[South Florida DX Association] Frances Aftermath at Ground Zero

Thu Sep 9 21:47:21 EDT 2004

Good report.

I lost the two element spider quad in this storm here in West Palm Beach.
It hit me so hard it twisted the boom off the heliarc welded down pipe.
Like you I had the impact resistent windows, but stayed home to enjoy the
storm.

I am in the market for new antennas.  I can put up a 4 element StepIR, or
stacked yagis or another quad.

I thought it would be fun to pole the group.

By far my best attenna has been the quad - it hears when yagis experience
noise.  I have had TH6DXX, and TH7DXX antennas in the past.  I have a 54
foot crank-up, with a 15 foot pipe sticking out the top which use to hold
the quad,  in the back yard which should handle most anything.

All suggestions welcome.

Terry - W6LMJ

On 9/9/04 6:54 PM, "Michael Raskin" <rask1553 at bellsouth.net> wrote:

> I never dreamed that Sewall's Point would become famous and so well known when
> we first moved here over a year ago!  If you haven't heard, Associated Press
> reported Sewall's Point as "ground zero" - what a dubious honor.  We just got
> power and phone service.  We are fine and so are the dogs.  Since we are in a
> mandatory evacuation area, we left our home Friday afternoon and moved into
> the pet-friendly Marriott Golf Resort in Coral Springs.  They had their own
> emergency power, we could bring our dogs, room was only $89 a night, and the
> bar stayed open all night Friday and Saturday.  We were not allowed back on
> Sewall's Point until Tuesday, expecting the worst.  The house is standing
> without any real structural damage.  No shutters but the impact resistant
> glass held beautifully without any leaks.  However, we are on the wide Indian
> River, facing the east, two miles north of the Stuart inlet to the Atlantic,
> and the storm surge had the ground floor under three feet of water and muck -
> everything in the garage blew around and was totaled.  Our new vetted was
> written off as a total loss (I guess I always wanted the C6 instead).  Yard is
> a total mess - everything down but the palm trees.  Lost the entire fence.
> Sherry and I took down the Big Stepp-IR, 160M vertical, and Butternut last
> Friday.  My 40' crank up with 5 element M2 6M beam had no damage.  Butternut
> and Stepp-IR goes up tomorrow.  My best wishes to all who suffered and had
> losses, but the best part is that we all survived.
> 
> 73,
> Mike, W4UM (ex-K4KUZ)  w4um at arrl.net
> Sherry, W4SLR (ex-KE4JMX) w4slr at arrl.net
> South Florida DX Association  http://www.qsl.net/k4fk/
> Florida Contest Group  http://www.floridacontestgroup.org
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