Friday, December 23, 2011

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
 
 
I know that this blog is supposed to be my feeble attempts at describing my repeaters and the goings-on involving them, but I wanted to take this opportunity and share with you a small essay that I discovered years ago. I used to read this little essay on .47 when it was newly on the air.  It reminds me of the real reson for the season.
 

One Solitary Life

Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.
He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself...
While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.
All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.

 
I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas!  May God Bless you and keep you this holiday season and throughout the year!
 
THANK YOU to all of you who use my repeaters. By doing so, *you* help me enjoy this great hobby and public service that we call Amateur Radio. I would much rather hear each of you on my repeaters, where they are facilitating your communications, than I would be talking on them myself.
 
73 de Tim WB4GBI

Friday, December 9, 2011

How about a little news?

 
 
                                                                   HOW ABOUT A LITTLE NEWS? 
 
Its been since September, hasn't it?  Well, now that football season is over, I can "catch up" just a little. The real "catching up" won't occur until until basketball season is over in the Spring. Such is the life of a college sports radio engineer.
 
But here's some good news!!  Thanks to the help of a donor, I have just ordered a NEW antenna for the 53.15 six meter repeater! I have also re-coordinated it to the 146.625 site where it will be in its new home. Why did I re-coordinate from English Mountain? Here's why: I have to RENT tower space on English for 146.73. Renting more space for the six meter repeater would be an additional recurring expense, and as an individual repeater owner I need to keep those at a minimum. The new antenna will be here in a few weeks. One thing about the .625 site...I don't have to pay rent-it's mine.
 
There are several new   callsigns showing up on the 927.725 MHz repeater! Recently, I have heard WB4CTW, K4BWG, and WA4FLH. I hope the same will happen when 53.15 returns to the air.
 
The antenna is here and the monies are set aside for the 146.73 antenna relocation. As soon as the weather, the tower owner, and the tower climber are all on the same page, it will be relocated. The Jefferson County ARES group is making 146.73 their home for the JCARES net...here's hoping more folks will discover 146.73 from its lofty perch on English Mountain!
 
I hope to write another blog entry before the end on the month, but in case I don't- Here's wishing you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a happy New Year! And let us all remember the REAL reason for the season, the celebration of Jesus's birth.
 
73 de Tim WB4GBI