Well, I don't operate the ham radio station as much as I like to.  Mostly,
I'm working or fussing around with something or other.  But, if you'd
like to schedule a QSO with an exotic DX location like Berkeley, California
go ahead and leave email at ke6i@junglevision.com.  Since I do contract
work I can get on any hour of any day -- though I'm really a night person
primarily.  I tend to play with the radios on the weekend.

I seem to find myself more interested in ham radio at night during
the winter, so I end up on 40M more often than anything else.  Though
I have a pretty strong desire to put up a proper beam for 20/15/10 this
time.  Maybe a TH3JR or something.  I'd like for once to have a good
setup for this summer.	But, until my ham radio expansion plans are
complete you can work me on 40 or using the vertical on 10 or 20.
Though the vertical doesn't tune up right on 15, I find people
still seem to hear me so that's worth a shot also.  My antenna
resonates somewhere around 3.90Mhz on 80Meters, so that's a possibility
also.

UPDATE

Well, I did it.  I finally picked up an A3S beam antenna.  It's
mounted on a mast on my roof, and I'm currently turning it with
a Radio Shack antenna rotors.  Actually, the Radio Shack rotor
works suprisingly well.  I just need to walk out the door watch
where the thing is pointed.  I also put in a dipole, though I'd
really like to raise it a bit.	Maybe using some more Radio Shack
level technology to raise it on a mast on my chimney.  I feel like
my 40 meter system is not quite as good as I'd like it.

Putting up the A3S, was actually kind of a pain.  Me and my brother
did it, and basically, we lifted the mast on a little wooden tripod he
made.	Then we lugged the whole antenna onto the mast as it was at
an angle.  (This was the hard part.)  Then we raised the whole thing
and tied down the guys.

UPDATE 2/1/99

Ahh, I found the problem with my vertical.  I've kept thinking it was
the feeline, but after I took it down, I found one of the capacitors
was broken.  I soldered the connector back on and electrical taped it
a few times, and now it works.	I also lowered the 80m frequency to
about 3.860 and fixed the 30m resonance so it's more in the band.  Now
I'm under 2.0 on 30m, yeah.

Also, not mentioned here is my 2m/440 beam antenna.  It's the small
Cushcraft one that has 5 elements on each band.  Actually, it's pretty
cool.  I've been trying to read Mir SSTV pictures off of it, and have
been getting pretty strong signal levels, though there's something
screwy with my software configuration, so I haven't gotten any good
pictures yet.  Maybe next week.  This antenna is also turned with one
of the vererable Radio Shack Archer-rotor.

I'm also in the midst of raising the low end of my dipole, which is
way down at about 9 feet or so.  I've gotten a Radio Shack antenna
mast and am planning on moving the top of the dipole to this mast.
I may put a mast up there for another 5 or 10 feet, or may just be
happy with the 36 feet.  Hmm, decisions, decisions.  I've got all the
guy wires cut, and have mounted U-bolts into a couple of 2x4's.  I'm
going to lean the mast up against my shed, and put in another set of
six guy wires at the next two levels.  I'm hoping it should be pretty
sturdy.

The A3S, with only 3 guys seems pretty solid, on the 10 foot mast.  And,
even the dipole, with a simple 10 foot mast on a chimney mount seems OK.
The 2m/440 beam is a little wobbly where it is, so I'm thinking of putting
some extra guys on that mast just to be save.  The vertical has no need
for guys, I believe, and has been up for years without mechanical trouble.
That Butternut Vertical really bends.