Chatham Presentation TONIGHT
Jeff K5WE, who recently activated Chatham Island (NZ) as ZL7/K5WE with funding from WVDXC will present tonight at 6 pm pst. ?
Here is the Zoom Link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81871709598?pwd=S1FiNDA1OFh2SmxVK0VoTEoyaU14Zz09
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Zoom Meeting ID: 818 7170 9598
Passcode: 16372
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My take on the BuddiHex: 1. Excellent choice if you are driving and going to be there (wherever) for a week or so. Especially if you want to work the dickens out of the high bands.
2. Excellent choice if you are going to try and get Bouvetoya on 15 and 10 SSB, but a lot of money for a one-night stand!
3. ?I have not yet compared prices between the Mastwerx, GigaParts and Spiderbeam heavy-duty masts (capable of carrying a Hexbeam). I plan on doing so soon. Weight comparison also.
4. ?The SotaBeams 10M and 6M masts, and a couple of other nondescript telescopic masts, in my possession do very well for assorted wires including being able to erect a vertical Yagi or two for a bit more directional gain. Plus they are (or can be) very quick to set up and take down.
5. ?The original Buddipole, and all its various add-ons, still serves me very well for those drive-in portable operations where I’m ’staying for a while’. Otherwise I’m tending to go light wires only with one or more lightweight F’glass masts.
6. ?Future "Fly-in" type operations will likely be wires only with compact 6M or 7M telescopic masts. Carry-on luggage only. Unless Fiji or some other island really calls loudly enough! But even then my thought would be to go minimalist and just make sure I carried enough wire to make whatever was needed (palms and bamboo do the rest).
7. ?I’m not sure I would spring for the Mastwerx mast for just backyard usage. The hexbeam antenna in general does very well at low(er) heights and one could get away with some fencing top-rail or 4x4/6x6 lumber on a tilt-over.
8. ?Bottom Line for me: Nice bit of kit but not worth the expenditure. I can make (or buy) a Spiderbeam for (I think) less $$ and plunk it on top of my 10M mast at a reduced height and likely be very happy. Not as snazzy though.
Stay safe while you all celebrate the various holidays crowding down upon us. Time to get my 80M wire back up in the trees!
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Pretty spendy. It looks like a well designed system, but cost and weight make it unreasonable for our style activations.
POTA usually are short activations.? We take way to much to Crater Lake, but this system would work there- but would reduce room for other gear…maybe a good thing.
Ev? On Wed, Nov 23, 2022 at 12:02 PM Joe Kelly < joekelly@...> wrote: Gents,
As mentioned before, the BuddiHEX and the Mastwerks tripod are discussed in the December QST magazine. A few of my thoughts.
1. The whole system cost is high. Adding the 7m mast, Hex beam and sport case comes to $1500+. That's 50% more than my 857d radio at $1,000.
2. The Mastwerks system comes in three sizes: 4M, 7M, and 10M. The reports states that the gain is ~8db at 30feet. The report was done with the 7M, not the 10M mast.
3. Seems like a well thought out system. Chris and Budd did a great job.?
4. The overall weight and size are getting heavier and big. The 7M Mastwerks is 15 lbs, antenna is 10 lbs, Sportube is 12lbs. Thus a total of 37 lbs in a 4ft case. To that one must add a radio, coax, tools, headset, bandpass filters, etc etc, etc. If you're a contest participant then you'll probably be taking a K4, panadapter, power supply, and amplifier.?
5. We have done well on our DXpeditions using 100W radios, or KX2/KX3 and lightweight antennas, yet we always struggle with baggage weight and size. Except for Martinique (noise & location) and Barbados (location) we have been successful and always had fun.?
6. For our group of four friends, I would not change anything. Nothing like a trip to PEI to use a turnkey QTH. St. Lucia was great fun too. Then increasing weight, size and complexity with Mastwerks & BuddiHEX doesn't seem worthwhile.?
7. The perfect application for the Mastwerks and BuddiHEX is in a backyard or via car trips. Ev can use his Sprinter RV and have a super road trip for POTA, county collecting, field day, trips to Canada etc.
What are your thoughts? Joe N7BF?
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
-- Everett Curry W6ABM
Assistant Section Manager/Oregon
ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio?
"A" Sorter - Sixth District QSL Bureau
Phone: (503) 522-7142 Email: ? w6abm@...__________________ Think about this: My goal wasn't to make a ton of money. It was to build good computers.? ? ? ? ? ? -- Steve Wozniak
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Pretty spendy. It looks like a well designed system, but cost and weight make it unreasonable for our style activations.
POTA usually are short activations.? We take way to much to Crater Lake, but this system would work there- but would reduce room for other gear…maybe a good thing.
Ev?
On Wed, Nov 23, 2022 at 12:02 PM Joe Kelly < joekelly@...> wrote: Gents,
As mentioned before, the BuddiHEX and the Mastwerks tripod are discussed in the December QST magazine. A few of my thoughts.
1. The whole system cost is high. Adding the 7m mast, Hex beam and sport case comes to $1500+. That's 50% more than my 857d radio at $1,000.
2. The Mastwerks system comes in three sizes: 4M, 7M, and 10M. The reports states that the gain is ~8db at 30feet. The report was done with the 7M, not the 10M mast.
3. Seems like a well thought out system. Chris and Budd did a great job.?
4. The overall weight and size are getting heavier and big. The 7M Mastwerks is 15 lbs, antenna is 10 lbs, Sportube is 12lbs. Thus a total of 37 lbs in a 4ft case. To that one must add a radio, coax, tools, headset, bandpass filters, etc etc, etc. If you're a contest participant then you'll probably be taking a K4, panadapter, power supply, and amplifier.?
5. We have done well on our DXpeditions using 100W radios, or KX2/KX3 and lightweight antennas, yet we always struggle with baggage weight and size. Except for Martinique (noise & location) and Barbados (location) we have been successful and always had fun.?
6. For our group of four friends, I would not change anything. Nothing like a trip to PEI to use a turnkey QTH. St. Lucia was great fun too. Then increasing weight, size and complexity with Mastwerks & BuddiHEX doesn't seem worthwhile.?
7. The perfect application for the Mastwerks and BuddiHEX is in a backyard or via car trips. Ev can use his Sprinter RV and have a super road trip for POTA, county collecting, field day, trips to Canada etc.
What are your thoughts? Joe N7BF?
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
-- Everett Curry W6ABM
Assistant Section Manager/Oregon
ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio?
"A" Sorter - Sixth District QSL Bureau
Phone: (503) 522-7142 Email: ? w6abm@...__________________ Think about this: My goal wasn't to make a ton of money. It was to build good computers.? ? ? ? ? ? -- Steve Wozniak
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Gents,
As mentioned before, the BuddiHEX and the Mastwerks tripod are discussed in the December QST magazine. A few of my thoughts.
1. The whole system cost is high. Adding the 7m mast, Hex beam and sport case comes to $1500+. That's 50% more than my 857d radio at $1,000.
2. The Mastwerks system comes in three sizes: 4M, 7M, and 10M. The reports states that the gain is ~8db at 30feet. The report was done with the 7M, not the 10M mast.
3. Seems like a well thought out system. Chris and Budd did a great job.?
4. The overall weight and size are getting heavier and big. The 7M Mastwerks is 15 lbs, antenna is 10 lbs, Sportube is 12lbs. Thus a total of 37 lbs in a 4ft case. To that one must add a radio, coax, tools, headset, bandpass filters, etc etc, etc. If you're a contest participant then you'll probably be taking a K4, panadapter, power supply, and amplifier.?
5. We have done well on our DXpeditions using 100W radios, or KX2/KX3 and lightweight antennas, yet we always struggle with baggage weight and size. Except for Martinique (noise & location) and Barbados (location) we have been successful and always had fun.?
6. For our group of four friends, I would not change anything. Nothing like a trip to PEI to use a turnkey QTH. St. Lucia was great fun too. Then increasing weight, size and complexity with Mastwerks & BuddiHEX doesn't seem worthwhile.?
7. The perfect application for the Mastwerks and BuddiHEX is in a backyard or via car trips. Ev can use his Sprinter RV and have a super road trip for POTA, county collecting, field day, trips to Canada etc.
What are your thoughts? Joe N7BF?
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
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‘No safe place’: Kiribati seeks donors to raise islands from encroaching seas
https://news.yahoo.com/no-safe-place-kiribati-seeks-090001477.html Pacific state needs billions for its ambitious plan – its president demands wealthy nations act to help now
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Bob Norin is a great guy and a skilled radio operator. I have visited him several times near his home in Sisters. I'm sure that he will "light up Pago Pago".?
Cheers, Joe?
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
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-------- Original message -------- From: W6ABM <arsw6abm@...> Date: 11/17/22 7:48 AM (GMT-08:00) Subject: [HAM-ADVENTURERS] American Samoa
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KH8 - American Samoa
K8H American Samoa operator W7YAQ, Bob, was delayed due to fog at
Redmond, Oregon airport. He will miss today's flight to Pago Pago.
Bob has been rebooked for Monday afternoon flight from Honolulu to
Pago. He'll be on Oahu with all his gear starting tonight. He will be
looking for a rental place. "Meanwhile since Al K7AR is flying
Hawaiian out of Portland (no fog) he will be on schedule arriving in
American Samoa tonight", says Bob. Al hopes to be QRV around Friday
afternoon (local time) as K8H.
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Re: VY2ZM on PEI has Been SOLD!
Interesting.? Good for their purposes.
Everett?
On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 7:52 AM Barclay Thomas < wt4bt@...> wrote: "VY2ZM is no more. Jeff and Miriam closed on the property sale recently."
No idea what the new owner will do, nor who he/they is/are.
Mac
-- Everett Curry W6ABM
Assistant Section Manager/Oregon
ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio?
"A" Sorter - Sixth District QSL Bureau
Phone: (503) 522-7142 Email: ? w6abm@...__________________ Think about this: My goal wasn't to make a ton of money. It was to build good computers.? ? ? ? ? ? -- Steve Wozniak
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VY2ZM on PEI has Been SOLD!
"VY2ZM is no more. Jeff and Miriam closed on the property sale recently."
No idea what the new owner will do, nor who he/they is/are.
Mac
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A fun & useful winter project.
Gents,
Yes, I know a winter project for Ev, Mac, and me. A summer project for Peter. As I drove home from a friend's Celebration of Life event in Southern California I thought about future DX possibilities. Since the drive was 1,000 miles long, I had lots of time.
The idea is to have each of us develop a specific location for a potential DX trip. Then in January we could share our thoughts and findings with the rest of the group. No obligation to go on one of those trips, but maybe one trip would seem best.
Based on recent conversations, DX articles, and personal interests I think that the following "assignments" would work.
1) Peter: Chatham Island. He knows people there etc.? 2) Ev: any of the Austral Islands, or more than one. Ev's SeaPac DX luncheon speaker gave a good talk on the topic. Ev has the info and can ask him for more data. 3) Joe: I have a strong interest in going to? Easter Island and have started researching the possibility. Plus I've had email exchanges with an ham who was there. 4) Mac: can pick one possiblity based on his interests. He and I talked about it and he'll pick something that fits the idea.
I think that the sites should be: A. Reachable by air B. Have interesting things to do when not operating the radios C. Have reasonable lodging? D. Have a reasonable Most Wanted #.?
Does this approach sound ok with you? Your thoughts and site preferences??
Cheers to all......Joe?
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
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Hi to you all, I was and will talk again with ZL3IO who has looked at ZL7 operation and has spoken to ZL7DX recently. It is much as Joe says. Presently dealing with a family funeral but will get on to things next week. All well otherwise. ? ? Nga mihi ? Peter Moore ZL2HM ? ? ?
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From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of W6ABM
Sent: Friday, 21 October 2022 5:57 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [HAM-ADVENTURERS] Chatham Discussion? This HAM-ADVENTURERS group includes the four of us.
Agreed. Antennae choices are important to success. Seasonality choice is probably the first decision to be made.
I’ll see what I can turn up on the QTH…likely will find it. Band and mode choices are a pragmatic matter. If our goal is lots of contacts…FT8 and FT4 alone works. ?We’re mostly SSB ops. That’ll be our bread-and-butter, but I like the digital modes and they give seekers their ATNO. My CW can work for DX operations if need be.
We’ll be at the top of Sun Cycle ?#25 if we go in the next four years!
Ev
From Joe: Thanks for sending me the report on the September 2022 Chatham Island DXPEDITION. Several thoughts and opinions.? 1. The weather can be brutal. Peter and I have discussed it with emphasis on time of year and antennas vs heavy rain and wind. ? 2. The Crank-IR antenna is not a good option. I still recall the JA team on Norfolk saying that it was too much trouble. It broke several times. In strong winds it can fail often. Plus one has to run out into the elements to change bands.?? 3. It was good to know that a QTH house can be rented, and it includes a 4WD vehicle. Although no price is given.? 4. The father-son team seemed to be poorly prepared. Ev Curry had everything covered on our PEI trip. There were no surprises. Our team prepared well for Norfolk and I did well on NIUE.? 5. Despite their choice of antennas and their lack of preparation, they bagged 18,305 QSOS in 13 days. However 66% of the QSOs came via FT8. CW bagged over 5,000 QSOs. My favorite mode of SSB only got a total of 323 QSOs. ?. Disappointing to me. 6. It was noteworthy that 84.5% of all contacts came 15M to 40M. The low bands were not favorable.? 7. I think that we could do better with Peter's knowledge of weather and the island, and our teams preparedness.?
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This HAM-ADVENTURERS group includes the four of us.
Agreed. Antennae choices are important to success. Seasonality choice is probably the first decision to be made.
I’ll see what I can turn up on the QTH…likely will find it.
Band and mode choices are a pragmatic matter. If our goal is lots of contacts…FT8 and FT4 alone works. ?We’re mostly SSB ops. That’ll be our bread-and-butter, but I like the digital modes and they give seekers their ATNO. My CW can work for DX operations if need be.
We’ll be at the top of Sun Cycle ?#25 if we go in the next four years!
Ev
From Joe:
Thanks for sending me the report on the September 2022 Chatham Island DXPEDITION. Several thoughts and opinions.?
?
1. The weather can be brutal. Peter and I have discussed it with emphasis on time of year and antennas vs heavy rain and wind. ?
?
2. The Crank-IR antenna is not a good option. I still recall the JA team on Norfolk saying that it was too much trouble. It broke several times. In strong winds it can fail often. Plus one has to run out into the elements to change bands.??
?
3. It was good to know that a QTH house can be rented, and it includes a 4WD vehicle. Although no price is given.?
?
4. The father-son team seemed to be poorly prepared. Ev Curry had everything covered on our PEI trip. There were no surprises. Our team prepared well for Norfolk and I did well on NIUE.?
?
5. Despite their choice of antennas and their lack of preparation, they bagged 18,305 QSOS in 13 days. However 66% of the QSOs came via FT8. CW bagged over 5,000 QSOs. My favorite mode of SSB only got a total of 323 QSOs. ?. Disappointing to me.
?
6. It was noteworthy that 84.5% of all contacts came 15M to 40M. The low bands were not favorable.?
?
7. I think that we could do better with Peter's knowledge of weather and the island, and our teams preparedness.?
?
Joe Kelly?
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Ev, Joe and Peter, good evening or whatever your clock reads. Ev, glad you got the logs sorted and uploaded.
I’m still waiting on the dental surgery, see the sawbones tomorrow afternoon for the look-see and a slice-and-dice date. Knocked the temporary crown loose a couple of times now and had to get it re-glued. Makes for good bedtime reading if you’re into nightmares.?
I don’t know how a Pacific venture will play out for me/us. Too many unknowns right now but should have an idea before the holidays. I haven’t had the time to do any real looking at your proposed sites, the club hamfest has taken on a life of its own this go-round. Much worse than previous years. It is something I WILL NOT be involved in next year though!!!
Later, Mac
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Home a week...finally got my LoTW credentials for W6ABM/VY2 and logs are submitted and processed.
MAC: how is the dental surgery going??
I checked out the PDX - IPC airfares and started looking at seasonal weather.?
The most common route from Portland OR (PDX) is via Los Angeles LAX or New York's JFK with an overnight there and SCL, Santiago Chile.? The
fares range widely...but typically $1,375-2,500.? LATAM is the airline serving Mataveri via Santiago, Chile.? LATAM has a direct route from Auckland to
Santiago. I haven't checked that fare.
The location in the southeastern Pacific (-27.104671, -109.360481) makes February the warmest month and August the coolest month.? Look up and
read the on-the-ground comments from the XR0YD DXpedition in March, 2018.
Just one option...their site seems reasonable in February and March.
Ev W6ABM
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Home a week...finally got my LoTW credentials for W6ABM/VY2 and logs are submitted and processed.
MAC: how is the dental surgery going??
I checked out the PDX - IPC airfares and started looking at seasonal weather.?
The most common route from Portland OR (PDX) is via Los Angeles LAX or New York's JFK with an overnight there and SCL, Santiago Chile.? The
fares range widely...but typically $1,375-2,500.? LATAM is the airline serving Mataveri via Santiago, Chile.? LATAM has a direct route from Auckland to
Santiago. I haven't checked that fare.
The location in the southeastern Pacific (-27.104671, -109.360481) makes February the warmest month and August the coolest month.? Look up and
read the on-the-ground comments from the XR0YD DXpedition in March, 2018.
Just one option...their site seems reasonable in February and March.
Ev W6ABM
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DL2AH looks like a kindred spirit
2023 Plan for DXPEDITION. His previous ops look like our list of options.
Everett
Next year will see Uli DL2AH embark on another long Pacific journey. Previously Uli has been active as?VP6AH?(Pitcairn),?TX2AH?(Mangareva/Gambier),?NH0/DL2AH?(Rota/Northern Mariana),?V63AH?(Yap/FSM),?ZK3AH?(Tokelau),?AH8/DL2AH?(Ofu Island OC-077),?A35AH(Tonga),?ZK2AH?(Nuie),?ZL7/DL2AH(Chatham Island),?VK9ANH?(Norfolk Island),?3D2AH?(Fiji),?T2AH?(Tuvalu),?T30KU?(Kiribati),?5W0AH?(Samoa) &?KH8/DL2AH?(American Samoa).
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Hi Joe, Ev and Mac, I have been home nearly a week and am just about acclimatised. Had snow falling here this morning, very unusual for these latitudes. The last sting of winter I hope I had quite an eventful trip home, caught all my flights but some connections were a bit tight. 1 ? hours in a queue in Montreal to get through security and passport control, then the plane broke down and we sat on the tarmac for three hours while they fixed the problem and found a new crew, the first one had run out of hours. I had a great time with Everett, Joe and Nancy. Sorry to have missed you Mac and Lynn. I hope there is a next time so that we can meet It was my first experience of a Contest Station with all the antennas and hi power, Well worth the visit. ? I hope you are all safely home now. Thanks for organising this great experience. ? ? Nga mihi ? Peter Moore ZL2HM ? ? ?
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From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of W6ABM
Sent: Sunday, 4 September 2022 4:10 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [HAM-ADVENTURERS] Last Leg? Sitting at Logan Airport waiting for a flight to Portland this evening.
Excellent time yesterday at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in south Boston at Columbia Point. Other than the fact this was “move in” day for UMass Boston…where the Library resides.
The Library does a great job telling the JFK story…and decently includes Jackie and their children. For me, it was a refreshing of my young adulthood.
long wait to check my suitcase…at 3:20…then hoping ?there is room in the lounge so I can watch The Oregon Duck - Georgia Dogs on tv at 3:30 pm edt.
Everett
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I'm not enjoying the Oregon vs Georgia game. Nix tries to thread the needle with passes that should have been thrown to an open player. Oregon running backs try to be clever when simply running forward would be best. Now the Georgia crowd is into it, making signal calling difficult.?
The Baltimore Orioles game might be on in the Boston area. Adley Rutschman, from Oregon State, is playing with the birds.?
Joe
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-------- Original message -------- From: W6ABM <arsw6abm@...> Date: 9/3/22 9:11 AM (GMT-08:00) Subject: [HAM-ADVENTURERS] Last Leg
Sitting at Logan Airport waiting for a flight to Portland this evening. Excellent time yesterday at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in south Boston at Columbia Point. Other than the fact this was “move in” day for UMass Boston…where the Library resides. The Library does a great job telling the JFK story…and decently includes Jackie and their children. For me, it was a refreshing of my young adulthood. long wait to check my suitcase…at 3:20…then hoping ?there is room in the lounge so I can watch The Oregon Duck - Georgia Dogs on tv at 3:30 pm edt. Everett
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Yes, we had to wait to check in our bags. The earliest check in is 4 hours before the flight. But you now know that. Food was good at "Joe's " near the Alaska gates. When we were there, flights to Portland, SFO, and San Diego had close times. I think that Alaska ended up canceling the SFO flight.
Joe
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
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-------- Original message -------- From: W6ABM <arsw6abm@...> Date: 9/3/22 9:11 AM (GMT-08:00) Subject: [HAM-ADVENTURERS] Last Leg
Sitting at Logan Airport waiting for a flight to Portland this evening. Excellent time yesterday at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in south Boston at Columbia Point. Other than the fact this was “move in” day for UMass Boston…where the Library resides. The Library does a great job telling the JFK story…and decently includes Jackie and their children. For me, it was a refreshing of my young adulthood. long wait to check my suitcase…at 3:20…then hoping ?there is room in the lounge so I can watch The Oregon Duck - Georgia Dogs on tv at 3:30 pm edt. Everett
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Sitting at Logan Airport waiting for a flight to Portland this evening.
Excellent time yesterday at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in south Boston at Columbia Point. Other than the fact this was “move in” day for UMass Boston…where the Library resides.
The Library does a great job telling the JFK story…and decently includes Jackie and their children. For me, it was a refreshing of my young adulthood.
long wait to check my suitcase…at 3:20…then hoping ?there is room in the lounge so I can watch The Oregon Duck - Georgia Dogs on tv at 3:30 pm edt.
Everett
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Ev W6ABM McMinnville Oregon