Ken Harker WM5R
1999 W5 DX Bash

Several members and alumni of the University of Texas Amateur Radio Club attended this year's W5 DX Bash held at the family cattle ranch of Bryan W5KFT, on the shores of Lake Buchanan, about 70 miles NW of Austin, TX. The ranch is also home to the W5KFT Ranch Station a power-house contest station that is active year-round in DX contests, VHF contests, domestic contests, and RTTY contests. Well more than 100 of the top DXers in the south central portion of the United States were in attendance this year.

These photos are copyright © 1999-2003 Kenneth E. Harker. All rights reserved.

	John N5CQ at the controls of his remote-controlled Kachina 505DSP HF transceiver. The control head and a PC were present at the Bash, while the Kachina RF deck was at the N5CQ Super Station, some 80 or 90 miles south of the Bash. John was dialed in over phone line for remote control.
	Dick K5IU gives a presentation about his "10 Meter Yagi System Gain Study," a presentation that packed the house.
	TenTec sent one of its new Pegasus computer-controlled HF transceivers to the bash. It was hooked up to the W5KFT antenna farm all weekend, and participants got to give it a hands-on try-out.
	The bash was also priveleged to a have an Elecraft K2 present. The Elecraft K2 is a new HF transceiver that comes in kit form and has received many excellent reviews. One Bash participant told me that he felt the K2 was "the best receiver in this room."
	A crowd assembles inside the W5KFT Ranch Station shack. Behind them is the multi-layer table and shelving that holds the W5KFT contest gear. There are at least eight different transceivers in this room.
	John N5CQ begins his presentation of the remote-controlled Kachina 505DSP HF transceiver. He demonstrated connecting to his remote super station, and operating from just a laptop and a Kachina control head.
	Bash participants relax out on the lawn between the Ranch House and the lake. It was a nice, mild, sunny, but dry day.
	The ranch is located on the shores of Lake Buchanan, a reservoir in the Highland Lakes chain of the Colorado River.
	As it hadn't rained since July, the lake level was kind of low. A giant sandbar extended from the front of the Ranch house out into the water. This photo was taken standing where the shore normally is.
	This is the view of the Ranch from the end of the sandbar. I estimate that the sandbar was probably 1/2 kilometer long.
	Almost all of the land in this photo is normally underwater.
	The W5KFT Ranch Station is on the route for migratory Monarch butterflies travelling south to Mexico. There were thousands of butterflies at the Ranch. Unfortunately, only three or four of them would fly into my camera frame at once. There is one spreading its wings on a tree in the left of the frame.
	More butterflies, with the 10M/15M antenna stack in the background.