Another regular contact in the early 90s was my friend Marty, WA2MCZ, now W2OT in Saddle Brook NJ. I always laugh when I think of Marty explaining how he had gone through lots of different station configurations before hitting what he thought at the time was the perfect one. To be fair, nowadays he still has the TH11 on the same tower, but all the rest of it has changed:
Closer to home, every friday I had a sked on 40m with Alan Mills, EA7BA, and his friend Andrés, EA7AG. Over easter 1995, we planned to visit the area and Alan and his wife Carla kindly offered to put us up for the night at their fantastic villa in Cuevas de Almanzora (Almería). Alan, a native welshman, explained to me that he had never planned to move to Spain, but once on holiday, he had passed by and saw the villa by chance and it was for sale. The villa had been abandonded and needed a lot of work, but the sale price was one million pesestas (6000 euros in todays money) and he couldn't resist the temptation. Looking at this photo, you can tell why:
The photo doesn't really do justice to this almost perfect ham radio QTH. The antenna had a 360º take off and steep sloping ground in all directions. The 60' versatower and Alan's home made yagis (3 ele linear loaded for 15 and 20, 4 element monoband for 10) made this station a beacon for stations on other continents.
Here's me having a whale of a time operating:
Alan died not long after our visit in a very unfortunate motorcyle accident. RIP OM.
And less than a year later, our twin daughters came along and a new chapter of our lives started. But from time to time I still managed to get on the air, here with daughter Elena:
I hope you enjoyed the photos. If you happen to have any more, please send them to me and I'll publish them.
73 de Duncan EA5ON
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