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December, 1996: I left Boeing and Sue and I hitched up our hacienda on wheels and moved to a nice RV park at Morgan Hill, California. I worked for about 3 years for a NASA contractor at Moffett Field, Sunnyvale, CA. I still managed to scratch out a new one now and then. I operated with zero gain antennas, starting with an R-7 vertical, which worked very well mounted on the rear ladder on the trailer. In fact, I even won a certificate for 1st place, Santa Clara Valley, single op, low power in a ARRL DX contest. No one was more surprised than myself, as this is the territory of the NCCC. I did have a couple of good runs into JA on 40 meters and wound up with 87 countries on that band alone.

Later I bought a Force 12 vertical dipole and a Butternut HF-2V. These worked well for me and kept me active. I joined the NCDXC and served as the newsletter editor for a couple of years. A bunch of great people in that club and I enjoyed my time in that club.

In 1999, I changed jobs and moved to San Diego. After a year, I realized I could retire and I did!. We lived in El Cajon for this period and I joined the El Cajon Radio Club and the San Diego DX Club. We spent most of 2000 through early 2002 at a small RV park and campground on the south slope of Palomar Mountain, at about the 3,000 foot level.

In the spring of 2002, we traveled to Oregon and begam working as volunteers in Oregon State Parks. We find this activity very gratifying and an easy way to visit various parts of the state. Spending winters in Oregon is taking some getting used to. At least we know what to expect and don't get the extremes we got in Southern California.

My station is now a Icom IC-7000 and Ameritron ALS-500M solid state amp. Antennas on Palomar were a Cushcraft A4S with 40 meters and a G5RV dipole.

In Oregon, I am using a Hi-Q 4/80 RT motorized mobile antenna mounted on the ladder of the RV. I also have a Hustler 4BTV trap vertical and the trusty old G5RV

I operate FSK, PSK31, as well as the standard SSB and CW modes.

See you in the pileups! Return to the K7JJ home page

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