Some vintage pictures of operators and the station.
The first contest we ever worked was the Ohio QSO Party. It was Steve, KB1GHC, and myself (KB1FWN at the time). I lived in a small duplex with only a very low G5RV and a barefoot TS440. We didn't do so great, and continued to not do so great for several years. Eventually, we moved into another house with more room. At first, the station was located in a closet off of the dining room. The acoustic qualities weren't that great, but in 2001, we operated our first contest from the new QTH: WAE SSB. Again, not spectacular, but much better.
Around this time, we threw up the first beam, 3ele aimed at EU. Then, somebody got the idea to do a serious multiop. In 2002-2003, we entered a variety of multi-operator events, none of them with a good amplifier or satisfactory antennas. We had fun, though, and we established a few guys who were interested in doing these multi-single operations, as noncompetitive as they were at the time. It was immediately obvious that we needed a new shack. So, we moved down into the basement.
The basement was unfinished, with a dirt floor and bare lightbulbs hanging down. It was cold in the winter and warm in the summer. Occasionally, the mice would pay us visits, but they didn't cause as much trouble as the leaking pipes from overhead. Because it wasn't exactly the most comfortable place to operate, I still kept the shack just off the dining room for single-op stuff and regular operating. Things went on like that for a while until I went to college.
I was in college over two-hundred miles away from home and radio, but I continued to accrue equipment. We picked up a new amplifier, modified the radios, and rebuilt the switching platforms over Spring Break. We also threw new tables down in the basement -- an area that had become known as "the chamber." Heading into the next season, I transferred to a school closer to home, and the serious multi-operator contests began to happen. The upstairs shack ceased to exist, and became a linen closet. And so the RF flew...
The shack was never finished. Its been lived-in for so long, however, that it doesn't exactly feel like a basement. Coax and power cables run through the rafters and patch-panel bulkheads take the place of windows. Every year, we get a little bigger and a little better. We can't compete with the "big guys" yet, but we'll get there.
K1KAA Vocabulary
There are many signs and notes around the chamber; some inspirational, others just dark. Here are the more
amusing ones:
