married. Rulene and I are proud that they are all on their own working in the mining and construction industries, public education, telecommunications, public safety and law enforcement. They are productive members of society and are the proud parents of our thirty grandchildren. The 31st grandchild will arrive in January 2016, plus we now have 4 great grand daughters.
I am forever indebted to my wife Rulene, and my children, for indulging me to participate in this hobby that has been, and is, the best one in the world.
Two of my sons are licensed with call signs of KE7DVB and KE5TRT. One son- in-law is licensed as KF7LIU.
73 de Milt Jensen, N5IA