Grid CO82xd

I have been a ham since my 18th birthday, which makes it 55 years to date (2011). At age 12 I was regularly visiting my "Elmer", Bob, then VE7FU (now a SK, not the current VE7FU callsign holder, also named Bob or Robert). He made sure I learned how to build equipment. So I've been in the hobby for 61 years now.

Holder of the following--- 9 band DXCC, 5 Band WAZ plaque (first in Canada), 8 Band WAZ + 30 zone starter WAZ certificate on 160m, WPX Award of Excellence, IOTA 1000 trophy, 371 mixed DXCC, current topholder of WAP WACA Antarctic award, Canadian Islands Award #1

EX-- VE7ANI, VE7ASY, VE8RG, VP2VS, VP2KT--Anguilla, PJ5MF, VS5RG, VU2REG, YA1REG, G4AIY, VE7IG/OH2

Guest OP: KV4AA, VP2AB, CR9AK, 9V1QE, HS0ISB, 9N1MM, AP2AD, EP2BQ, VU2IRA, 4U1ITU

IOTA (Islands on the Air) Honour Roll member and IOTA Checkpoint for Canada, Mexico, Central America and most Caribbean Islands.

IOTA activator from: OC-088 VS5RG, NA-022 VP2KT, NA-023 VP2VS, NA-105 PJ5MF, NA-051 VE7IG/p, NA-036 VE7IG/p, NA-075 VE7IG/p, NA-118 CI7GRN, NA-010 VE7IG/VE1 and CK7IG/1, NA-154 VE7IG/1, NA-081, VE7IG/1, NA-126 VE7IG/1, NA-127 VE7IG/1, NA-068 VE7IG/2, NA-038 VE7IG/9, NA-029 VE7IG/VY2, NA-177 VE7IG/2.

Antarctica Activity Week (WAP-70) calls: 2007-- VA7ANTA; 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012-- VA7AAW, 2010-- VG7AAW.

Parks Canada Centennial--- September and October 2011 --- CF7AAW.

Prefer QSL direct and please NO eQSLS. If insufficient postage is sent your card will be sent via bureau with no explanation.

An acre of trees in New York City can absorb, in one year, greenhouse gas (CO2) produced by a car driven about 8000 miles. One cow produces in one year an equivalent amount of greenhouse gas (methane). So raising one less cow per year would yield the same green effect as using an ENORMOUS number of QSLs, the envelopes used to mail them and the IRCs included! So let one rancher suffer a little so thousands of hams can enjoy REAL QSLs! Livestock, worldwide, are a major cause of global warming so don't get on the ham's case over paper QSLs! I wonder how many people who say use LoTW and save trees are vegetarians. Actually, about one-third of the fiber used to make paper in the U.S. is from whole trees. Only trees smaller than 8 inches in diameter, or larger trees not suitable for solid wood products, typically are used for paper making. The remaining two-thirds is made up of residue (wood chips and scraps left behind from forest and sawmill operations), and recovered (recycled) paper.

See:http://www.tappi.org/paperu/all_about_paper/earth_answers/earthanswers_howmuch.pdf

SWLs please list stations worked (at least 2) and reports given by me. Otherwise, if you have sent sufficient return postage your SWL card will be returned in the mail or if received via bureau it will be discarded. This policy takes effect for QSOs made after 30 November 2011.

QSL INFORMATION: CANADA or USA: SASE with Canadian stamps or 1 current IRC or 1 green stamp. ALL OTHERS: SASE with Canadian stamps or 1 current IRC or 2 green stamps.

QSL via bureau is OK but please have patience because via bureau may take a long time.

My QTH is located on a plateau at 945m (3100') above sea level. Due to distance from the local airport, also on the same plateau, I have antenna height restrictions to 75 feet. Actually, there are trees on my property and all over the region well above the 75 foot height, but government only controls what it can!

First picture--- homebrew 4 element 20m monoband yagi with 5 element NECed Cushcraft 6m yagi above it and on top the 440 repeater antenna.

Second picture--- homebrew 4 element 12m monoband yagi about 1 wavelength up on a heavy duty 40 foot slip up ladder.

The 20m yagi also works very well on 17m backwards and the 12m yagi works great on 10m backwards. All antennas are fed with heliax and a line tuner in the shack is used to match the driven elements when used on 17 and 10m.

This picture shows the 60' pipe. The diameter is 4" at the bottom and changes to 3" about 2/3 of the way up. It is fed with 7/8th heliax, sits on a large hydro insulator and is guyed at 2 positions. It is approximately a quarter wave on 80m, a half wave on 40m and a 5/8th wave on 30m. At present there are 35 radials and I add a few each spring. The Ameritron tuner is used as a line tuner to match the antenna on the 3 different bands. It is close to self resonant in the 75m phone band. The large diameter heliax helps keep the losses down even with high SWR. The Ameritron ATR-30 has worked flawlessly and matches every antenna I use. Now waiting for the Alpha 4040 autotuner!

The 160m antenna is a quarter wave sloper to the west off the top of the tower a couple of feet under the boom of the 20m yagi. It is fed with coax against the tower leg and connects to the remote antenna switch at the top of the tower by a short length of coax, then heliax from that switch down to the shack. The wire can't be seen in the picture but it is there. It is a super antenna and requires no radials. Nobody really understands how a quarter wave sloper works and it defies analysis using computer antenna modeling techniques. But when they work, they are simple and can really work well.

That completes the rundown on the antennas-- a single vertical or sloper for the low bands and yagis above 30m.

As of spring 2012 the major VE7IG station equipment is:

FT-1000D Yaesu transceiver with roofing filter.
Alpha 8410 Amplifier.
ATR-30 Ameritron antenna tuner.
TS-480SAT Kenwood transceiver on 6m.
6M300PA Down East Microwave amplifier on 6m at about 350 watts output.

Further information can be found at website and blog----http://ve7ig.ws