[PaQSO] Ode to a QTH

[Ron Notarius WN3VAW]

Taking a momentary break from your regularly scheduled emails on who's going
where, what QRP is or isn't,  when this year's rules will be posted to the
site, and which obscure rule will be disected by a would-be lawyer for a
loop-hole (hmmm, that one hasn't happened yet this year, has it?)...

A short word about a QTH that won't be in use this year.

For four out of the last five years, the Wireless Association has been
fortunate enough to operate one of the club calls (either N3SH or WA3SH,
which in itself is a long story, but I digress) portable from a cabin owned
by Rich N3SBF & Carol KB3GMN up in Clarion County, and only a short hop (and
I do mean short, about 200 yards or so) from the Forest County line.  Should
have been 5/5, but due to a death in the family a week before the 'test, it
wasn't available on short notice.

I was up there the first two years the club operated, as a part-time
operator on Saturday as family obligations had me home on Sunday each of
those weekends (and I also say part time because the first year, N0VLR & I
ran around mobile to some of the adjoining counties, the next year I parked
over in Forest for a few hours with what turned out to be a busted antenna
and somehow managed to scratch out a few Q's...).

Although said family obigations, to say nothing of two weddings on Saturday
2 years ago, kept me from returning, I know the entire N3SH/WA3SH crew
always had a great time up there, and it gave us all a chance to see how
dipoles, longwires, and the club Butternut HF6V would perform, usually quite
well.

Unfortunately, due to a change in plans by our hosts, the cabin is not
available this year.  The heart & sould of the long time "regulars" of the
N3SH M/M team are heading south this year (NP2SH will be actively looking
for contest Q's from the USVI, so if you miss that multiplier you have no
one but yourselves to blame this year), so we're working on a new QTH closer
to home.  And with WA3SH now operating from up on Laurel Ridge along the
Somerset/Westmoreland line, it's very possible that it may be a long time
before the next WASH trip to Clarion -- and who knows, now that he's a
General, maybe N3SBF will run his own station from there one year!

In any event, I just wanted to take a moment to publicly thank N3SBF &
KB3GMN for all their years of hospitality in Clarion with me and with the
other WASH club members who managed to make it up there once or more over
the years.  Maybe it doesn't get done enough, but it is appreciated and it
never hurts to say so.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled reflector.

73, ron wn3vaw

"I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's.
His hair was... perfect."
-- "Werewolves of London", Warron Zevon SK 8 Sept 2003