Ken Harker WM5R
2001 ARRL International DX Contest, Phone, N5TW M/2

Ken Harker WM5R (click for more photos.)

I was invited to operate the 2001 ARRL International DX Contest, Phone with the multi-two team at N5TW. Tom Whiteside N5TW lives in suburban Georgetown, TX, about fifty kilometers due north of Austin, TX. Tom is a recent ham, having earned his ticket in late 1995, after many years as an SWL enthusiast.

The team this year was NA4M, WM5R, K5EWS, KI5DR, W5RQ, K5PI, WQ5G, W5TD, and N5TW. This was my first contest from the N5TW station. Conditions were down from the CW weekend 2001, and our score and QSO totals were slightly lower. Nonetheless, our score was just shy of the W5 record, set in 1989 by N5AU. The N5TW station is not as large as N5AU, but it does have four towers, one each for 10M, 15M, 20M, and 40M, a K8UR phased wire direction array for 80M, a 160M inverted L, and eight directions of beverage antennas. Inside the shack, two transceivers and two high power amplifiers gave us the punch we needed to run up the QSO totals.

I had a lot of fun.