The time that I was a member of the Russian Ballot on Ice

 In 1990 the Russian Ballot On Ice were on a world tour and they were in Oklahoma City and suddenly their country no longer existed. The Soviet Union had collapsed. So the ice skaters were in a foreign country with no place to go, no way to get back home, no money for food or lodging.  They were in a bad place. At some point they connected with the Nazarene Church and the church took care of them. Fast forward to March 1995, the Nazarene Church had raised enough money for them to do some shows at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds, and these shows would raise enough money for all of the ice skaters could go back home to their families.   

Of course they were ecstatic. As a way to say thanks to the Nazarene Church they had members of the churches from all across the OKC Metro and the members of  the Nazarene Church would sit in the audience and at certain times during the show we would get up and sing different songs. It was such a wonderful event to be a part of. 

On the last night of the show we were allowed to go back stage and meet all of the ice skaters. They were so happy that they were walking on air. All of the shows was a success and soon they would be in a plane heading home. We all went to back stage area and started meeting these wonderful people. After a while me and my brother in law at the time decided to go outside for a smoke break. Before we made it outside a group of three people saw us and guessed that I was a skater and my brother in law was my bodyguard. So they came up and asked for my autograph! My brother in law was going to say now but I whispered, lets roll with this. So I signed autographs for these people and before I could finish more people wanted autographs. Pretty soon we had a group of 10-15 people all standing around us. They gave me flower and balloons, the ladies with their lipstick on were kissing me on the cheek. They took a bunch of pictures. It was so funny and I was doing everything I could not to bust up laughing. My brother in law just rolled his eyes cause he had known me long enough to know of the stuff I would do. 

After about 30 minutes we finally made it outside to have our smoke. By this time the people that I was with (my sister, my future wife [we weren't dating at this time], and future mother in law, came outside to check on us and saw that we had a bunch of flowers and balloons and my face covered in lipstick kisses. I also had a pocket full of phone numbers. Me and my brother in law were laughing so hard that we had trouble telling everyone what happend, they didn't want to believe us cause it was so ridiculous, yet we had the flowers, balloons, phone numbers. 

Please follow this blog to read more stories as I share them. Feel free to leave comments in the comments section below. As always you can contact me at Aaron@K5ATG.com

Portable Op 1 - Quinlan Park

 This morning I made my way out to Quinlan Park in Midwest City, OK. It was a hot windy day, we have been stuck in 100+ degrees for the clast couple of weeks. I loaded everything in my trike and hit the trails. I rode about 15 miles through out Midwest City just exploring before I settled on Quinlan Park, a small park that's hidden inside a neighborhood. I enjoy these hidden parks because they don't have as many people. My setup was pretty simple. The chosen transceiver was my Elecraft KX 3

The antenna that I used was a home brew 20 meter EFHW wire. I had it set up so that it was connected to the KX3 via 224 inch jumper. Then I had the middle of the wire supported by a cheap 24' telescoping fishing pole that I keep attached to my TerraTrike GT

In the above picture you can see the endpoint of the antenna. Its tied to the bright green rope. 

Using 5 watts on 20 meter  SSB, I was able to work three POTA stations. I was impressed because they had decent pileups. I was able to work US-12628 Sessions Woods Wildlife Management Area in CT and US-1391 Nockamixon State Park in PA

So that is this adventure, there are more planned down the line. It would make my week if you were to hit the subscribe button and follow along as I navigate this third rock. Feel free to leave any comments or questions that you have in the comments section below. You can also reach me by email at Aaron@K5ATG.com

Keychain #9

 Here is my final keychain for the day. It is Keychain #9 and was made for a gentleman from my radio club. He got it with his call sign. I can do names, dates, Bible verses.

This was made using red oak. If you would like to order one, they are $15 each, just email me at Aaron@K5ATG.com

You can choose from the following wood species:

• Red Oak
• Eastern Red Cedar
• White Oak
• Purple Heart

You can also choose between the two shapes:

• Oval
• Large Oval

To stay informed, please subscribe.

Aaron K5ATG

Keychains 6-8

 Here are keychains 6, 7 & 8. I now have a new shape. The orginal shape is the small oval with the new shape being a large oval.

This was made using red oak. If you would like to order one, they are $15 each, just email me at Aaron@K5ATG.com

You can choose from the following wood species:

• Red Oak
• Eastern Red Cedar
• White Oak
• Purple Heart

You can also choose between the two shapes:

• Oval
• Large Oval

To stay informed, please subscribe.

Aaron K5ATG

Keychain #5 W5TAH

 Here is Keychain #4! It was made by my good friend Tim W5TAH

This was made using red oak. If you would like to order one, they are $15 each, just email me at Aaron@K5ATG.com

You can choose from the following wood species:

• Red Oak
• Eastern Red Cedar
• White Oak
• Purple Heart

To stay informed, please subscribe.

Aaron K5ATG

1st Order of Keychains

 I got my first order of keychains done. Not much to talk about but here are pics for keychains 1-4

These are all made using red oak. If you would like to order one, they are $15 each, just email me at Aaron@K5ATG.com

To stay informed, please subscribe.

Aaron K5ATG

Happy Anniversary

 Just wanted to give a huge shout out to the most perfect lady in the world, my wife Desiree. Here are a few pics of us over the years.

This was the day! 16 June 1997 Bern Township, PA

I beleive that this was my sisters wedding.

This was the first pic of us together in early April 1995 at Midwest City High School

This was taken at the same spot as the piciture above, same school, same tree. However this time was the graduation of our son Dakota. 

I wish that I still had hair. 

I can't beleive that its been 29 years since we said "I Do". Funny story, everyone kept asking us when are we going to get married. Well Desi was still in High School so we told everyone that we are waiting until after she graduates. Didn't quite work out that way. The evening of the veray day that we got married, she graduated!. So when they called her name to walk across stage, that was the very last time that she would use her maiden name. 

Words can't describe how I feel for you.  

Love you 

80-10 End-Fed Half Wave Antenna III

 I tightend up the slack that I had in my 80-10 Meter Lucky 7 Antenna. Here are the new SWR measurements:

Band	Frequency	SWR
80	3.573 MHz	2.0
40	4.074 MHz	2.0
30	10.136 MHz	3.0
20	14.074 MHz	1.4
17	18.100 MHz	3.0
15	21.074 MHz	1.4
12	24.915 MHz	2.0
10	28.074 MHz	5.8

The SWR measurements made a big increase but not quite where I want them. So I will just need to keep moving on. 

If you have any comments please leave them in the comments below. Or you could just email me at Aaron@K5ATG.com

Until mext time stay radio active. 

80-10 End-Fed Half Wave Antenna II

 

Strung up my 80-10 End-Fed Half Wave Antenna. The feed point is a 20 foot tall flagpole right outside my bedroom window. Then it travels west to another mast. From there it goes to the North West cornet of the house. After that it goes South East to the shed. It is 135 feet long, here are the first set of SWR measurements:

Band	Frequency	SWR
80	3.573 MHz	3.0
40	4.074 MHz	2.6
30	10.136 MHz	5.8
20	14.074 MHz	5.8
17	18.100 MHz	1.9
15	21.074 MHz	1.3
12	24.915 MHz	2.6
10	28.074 MHz	5.8

I tried to set it for all of the FT8 frequencies cause that is where I spend most of my time.

Here is a Google Maps vire of my antenna

I'm calling this the Lucky 7 Antenna. As you can see I got that from that layout

That is all for now. If you have any comments please put them in the comment section below. 

80-10 End-Fed Half Wave Antenna I

 I ordered an 80-10 EFHW Antenna from Amazon. Here is the link:

JYR8010-150W End Fed Half Wave Antenna

Here are some pics of it