MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: KC4OPE
Our member spotlight for May, 2001, is Philip Slone,
KC4OPE, who lives on Little Leatherwood Creek, in southern Perry County.
Phil was first licensed in April, 1990, when he took the Novice exam at
Kona, in Letcher Co. with Ken, KA4DVT, as the lead VE. In January,
1992, he upgraded to Tech Plus at a VE Session in Hazard, held by Tim Shy's
VE team.
Phil was living at Carrie, in Knott Co., when he was first licensed, and
got on the air with a Drake TR-3. He became inactive until the Winter
of 2000, when he got back on the air, and restarted the upgrade path.
He got his General Class license in April of 2000, at a test
session in Va. Then he finished off his work with the Extra Class
license, which he got at the Gray hamfest last fall.
He has become quite active in the last couple of years, and participated
in Field Day last year. He is presently taking a course in Electronics
from the Cleveland Institute of Electronics, and expects to finish
sometime in the fall. His recent activity includes two meters and
HF, where he is active on several nets, including the Kentucky Traffic
Net, and he has recently been checking into the Kentucky Slow Speed CW
Net to improve his proficiency in that mode.
The shack includes a Kenwood TS-430 for HF, a Kenwood Two Meter base radio
on the right, and a 35 Amp power supply for the 12 volt equipment.
On the left in the photo is a big Heath Amplifier, which will pump out
1500 watts loafing, through the Heath KW Tuner, into a G5RV antenna which
stretches across his back yard and up the hillside. He has a vertical
for the high bands, and a home built 3 element beam which he uses on 2
meters. Plans include a tower and quad sometime in the future.
Also shown in
the picture are an NIR Noise Reducer and DSP unit, a Heath Keyer, D-104
Mic, an MFJ Deluxe Keyer, and a Nye-Viking hand key. Phil is not
afraid to open up the boxes on the gear, and he is presently restoring
the old Drake TR-3, and is working on an Icom 404 HT, as well as a huge
Viking Thunderbolt Amplifier, which has a couple thousand volts on the
plates, and 3 big 4-400 tubes in it. No wonder he wants to know more
about tubes that the course he is taking tells him!
Phil also
is an accomplished musician, and plays several stringed instruments in
a band several nights a week. He describes their music as "mostly
old rock and roll," with a little country thrown in. Phil says he
has really enjoyed amateur radio since he became active again. He
has put a lot of time and effort into upgrading his station, as well as
his license, and we're glad to have him back aboard.
Phil and his wife enjoy Field Day, 2000, on Tower Mountain in Leslie
Co. This was Phil's first Field Day in 10 years of being a ham, and
he really enjoyed it. The whole club enjoyed the little jump in energy
provided by the load of Twinkies he brought to the event.
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