Station

Elecraft K3 driving TEN-TEC TITAN 425A

Antennas: 80 and 40 Meter 4-Square Arrays with Quadrature Hybrid Beamforming Networks

Please see G4ATA's website for my 4-Square antenna pictures and details

http://www.4-square.co.uk/na/w1qs/index.html

AMATEUR RADIO BIOGRAPHY

52 years of Low Band DXing from New England, Japan and California.

1975 to 2000 Former call sign, N6JL with a location in Santa Cruz Mountains that long path operators dream about only if they had the chance to know what it's like to operate at 2800 feet looking to the ocean from NNE thru west to SSW. For this location I designed and built a dual band array for 80 and 160 meters suspended 250' above a canyon. Also installed 80 ft rotating self-supporting tower with 4-ele 20-meter beam, 40-meter dipole and dual band 3-ele 15/10 meter beam mounted at the top. All survived the great 89 Loma Prieta Earthquake.

I began my ham activities in 1959 as K1KTH from Lincoln, MA. I met Dana Atchley, W1CF (W1HKK) who found me in the neighborhood looking to be a weekend helper with his antenna projects. It was then that I discovered the art of low band antenna experimentation and construction. I had the pleasure of operating his station in the ARRL Phone Sweepstakes achieving the top New England score and 10th overall in 1961.

1965 to 1968 while in the USAF, I acquired the call sign KA7AB and operated on the Island of Kyushu, Southern Japan.

Contest achievements from Japan: ARRL DX Contest- Asia high score plaques in 1967 and 1968 for both Phone and CW. In the1967 CW CQWW DX Contest was top score for Asia and in the "Top Ten" world wide.

Obtained the first KA authorization to operate on 80 meters and enjoyed making many DX contacts via the gray line to the east coast of the USA and Sam Harris, W1FZJ/KP4 almost all year round, both on SSB and CW. For many in the northeast of the USA I gave out their first Phone contacts with Japan.

Upon return to the USA I built a DX contest station and won the CQWW DX Single Op All Band Top USA Score, Patomac Valley RC Trophy for Phone in 1969 and the Frankfort RC for CW in 1970.

I'm now retired and live on a 30 acre farm in Maine and traded in N6JL for the vanity W1QS callsign. It took me a few years to reach a point where there is time on the farm for getting back on the air after being QRT for about 10 years.

The 80 and 40 meter 4-Square phased vertical site is 300 ft east of the farm house. The antennas are fed with 7/8" Heliax running underground from the house to the site. I met my goal of completing construction before the end of 2009. A pair of phased top loaded verticals for 160 meters and two bi directiona l800 ft Beverages will be added shortly.

Other activities include breeding Morgan horses, sailing in Maine and maintaining the farm. I volunteer my professional expertisein broadband wireless services and mission critical communications.

73,

John, W1QS exN6JL, K1KTH and KA7AB