West Texas Connection Newsletter MARCH-APRIL 1996 The WTC Newsletter is available on a bi-monthly basis for a subscription/donation of $12 per year. Subscribers also receive new maps of the system twice a year. Send $12 to: WTC, P.O. Box 7033, Odessa, TX 79760 After postage, all money goes toward maintenance of the West Texas Connection. Editor - Les Blalock, N5KOA WTC Sunday Morning Net The WTC Sunday Morning Net meets at 0900 (Central) every Sunday morning. The net is informal and open to all. Check in for local ham news and events. (The WTC net also supports the Permian Basin Repeater Association while their 146.880 machine looks for a new home.) THERE WILL BE NO SUNDAY MORNING NET ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17TH DUE TO THE HAMFEST Midland Hamfest Look for the WTC tables at Midland. There will be official WTC caps for sale and new maps. Stop by and say hello. WTC News The 442.600 machine at King Mountain is back on-line thanks to Pat, KB5MBK. This machine links directly into the Odessa Hub and offers great coverage south in the Crane/McCamey area. The 147.220 Midland repeater is back up at a new location. That repeater now links directly to the Odessa hub. It previously linked to Big Spring. There are currently no plans to replace the 147.120 machine out to the east. If a local group or individual would like to place and maintain a link in the Abilene/Sweetwater/Colorado City area, please let us know. There has been some interest shown by hams in the San Angelo area to have a WTC link there, too. The WTC would welcome a San Angelo site if it is placed and maintained locally. HAM RADIO & MORE A Weekly Talk-Radio Broadcast The weekly amateur radio talk-show, Ham Radio and More can be heard every Saturday on 12.160 mHz AM at 11:05 a.m. (CST). The show, hosted by Len Winkler, KB7LPW, features special guests and listener's calls. Subjects range from the theory of doppler radar to Len's proposal of a NO-CODE General license. The show is offered free to local AM broadcast stations but no local stations are known to carry it live in West Texas at this time. A CHANCE TO SEE THE SITES Mark, N5SOR, is putting together a maintenance schedule for the western sites and this could be a good opportunity to meet WTC users and see the repeater sites. Some of the more scenic sites include Mt. Livermore and Dark Canyon. Both of these sites would be good places for a weekend outing. Take your family, if you like, and plan to camp out. Work and/or maintenance at a site should take very little time and the rest of the time can be spent visiting and enjoying the scenery. Schedules will be announced on the Sunday Morning Net and published in the WTC Newsletter. The History of the West Texas Connection Part 2 As discussion turned into action, there was a flurry of activity as a linked radio system was being born in West Texas. While the hub was shaping up at Odessa there were actually three distant sites being prepared to link into it; all at about the same time. Garreth (W5CDM), you'll recall, had spurred the development by proposing the possibility of a linked system. His interest was in talking into Odessa from his perch atop the mountains near Ft. Davis. The idea had appealled to Jim (WA5QMJ) because, as a traveling electrical parts salesman, he wanted to work back in to Odessa while making his area sales calls. Also, because Jim had recently lost a tower site, he and Garreth decided it was time to buy their own land for a tower. That presented the opportunity for long-term projects that were not dependent upon outsiders. Thanks to Jim and Garreth, Pleasant Farms became the hub site but Garreth and Jim both thought the mountains were better places to spend hot summer days. Jim and Nancy often went to the New Mexico mountains around Ruidoso for relaxation. A pickup, a pop-up trailer, a packed ice chest and Tiko were the escape plan. Oh yeah. And a radio. Garreth retreated to Ft. Davis and actually bought his property in the mountains, in large part, due to its radio propagation potential. From the location (about 7000 feet) a mobile-mounted radio could hit the Permian Basin Repeater Association repeater located at Penwell, west of Odessa. He didn't exactly say so but it's most likely he confirmed that before the check for the property was signed. In any case, it became obvious that the site was ideal for line-of-sight radio work and Garreth linked his 147.36 repeater directly back to the Odessa hub, becoming one of the first, if not THE first link in the system. Garreth likes to refer to these kinds of projects as "foolishness" and everyone who knows him, knows that Garreth's "foolishness" keeps him on the cutting edge. Since he first became licensed in 1951 Garreth has contributed much time and effort, not to mention cash, into ham radio and computers. While Jim Jeffery will always be remembered as the "father" of the West Texas Connection, remember that Garreth's "foolishness" spanked the baby to life. That Ft. Davis repeater was the resulting cry. The original link from Ft. Davis was from a crystal-controlled Icom radio and the antenna was mounted on a 7000 ft. pole. Well, actually a 30 ft. pole on top of the 7000 ft. mountain - either way, the antenna had a good view to the north and Garreth still has that old Icom. Almost simultaneously, two other repeaters were linked back to the Odessa hub. The Ft. Stockton repeater of Albert Bean, WB5FWR came in along with a repeater at Andrews put up by Jim. Albert's repeater first went on the air on June 4, 1977 as WR5AVW (Repeaters had assigned callsigns at that time.) His repeater was moved to its present location south of Ft. Stockton, at 3890 ft. elevation, on October 30, 1978. Being the record keeper that he is, Albert first logged the Odessa hub (444.100) on January 30, 1983. According to Albert's log, the Ft. Stockton repeater was linked on March 4, 1983. On May 4, 1985 the Ft. Stockton frequency was changed from 146.07 to 146.680, where it remains today. To his credit, Albert's repeater has become the most prominent in the system. On any Sunday during the net, you can be assured that Ft. Stockton hams will outnumber those from any other location. More importantly, when Skywarn is operating, the Ft. Stockton hams are always ready, able and willing to report in. Although you might not hear Albert check in on the net, you can be sure he's listening and monitoring the repeater. If trouble develops he'll know about it and probably respond before it's otherwise noted. Albert, like many other good hams, spends more time listening than talking but if you need him, he's there. As mentioned earlier, not all the first sites were down south. Jim put up a repeater at Andrews to provide coverage while he was making sales calls up north. The repeater at Andrews went up at a tower just east of Andrews, owned by Andrews resident and radio businessman Ben Powers. Damon Foster, W5YLT recalls there were problems with intermod at the site and several frequencies were tried there. Probably 145.25 was the first tried and Jim eventually settled with 147.12 as indicated on the first map of the connection. Leon Elms, NI5U recalls listening in while work was being done at Andrews and remembered Mike Jennings, WB5UKA talked back into Odessa on a handi-talkie while climbing the tower. Leon also recalled that 147.24 was one of the frequencies tried at Andrews and eventually that frequency was put in a repeater a Jim's house in Odessa. The first few links of the system came about rapidly and it is difficult for most to remember in which order they appeared. Written records indicate that the first link was made in early 1983 which would make the Connection thirteen years old now. The Connection still had no name the first year but the idea for a name would come soon. Also, people other than the original builders wanted in on the action when they saw the potential. To be continued...