A Ham Radio Station for Jenna

by Gary Johnson, NA6O, and Jim Ewing, N4TMM

We hams are famous for helping one another in many ways such as education, setting up equipment, or group operating events such as Field Day and emergency communications. Our team recently had a very successful experience helping a young CW op who was in need.

They had a station set up at home, so Jenna was able to get on the air. CW was (and is) her passion and she quickly became highly skilled at it. So skilled and active in fact, that she was soon invited into both CWops and FOC, which is an honor for any telegrapher especially someone so new to the hobby. This led to numerous friendships worldwide.

After moving into the dorms at E.H. Gentry, Jenna was left without her own station to operate. With some difficulty due to poor blind accessibility, she was able to access some RemoteHams stations, and also did some POTA operating with her boyfriend, Gunner, KK7DEU. But every active ham really needs a proper station with a good radio and antenna. This is when those ham radio friendships really paid off.

There are many blind hams just like Jenna who may not be able to fully enjoy their hobby for various reasons, often financial. Gary, NA6O, started making friends with blind hams several years ago after realizing this need [Ref 1]. Specific radio models are of value to blind operators because they have a built-in voice guide and relatively easy-to-use controls. This is known as accessibility. The Kenwood TS-590S is perhaps the most accessible and popular. Gary started buying these radios on the second-hand market, outfitting them with the speech module, and then donating them to needy blind hams. One of his beneficiaries, Dave, W4CI (who is also an FOC member), mentioned that Jenna was a good candidate for a radio. That started the ball rolling.

Gary and Dave started working with Fred, KT5X (FOC of course!), who already knew Jenna, and in turn he recruited Jim, N4TMM, who turned out to be the key player in our success. Jim, who lives in Atlanta, would be in Sylacauga Alabama the first week of April to participate as a stone sculptor in the Alabama Marble Festival. Sylacauga is only a few miles down the road from Talladega, the location of E.H. Gentry and AIDB. So Jim was in perfect position to help set up Jenna’s station. 

Jim approached the president of AIDB, Dr. Dennis Gilliam, and also Ms. Jessica Edmiston, who offered their full support. Meanwhile, Gary had sent Jim a power supply for the TS-590S that Dave was sending Jim. And Jim ordered a MyAntennas end fed halfwave wire antenna, a proven commercial design that will typically tune acceptably on several bands. 

On Thursday, April 3rd, Jim met with EH Gentry maintenance people Joe Hutto, Don Llewellyn, and Tony Adams. Tony was there with his truck full of tools, ladders and other maintenance equipment, and Jim brought his radio toolbox and all the equipment for Jenna’s station that he had collected. After surveying the surroundings, Jim and Tony concluded that the best option was to lay the wire antenna, about 140 ft long, on the roof of the three-story dormitory where Jenna lives. So Tony got out his ladder and he and Jim installed the antenna on the roof and connected it to the radio in Jenna’s room. Thankfully they allowed a wall penetration for the coax, something that had been a concern for a long time.

At that point, Jim got on the phone with Gary, who was listening on his radio in California and also watching the Reverse Beacon network, gave feedback while Jim tuned and transmitted on various bands. The antenna and the station turned out to be excellent performers on 40 through 10 m, tuning fine and getting reports from NA as well as DX. The roof where the antenna is located is the highest point around, and the dorm is on a hill. The antenna lies generally in a Northeast to Southwest direction, and it propagates well in all directions. As a bonus, her noise floor is very low. We should all be so lucky in our modern age of rampant RFI.

In all of this, Jim was amazed and gratified at the support and assistance from AIDB and E.H. Gentry people in helping their student Jenna get on the air from her dorm and continue her excellent trajectory as a well-known CW operator. Jenna, in turn, takes great joy in operating from E.H. Gentry, thus adding to the fame and furthering the cause of this well known and highly regarded institute for the deaf and blind. 

Jenna’s first contact with her new station was George, NE5A, who was also her advisor in the CWops CW Academy when she was starting out. A delightful coincidence! Since then, she’s been on the air every day, making contacts worldwide and is now a CWops advisor herself. And she is indeed a first-class operator, including QRQ, something that many hams only dream of achieving. Check out her YouTube channel, QRQ Maniacs [Ref 2.].

Jenna has a bright future ahead. She’s currently taking classes at Central Alabama Community College, focusing on computer science. She then plans to attend a university to obtain her BSCS degree, and has a particular interest in assistive technologies. Jenna wishes to thank some of her Elmers, particularly CWops advisors NE5A and AJ1DM, and her dad, David KO4WSU. We in the ham radio community are glad to have helped her along in some small way.

References

1. Gary Johnson, NA6O, “Summer’s Legacy.” Solid Copy, No… 177, October 2024. https://cwops.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Solid-Copy_2024_October_FINAL.pdf
2. “QRQ Maniacs” YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/@QRQmaniacs

About the Authors

Gary Johnson, NA6O, enjoys station building, contesting, and anything to do with CW. A retired engineer, he lives in Livermore, CA.

Jim Ewing, N4TMM, is a retired patent attorney in Atlanta, GA who primarily enjoys CW on the HF bands using bugs.”