Subj : Re: CQ CQ CQ
To   : KHRONOS
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Tue Mar 14 2023 05:05 am

 KH> I got licensed in 1998, but have only been active on hf since field day
 KH> of 2018 or so.

  The last time I operated HF was on the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad
Memorial Day Troop Train in late May, 2009. We were in a very cramped
Conductor's Cabin of a restored 1927 Harlan and Hollingsworth passenger
car, operating an Icom IC-718 (the get your feet wet in HF, and no frills
HF rig), with a 20 meter hamstick antenna attached to the rear of the 
car. How I pulled some of those stations out of the weeds on 20 meters, 
I'll never know.

  One ham (now a silent key) couldn't get any contacts, and so his wife
(also licensed, and still alive as far as I know), got on there, and we
were hauling in Pennsylvania like there was no tomorrow!! As soon as she
got off, the band went dead (hi hi). You can go to my bio on QRZ (look
for WX4QZ), and click on the first hyperlink. From there, you'll go to a
page with things like:

1) Excel Spreadsheets of selected D-Star, Echolink, and D-Rats Nets, in
Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific Time.

2) PDF files related to ham radio.

  One of those is my ham radio bio, and in it, is a link on YouTube where 
I was working that Special Event Station, 20 meter HF Railroad Mobile. I
now do a Trains And Railroads Net every Friday at 8pm US Eastern Time, on
the QuadNet Array. My eQSL card has a picture of a SOO Line Steam Locomotive
at Random Lake, Wisconsin, courtesy of Mike Yuhas, AB9ON (he has a large
amount of train photos at mikeyuhas.org). The alternate phonetics stand
for "Whistled X-ings (crossings) for Quiet Zones". Some railroads use the
letter W for a whistle post to warn the engineer of a highway railroad
crossing ahead...and some use X for "crossing". The letters QZ stand for
"quiet zone". The train doesn't sound the locomotive horn, except in 4
instances:

A) Meeting a train on another track.

B) Maintenance Of Way (MOW) crews working in the area (usually a "slow
order" is in place).

C) Someone is trying to beat the train across at the railroad crossing.

D) Someone is trespassing on the railroad right of way.

 KH> Mainly I operate cw and voice every once in a while. I live in a HOA
 KH> area so I just have a simple dipole I put up for weekend operating most
 KH> of the time.

  I used to live in HUD subsidized housing for the disabled, but moved
back to what was my parent's home when I put my Mom into a nursing home
in mid-2018...congestive heart failure took her life in early August, 2019.

  Her late brother (who has been a silent key for 30 years) was the only
other ham radio operator in the family, and the youngest engineer hired
on by the Penn Central Railroad.

Daryl, WX4QZ

.... I just bought a cured ham. I wonder what it had??
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