William H. Bowen, K8WHB SK March 21, 2015

William H. Bowen, K8WHB SK

SK March 21, 2015


In Memory of
William H. Bowen
February 18, 1949 - March 21, 2015
Obituary

William H. Bowen (Bill), 66, of Chesterland, died peacefully March 21, 2015, at Hospice of the Western Reserve.

An avid HAM – call K8WHB, and member of ARRL, GARA, LEARA and several other amateur radio organizations.

Friends may call at GATTOZZI AND SON FUNERAL HOME, 12524 CHILLICOTHE RD. (RT. 306, N. OF MAYFIELD RD.) CHESTERLAND ON SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2015 1-4 PM, where a Memorial Service will immediately follow at 4:00 pm. I
n lieu of flowers, please send contributions to Hospice of the Western Reserve, 17876 St. Clair Ave., Cleveland, OH 44110 (online at hospicewr.org/donate)
or to ARRL at arrl.org/memorial-gifts.

http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/di...lliam-Bowen&lc=1730&pid=174452747&mid=6371618


From Bill's QRZ Bio Page.

http://www.qrz.com/db/K8WHB




In February, 2011 I got back into amateur radio after being inactive for nearly 30 years. Having a real blast doing it, especially now that I'm back on HF as well as VHF/UHF.
The K8WHB callsign is a vanity call (the suffix is my initials). The original holder of K8WHB now has the call K4EQ. Check out Dale's QRZ page. He's a very nice fellow & I've had the pleasure of talking to him on the air.
The ham shack here is quite modest - a Kachina 505DSP 160M~10M transceiver driving an Alpha-Delta DX-LP Plus 3-wire fan dipole, set up as an inverted-V, up in the trees on the south side of the house: center insulator is at about 35 feet AGL and the ends at about 20 feet AGL {thanks to the assistance of W8DMM, KO8RS, N8UAZ and my XYL WB8QLT in erecting & tuning it}. The main lobes are at approx. 5 degrees and 185 degrees. The dipole is aided by an MFJ-993B auto-tuner - the combination will tune all the bands from 160M~10M including the WARC bands & 60M. I can't say enough good things about that tuner. If you want a really good automatic HF antenna tuner, check out the MFJ-993/994/998 family of tuners (all 3 are basically the same design - the difference is in the power level they are capable of handling & some minor feature differences).
I use a Toshiba laptop running Windows Vista to operate the Kachina & general shack use. The Kachina is a great little radio (it was designed by Doug Smith, KF6DX, who later did some GREAT designs for TenTec and was Editor of QEX) & the DSP sure does help eliminate the QRM & foreign broadcasters on 40M (some of the foreign broadcasters that where 'supposed' to be leaving 7200 to 7300 KHz on 1/1/2014 haven't left yet).
The picture at the top is a long shot of the presently messy shack (I'm in the process of reconfiguring it). If you blow up the picture you'll see the control program for the Kachina HF radio in the upper right hand corner of the Toshiba laptop's screen.


The picture above is the main chassis of the Kachina 505DSP (with the Cantenna, an accessory EVERY ham should have, sitting beside it), and the MFJ-993B tuner sitting on its temporary home (a spare kitchen chair).
For 2M & 70CM FM we've got a Kenwood TM-D710A with an Arrow 2M/70CM J-Pole mounted in the attic about 20 feet AGL. Another antenna project is to put up another 2M/70CM antenna outside (maybe a 5 or 7 element beam). The XYL and I both have Wouxun KG-UV2D 2M/70CM HT's for local repeater work (mine was a birthday present from the XYL, and hers was a birthday present from me).
The mobile station in our Honda CR-V is a Kenwood TM-D710A for 2M/70CM, and we just acquired a Kenwood TS-480SAT which I'll get installed as soon as I figure out exactly what the HF antenna system is going to look like.


This picture is a closeup of the operating position - you can see the Kachina control application on the laptop, the Kachina & TM-D710A control heads, the KG-UV2D sitting in its charger and, on the right side behind my coffee cup (another "MUST HAVE" shack item ) the APC UPS that keeps everything running when the A.C. power decides to quit (which is a problem in rural areas like the one where I live - I have a second APC UPS on the other side of the shack to power the cable modem, internet router & the XYL's computer).
I've got 2 other ailing HF radios that I've recently acquired: a Kenwood TS-430S & a Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark V (the MP is loaded with a full set of filters & came with the MD-100 & SP8). Both of those radios will need a bit of TLC to get it back on the air. The TS-430S was current when I dropped out of ham radio back in the early 1980s, so getting it back on the air will be a "trip down memory lane" for me.
I'm a retired RF communications & computer systems engineer, and Ireally love playing with the digital modes - I'm active with PSK31 & RTTY with the Kachina using FLDIGI. Plans are to set up the TM-D710A for digital slow-scan & packet as well. The Kenwood is already being used for APRS (K8WHB-1) and plans are to attach a weather station to it for Skywarn & APRS weather reporting. It was actually the digital modes that got me interested in amateur radio again.
The XYL & I are both active in two of the local clubs {LEARA & GARA: I had been a member of both clubs back when I was active in the 1970s} and I'm also a member of ECARS (#8229), the Collins Collector's Association and the Collins Radio Association (though I don't presently own any Collins equipment). It has been very enjoyable both meeting old friends again & making new ones too.
If you're on HF, you can find me on the Corncob Net (7274.1 KHz) from 6~8AM & the Salt Miner's Net (7284.1 KHz) from 8~8:30 AM Eastern Time in the mornings, and I usually monitor ECARS (7255 kHz) and MIDCARS (7258 kHz) during the daytime. In the afternoon you'll find me on the 68 Group (7268 KHz) from 3~5PM Eastern, and In the evenings you'll usually find me on various HF nets, including the Brother's Net (7192 KHz @ 7PM ET) & The Moonlighter's Net (7279 KHz @ 7:30PM ET). 40M has always been my favorite HF band since my Novice days back in the 1960s - propagation on that band is like Forest Gump's description of a box of chocolates {You never know what you're going to get}.
On Sunday afternoons you'll find me on two Collins-related nets: at 12:30 ET on the CRA Net, and from about 20:00Z (3:00PM EST / 4:00 PM EDT) you'll find me on the CCA Sunday Net. Both are on 14.263 MHz USB. They're both great nets, a great bunch of operators & you DO NOT have to own Collins equipment to check in - just an appreciation for the great radios Arthur Collins & his people built.
If you're traveling through the Cleveland, OH area give me a shout on the W8OKE 2-Meter Repeater (147.015 + PL: 110.9), and if you have APRS capability, check out my APRS beacons (K8WHB-1 for the house & K8WHB-9 for the mobile).

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73 K2HAT