The KE0VH Hamshack for February 2019

Harvey Lee Coonts (W0HLC) Passed away peacefully Dec. 10 at home. He is survived by his children: Elaine, Janice, Amanda and Ernest; grandchildren: Tyler, Brandon, Hannah, Lauren and Emily. Great grandchildren: Rosie and Samuel. He was predeceased by his loving wife Rosa Lee and daughter Diana Joy.

Harvey was born March 8, 1934 in Weslaco, TX and spent his childhood there farming his family’s modest tract of land. After helping a heifer give birth he decided farming wasn’t for him and instead pursued a degree in petroleum engineering. He was soon married, served in the army and welcomed his first child. Graduating from Texas A&M with his engineering degree in 1958 he worked for oil companies in TX, as the State Engineer for UT, U.P. Railroad, Southern California Edison. In 1974 he earned his Professional Engineering license and opened Coonts Engineering. Harvey moved to Colorado in 1979 to be more centrally located in the US for his growing business. Retiring in 2001 after a long and prosperous career Harvey decided “he wanted to get away from all the people” (that is, the front range of course) so he moved to Eckert. From this point on Harvey enjoyed “making friends” at Walmart (and anywhere really), chatting with friends on Ham Radio, mowing his lawn and riding his Scooter. Anyone who knew Harvey would know how difficult his wife’s passing was for him after 61yrs of marriage and he never regained the daily happiness he once enjoyed. Harvey always said, don’t cry for me if you see my obituary. So, in honor of Harvey’s wishes, we celebrate that he is spending this Christmas with Jesus and his precious Rosa Lee. Harvey was a long time friend of the group that talks on 7.166 mhz here in the Colorado region, making friends, laughing, telling great stories, and was very welcoming to all who showed up on frequency. Harvey exemplified the ways of hospitality and the spirit of amateur radio. He will be greatly missed. 73’ Harvey and enjoy eternity with Jesus & your beloved Rosa Lee.

I have been writing lately of course about using DMR, hotspots, Yaesu Fusion radios’ and how we are communicating using this very versatile and easy to implement facet of amateur radio. During our company meetings this past month Shane KØSDT and myself had the opportunity to display and demonstrate how our systems would work both remotely and at the HQ offices. This was a lot of fun and while our buddy Matt KEØLNU back in Denver provided our contact to demonstrate how this system worked. The guys who were onlooking were suitably impressed. We used both our DMR HT’s and Yaesu Fusion radios to show how all worked. As of this writing Stan K5JNT has become active on the 310847 DMR Talkgroup using a hotspot in Mississippi and on travels around his area in the deep south. While I was on mission to southern Colorado we had a great QSO between myself while mobile on I-25, Matt KEØLNU in North Carolina, Tim KAØAAI on the island of Lanai in Hawaii, Shane KØSDT in Montana. If you would like to join us, drop me an email for more information.

Talking to Shane KØSDT in Montana while in the hotel room in southern Colorado via Yaesu Fusion mode to DMR with the Zumspot hotspot

Here you see my name and callsign on the Anytone DMR HT of Stan, K5JNT while he was in Alabama working on a project while I am in the Denver area. REALLY COOL!

And this is SO COOL! Shane KØSDT had to make a work trip to American Samoa in the South Pacific, and of course he took the DMR hotspot and his Yaesu handheld radio. We had many great QSO’s while he was there. The DMR system is definitely a great alternative to keeping touch for both fun and safety without having to make a DX-pedition with HF gear and is certainly reliable in todays world. And there has been a new development here on the Colorado Front range that will add to the versatility and usefulness of this network we are in the process of creating! The Denver Water Amateur Radio Club locally in Lakewood has a Yaesu Fusion repeater located on a water tower in the town. We are in the planning stages of putting it up at Lookout Mountain west of Denver thanks to our good friend Vic Michael who owns many broadcast sites around Colorado and beyond. This repeater will give us the possible 4^th system to link up thru what I am starting to refer to as the “Skyhub Network” system. So far, we have the capabilities to link AllStar, DMR, Analog, and for the SBE NET we can utilize the ECHOLINK system. Adding Yaesu Fusion will enhance the reliability and versatility even more. Stand by for developments.

While watching an Amazon Prime movie on the first ever successful ascent of K2 in the Himalayas by the Italian mountain team in 1954, I saw these pictures of the base camp radio used to communicate with the climbers on the mountain. Does anyone recognize this base station setup?

You know, after a little research on the internet and looking up “AVC Signal Generator” which can just be made out in this picture, I believe this isn’t a transceiver at all, but a piece of test gear which was used as a prop. Any idea’s?

Also, saw this on the Netflix movie “IO”. Icom and Yaesu HF rigs! Being used for communications with others left on earth in this story. VERY COOL!