Live, from battleship Texas...

[AA7EJ]

I saw the Battle Ship Texas when i was about 15. I would like to go back again sometime. When I was there I found the Radio room. It was very dark but it looked to have been gutted of all equipment. What a shame. I hope they will someday restore it. The rest of the ship was from what I could tell in tact. I remember the Machine Shop was pristine.
I will be looking for your next event, I want a QSL card as well.
73
Greg

As far as restoration of ANY radio equipment goes , I NEED to "take 5th".
I hope I said it right.
Ask again couple of months from now.
Thanks for your interest.

73 Vaclav

[N5TGL]

Well, the radio room is slowly getting populated with equipment. Not hooked up yet, but as you know, the de-mil process can be pretty rough on a ship. We've got lots of coax in that room, some labled, some not. Some of the coax in the room is whacked off on the exterior of the ship. The original equipment that is in there were all run by motor-generators, so one of the biggest problems is getting the right power to the equipment. The original transmitters are still on the ship, all the way up to a 1KW CW transmitter that is quite the beast.

Recently, we got one of the ship's orginal verticals on the air. If you talked to us on 40m, you were on that antenna. It's a 1/4 wave vertical that's mounted about 40' above the deck. The RF ground (obviously) is the 25,000 ton ship, sitting in the brackish water of the Houston ship channel. We were running about 350w to it, so if anyone was wondering why we had a big signal on 40m, that was why!

getting all of this to work is quite the challenge, but a heck of a lot of fun to operate.

Also, our website is pretty new, so there's bound to be some formatting issues and whatnot. Rest assured I'm trying to get those straightened out ASAP, so don't take me to the woodshed for it!

I'd also like to thank eveyone who contacted us for their patience. When we get pileups, we try to work through them as efficiently as possible, of course this means a "you're 59 and 73" type contact but we're trying to give as many people as possible a chance to contact the ship. When things slow down, we love to chat. So, if you have questions, you are always welcome to come back later when it's less busy and we'll be glad to chew the rag with you. Just let us know you're back for some questions, so we don't try to brush you off as a dupe! Our Pearl Harbor Rememberance event is much more laid back, so look for that to happen in the first week of December.

Also, we are always looking for folks who want to join us. BTARS has been in a bit of a holding pattern for several years, but we are really taking an active role in trying to grow the club. The more we have in the club, the more we can do to get the radio rooms back to life. So if you're in the Houston area, check out our website as listed in the first post on this thread. There's info on how to contact us there. If you're not in the local area, you're still welcome to hang out with us!

73 de N5TGL/Michael

[N1BRU]

well, I guess I could say this is a first for me. I made contact with a Battle Ship and I did it in a mobile located in Brewster Massachusetts. I was camping there with my family when I deceided to play radio and scanned the band and found NA5DV loud and clear. I think the operator was very surprised at hearing a mobile located in Massachusetts. It was great making contact with you and I have you logged in at eQSL. Thanks again, 73 N1BRU

[W9AFB]

Worked the ship unexpectedly during the QSO party last weekend. Very cool!

[KJ4VTH]

Everything is bigger in Texas ... even the typos and grammatical errors.

Glad to work you during the TQP! Hope to see you again on the bands real soon.

[K0LAI]

This was very cool! I got a chance to work NA5DV for the Texas QSO.

[AA7EJ]

Everything is bigger in Texas ... even the typos and grammatical errors.

Glad to work you during the TQP! Hope to see you again on the bands real soon.

Yep, you darn tootin' right that everything is bigger in Texas.
We got big heads and even bigger harts to let you get
away with this poking fun stuff.

I did fessed up to my mistakes, does that count for anything?

You can tell me next time we “ talk radio” from Texas in Texas.

[KB3SYY]

I got a chance to work this station. great job guys. You had quite a pile up going on.

[ND6M]

...There is at least one more English error I know of in the post.
You get “ata boy” if you find it .

73 Vaclav

well, if we are going to get "picky", I count at least 8 more.

(BOLD )font is mine)

(THE) Battleship Texas ARS has a new web site(:) www.na5dv.org

Common (COME ON)over to see what we are up to.
We will keep the site up to date with the latest.

In brief:
We have survived (THE )Texas QSO party, (:)no casualties.
Many thanks to all who stopped by.

Our next operating event will be commemorating (THE) 70th anniversary of (THE) attack on Perl (Pearl)Harbor.

Stand by for (THE/AN) actual operating schedule(.)

[AA7EJ]

well, if we are going to get "picky", I count at least 8 more.

(BOLD )font is mine)

(THE) Battleship Texas ARS has a new web site(:) www.na5dv.org

Common (COME ON)over to see what we are up to.
We will keep the site up to date with the latest.

In brief:
We have survived (THE )Texas QSO party, (:)no casualties.
Many thanks to all who stopped by.

Our next operating event will be commemorating (THE) 70th anniversary of (THE) attack on Perl (Pearl)Harbor.

Stand by for (THE/AN) actual operating schedule(.)

You have uncovered my biggest weakness in expressing myself in English - using article correctly. I appreciate you spending your time on it.
Since my native language does not have such grammatical form and people around me seldom use articles properly in speaking I just write as I speak.
I should consult my Little brown book more often when I find in on the bookshelf.
I appreciate your editor's pen and hope this forum users do not get upset by our exchange.
Just to make sure , if you desire to continue in this discussion , please use private mail.
73 Vaclav