LOCATION: South tip of Texas, near the mouth of the Rio Grande River, the Mexican border and the Gulf of Mexico, about 140 miles east of Monterrey, Mexico.

HOME STATION: TenTec Omni VI+ and the matching Hercules solid state amplifier at 500 watts output, or, once in a while, a Titan amp at 1500 out. We use an Icom IC7000 as our fall back rig and have various QRP rigs for low power fun.

ANTENNAS: The primary antenna is a horizontal loop, 1150 feet (350m)around fed with open wire line. It is 60 feet high on wood poles over farmland. My XYL and I use it for receiving and transmiting on all bands. We also have a 73' vertical, configured like a Hy-Tower but with no stubs, remotely tuned for 160 through 20 meters. There is also a pair of phased verticals for 20 and a small loop, 160 feet around and 10 feet high for close-in work on 40 through 15 meters. All of our antennas had damage from hurricane Dolly in July 2008. We're tryiong to get them back to 100%... after the important stuff is fixed.

MOBILE: We use an IC706 and homebrew top loaded antennas on a diesel Passat wagon.

PERSONAL INFO: I was born in Pekin Illinois, licensed as W9UCW since 1954 when I was in 8th grade in Joliet, Illinois. I'm married to Joyce, WB9NUL, my best friend. She's a county hunter, president of The Mobile Amateur Radio Awards Club (MARAC) and occasional contester as well as a world class needle arts person.

QSLS: We answer them any way they get here, but expect SASE's for direct cards.

OTHER INFO: I took early retirement when I was 48. I was a division manager for Caterpillar. We had a consulting business for the next few years. I'm a casual lowband DXer and my favorite is 160m. We have about 13 acres in a rural farming area. The neighbors around here grow citrus, sugar cane, milo, cotton, and vegetables. I do a lot of antenna and tuner research, publish now and then and give antenna programs. I like to build gear. I'm also a woodworker and build furniture. I made about 20 trips to South America and operated from Brazil, Colombia, San Andres/Providencia, and others. One of my buddies for 25 years was Francisco, HK0BKX, now SK. I called him Pacho. We traveled and operated together many times over the years. CU on topband, 73, Barry