[OKDXA] DX Banquet

[N5OK]

Jeff,

Judy and plan on being there.  It is unfortunate that the banquet, Texoma
Hamarama and the OSU homecoming all landed on the same weekend.  (We will
have to do a better job at coordinating next year) Judy had made
reservations for a room in Ardmore some time ago.  So I'm debating how to
handle all of this scheduling/logistics.  The obvious thing would be to go
to Ardmore Friday, spend the night and then around noon head back north.
As I have gotten older, I look at that as a lot of driving for one day.
Ardmore to Collins is more than I usually have to drive for a meeting.  I'm
seriously considering cancelling our room at Ardmore and returning home
after the Friday evening session of the hamfest.  That way I can be nice
and fresh for the drive up to Collinsville.  Still thinking about it.

I'm really looking forward to Mark's tour.  I've owned a quad (don't
remember for sure if it was a Cubex)  It got me from a country count around
290 to over 300.  An ice storm broke it to pieces.  (I have a great story I
can tell about that.)  I owned 3 different Tennadyne antennas.  I started
with a T10.  It worked great until the ice got it.  (Ice seems to really be
a factor at 100')  I replaced it with a T12.  It was a fantastic antenna.
It had a little more capture area, the beam width was narrower with a
little more gain and no traps and no moving parts!  An ice storm took it
down and drove the boom through the roof of the house.  (Judy was not
happy) I replaced it with a T10.  I thought maybe the T10 was a little
easier to manage.  A tornado hit the house in May of 2013 and ripped the
T10 in half plus a lot of other damage.  I replaced it with a SteppIR and
I'm on my 3rd SteppIR now.  I'm in the middle of an ice zone for sure.  If
you want to know why I went with the SteppIR look me up on QRZ.COM.  I've
rambled on but I really want to see the manufacturing part of building
these antennas.  Perhaps I can get some hints from Mark on how to get them
through ice storms.  😊

I'm also looking forward to seeing everyone at the banquet.  I'm digging
around to see what I can find for a door prize.

73, Coy

Coy C Day, N5OK
20685 SW 29
Union City, OK 73090
H(405) 483-5632 C(405) 448-2368
n5ok at arrl.net