posted 9/22/12
The Mound Amateur Radio Association (also known as MARA) celebrated their 50th anniversary today by hosting an open house and flea market.
Here is a card they sent out to notify local hams of the event.
Here are a couple of links in case you are interested in how the MOUND group got their name or, more accurately, what attraction the group is named after. Obviously you can see a MOUND in the photo on the QSL card! However, there is a lot more to it than just a MOUND of dirt!
http://www.miamisburg.org/miamisburg_mound_park.htm
Here's a copy of a flyer that the MARA sent out.
Here's MARA's club house.
The first person we recognized was Gail - KD8CXB!
She is showing off her new MARA shirt!
And then Sam showed up! Yes, Sam and Gail are IOOK'ers too!
Sam - WA8VIW
A vintage display station inside the club house.
The station on the left is active and the one on the right is another vintage display.
Here's their digital station.
This is a full sized 80 meter vertical that Sam is working
on for the club. This is located in part of Sam and Gail's back yard.
They are operating a special event CW station in the camper.
The topless tower in the foreground will be the support for
the 80 meter vertical. More about the array in the background in a moment.
The capacitive hat is part of an antenna that is supported by the tower in
the background. When Sam started telling me about that antenna system it
was as though he had started talking GREEK or some other language I don't
understand! He sure lost me on antenna type and theory. He assured
me that if you used a field strength meter long the length of the antenna there
would be no voltage spikes!
Here's a closer look at the antennas on that tower -
horizontal beams for 6, 2 and UHF. Yes, that is another tower in the
distance.
Here's Sam's 5 band quad beam on 10, 12, 15, 17 and 20!
This is another look at the second tower with "The
Tractor Beam" in the background. Yes, more on "The Tractor
Beam" later.
Along the side of the tower is an 8 bay vertical used for
APRS.
This is where "The Tractor Beam" gets it's
name. The tower is mounted to a tractor. Once upon a time the
tractor moved the tower from one part of the property to another.
At the top of "The Tractor Beam" you have an
Isopole on 2 meters, then a stacked set of vertical two meter beams and then an
end mounted vertical UHF beam. Side mounted below are 6 meter and 10 meter
verticals. Lord knows what else is there that I have missed.
Then we went into Sam's basement. Here he has a
vintage station he inherited from an old friend and his digital and packet
stations.
"
Yes, there also appears to be a bunch of VHF and UHF stuff on the lower left
behind the chair...
This is Sam's primary HF station. What you can't see
is the computer he uses for this station. There is some incredible Drake
equipment here!
There is a sad portion to the story abut Sam and all these wonderful antennas
and equipment....I saw his log! He has worked one station this
month. The time he made a contact before that was in May. I think I
saw a total of 5 contacts this year!
In Sam's defense, he says he has been too busy to operate. However, he says in another year or so he ought to be able to retire and then LOOK OUT!
Here are a couple of Sam's old license plates!
This is the APRS station...
One of Sam's favorite pass times is soaking up the
suds! A true IOOK'er!
Yep! Tap in the door!
This view is from Sam and Gail's back yard looking toward
the Mound. The club house is on the right.
Down behind the club house by the gold course is the
parking lot for the Mound visitors. This is where the flea market was
located.
As Marian and I were preparing to leave we ran into Rich -
N8MRX and Jane - N8NQA from Tipp City!
Jane took our picture with the Mound in the background!
Keith - WA8ZWJ and Marian - WD8CJD
We had a great time and hope that MARA doesn't wait another 50 years before they do something like this again!
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Gail posted some photos on Facebook that I copied and have added below...
