Hello from Mike WV7T

Many of you may not know Mike Anderson, WV7T. He is a long-standing member of the North Shore Radio Club who now lives with his wife Rhoda in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I had the pleasure of meeting Mike when he was stationed here at the Great Lake Naval Base. In fact, Mike was my mentor for many things when I first was in the hobby. He taught me about building practical antennas out of almost anything. He was my first packet contact – and helped me build a packet station with parts that he had laying around his house.

Fact is, that is exactly what Mike is still doing now that he is officially retired. He is the unofficial ambassador for ham radio on the western front. I saw him recently when I was in Colorado Springs for a video project and I swung by his place. He lives just north of town in a small house that is completely wrapped in antennas. He has an antenna for almost every band and for almost every configuration that his small lot will allow. From his shack, he has worked WAS QRP and all sorts of other awards…so nothing has slowed him down. In his teaching, he now mentors all ham classes…and has just helped three people to the Extra. He told them that he never has taught Extra Class, but why should that stop him? Well, their success is testament to his ability to teach. I had forgotten what an amazingly generous person Mike can be…as he told me of his weekly schedule, helping hams around town with equipment, antennas or whatever. Some things never change, including his back office…totally filled from ceiling to floor with parts from computers that he is in the process of recovering and bringing back to life. Foolishly, I did not bring a camera, so I can’t show you pictures to prove that Mike is alive and well and available for QSO’s with any NSRC’er willing to aim a beam in his direction.

I hope you have all survived the huge solar flare that recently enveloped out atmosphere. I did unplug all of my antennas and was surprised this morning when I learned from the news that most services were not disrupted – except for certain ham radio frequencies! Ham radio frequencies? Do you mean there are still people using ham radio HF frequencies…I had to stop to make sure I heard the announcer right. We actually made the news!

I have been exceptionally busy with work projects, so I have had no time to work the bands, or even think about ham radio, sorry to say. So, I have to live vicariously through your own experiences.

73
K9RST