XQ3PC

Rev. Jim Thurston

 

 

Rev. Jim Thurston, is an ordained pastor, and native of Bremerton, Washington.  He has been a mission executive in Santiago, Chile for more than 52 years.  Jim has been in the ministry since 1963, and is associated with Hope Inspires Love Ministries.

Jim graduated from Seattle Pacific University with a BA in education and an emphasis in communication.  After teaching in the Seattle Public Schools, he graduated from the International Christian Graduate University School of Theology.  After working as a Campus evangelist for three years, he was sent by Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU) to Santiago, Chile in 1966.  He was the founder and country director of Campus Crusade for Christ until 1976, when it was turned over to the nationals.   

He is one of the pioneers in Christian mass communications in Chile.    Since 1976, Jim has been producing Christian documentaries, Christian TV programs and video Bible classes in Spanish.

Jim has held different positions in the  Chilean church.  For two years he was the National director of evangelism for 140 churches and for four years he was the National Sunday school director for 130 churches.  

He has represented Chile at different world Christian events. In July 2000, he was chosen as a Chilean delegate to attend the Billy Graham Congress on Evangelism in Amstersdam, Holland . In 1991, he was chosen as a Chilean delegate to ICMC International Christian Communications Conference in Sheffield , England .  In 1986, once again, he was selected as a Chilean delegate to Billy Graham Congress of Evangelism in Amsterdam, Holland.

In 1971, he received the Outstanding Young American award.   In 1974, he was given special recognition by the Chilean government for his work with the youth.  In 2014, the Chilean Congress gave him a special recognition for all the work he has done in the country over the years.

At the present, he is the oldest missionary in Chile, not of age, but of service.

As a hobby, he has been very active as a radio amateur.  In 1956, he started out by building his own transmitter with an 807 tube in the final. He sold newspapers to earn enough money to buy a National 125 receiver.  He is a member of the Old Timers Club having received his first license in 1956, while he was in high school in Bremerton, Washington. He presently holds US general license (WB7VRO).  "Very Reliable Operator" and hoping to upgrade to extra class on his next furlough. 

In 2013, Jim reached the maximum level for radio amateurs in Chile (equal to Extra Class and received a new call sign XQ3PC.

He is an expert in antennas and transmatches and has taught numerous novice classes during his many years as a ham.  RDF is another joy Jim has.  He has made many antennas for finding the hidden radio, or the radios causing interference.  Every RDF event he has participated in, he has done very well.  Recently he purchased doppler antennas for the car, which he hopes will greatly enhance his direction finding efforts.

He is active in DX and especially the ARRL International DX Phone Contest.  He started contesting in the 1979, ARRL International DX Contest where he took First Place High Band Phone Chile and First Place Single Operator Chile. A few years went by and then in 2012, he entered once again in the ARRL International DX phone contest where he won, once again the same category, high power single operator all bands for Chile.

Since that time, he has received first place for Chile in ARRL DX phone contest in 2013, 2014 and 2015.  In 2016, he took second place for Chile. In 2017, he was sick and did not participate.  In 2018, he was back at it again, and instead of entering all bands this time, he dedicated his efforts to only the ten-meter band.  Once again, he placed first for Chile and 4th for all of South America in the annual ARRL DX contest.  In 2019, he entered the ARRL DX contest again and is awaiting the results.

His contest station has two 65-foot towers. On one, he has a spider beam and the other has an 8 element Cushcraft X7.  He just added a X740 element to it giving him a 2 db gain on 40 meters.  His antennas include a 22 element VHF, at 70 feet, an Opec 300 at 70 feet, plus a 40 meter and a 80 meter dipole. His new magnetic loop for 40 meters is a jewel and proves to be an excellent addition to his antenna farm. He works most bands, packet, two meters and his new interest is satellite.

He has just added a new Yaesu FT 950 as his main radio and his back up radio is an ICOM IC- 671 plus a Kenwood TS 50,  a Kenwood TS 830S and a TS 430S. His amplifiers include a Dentron 160-10L and a Heathkit SB 220.

In his car on HF, he uses a Kenwood TS 130 with a Hustler antenna on 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters,  Also in his car he uses a Yaseu 8800 on 2 mts and 440.

He is setting up his station to run by remote using his new FT 950 radio as the corner stone.

He built a magnetic loop for 40 meters and is about 4,30 meters wide, six feet off the ground and mounted on a PVC frame.  The copper is 1 inch giving it a wider bandwidth over a 1/2 copper tubing.  There are only two solder joints in the antenna making it very efficient. A Russian vacuum tube condenser tunes it.

Jim is the past President of the Radio Club of Ņuņoa and he is now the Vice President of a new radio club called Radio Club Litoral, which covers the middle coast of Chile.

His station is an emergency station between the USA and Chile in case of natural disasters which Chile has every few years.

Jim 's E-mail address is   [email protected]  His Santiago phone number is 011-562-2274-2485 and his mail address is Casilla 207-11 Ņuņoa, Santiago, Chile

Look Jim up on QRZ for more pics and info

 

Updated 12 January 2024