Biography

I grew up in Pleasant City, a town of 600 in Southeastern Ohio. I received my Novice license in 1964 and my General in 1965, callsign WA8LSE. My first rig was a used Heathkit DX-40 transmitter and a new National NC-270 receiver, all paid for by mowing yards and washing cars at my Uncle's garage on Saturdays......buck a apiece, cleaned inside and out. Upon receiving my General, I sold the novice rig and bought a National NCX- 3 transceiver. Wow! Having 200 watts PEP on SSB/CW was living on sponge cake. I graduated from high school in '65 and went on to achieve a degree in Welding Engineering from the Ohio State University. During my stint at OSU, I was fortunate to be awarded the opportunity to live in the Stadium Scholarship Dormitory, which was located under one side of the Ohio State football stadium, fondly called "The Shoe". During the week I ran coax out a dorm window to a 20m dipole strung between two flag poles at the top of the stadium at about a 120 ft. As far as I know, I am the one, and only, person to run a ham rig from the dorm area of this famous venue! I became inactive from around 1970 until 2016 due to the demands of family and career. I retired in December 2013 after a 42 year career in the manufacture of large hydroturbine generating equipment. I took the Technician exam, had my General license reinstated as KE8DAX, and purchased a used TS-590SG. I upgraded to Amateur Extra in June 2023.

The new shack in the basement was completed in 2019. The installation of a six band NA4RR hexbeam and 40 ft. Universal Tower was completed in November 2020. It was a big project but well worth the work and expense. The six band hex at 45 ft. exceeds my expectations and is a real game changer over the previous attic dipoles. Prior to the hex, I had never worked any band higher than 20m. Now, I work all bands from 20 through 10m, including the WARC bands on a regular basis.

I added a Mercury IIIs 1200 watt amplifier in October 2021. What a really great piece of equipment. Just love it!

Other interests are cruising in a 2007 Corvette C6 and riding a 2003 Harley Davidson Deuce.

73,

Ray

Equipment

My equipment list is as follows:

Kenwood TS-590SG Transceiver

Astron RS-35A Linear Power Supply

Shure PGA48 Microphone

Palstar SP30B Speaker

Mercury IIIs 1200W Linear Amplifier

Mercury AT Antenna Tuner

SDRplay RSP1a & SDRuno for Band Scope

N3ZN ZN-SL Single Lever Paddle

Sennheiser HD 599SE Headphones

DXLab Suite Station Software

Universal Towers Model 21-40 40 ft. Aluminum Tilt Over Tower

NA4RR Six Band Hexbeam at 45 ft.

Yaesu G-800DXA Rotator

40m Dipole at 22 ft.