There has been quite a bit said during the past week about the need to
obtain XYL's approval for antenna (and other ham) projects, and I felt
the need to add my comments.
My XYL and I observed our 38th anniversary last month. No, it has
never been 100% smooth. We raised a son and a daughter, and during much
of that time I was working away from home. Current consulting projects
still take me away for extended periods, and we still have our
disagreements. But we have learned that both parties must make an
effort to make a marriage succeed.
For about 30 years I made do with wire antennas and verticals with
mediocre success. About eight years ago when I commented to my wife
that I wished I had a couple hundred bucks to buy a used tower,
tri-bander, and rotor that a local ham was selling; she said "let me buy
it for you"! We carted it home and she was the ground crew that
assisted in errecting 50 feet of Rohn 25 and a Cushcraft A3S. Last week
we errected 48 feet of vertical antenna (38 feet of antenna atop a 10
foot pole) with elevated radials. Again, her help enabled me to do the
project without outsiders. (A review of the Gladiator TL80M will follow
later.) Certainly the antennas to not make our yard attractive (!) but
she has never complained.
During our courting years, many dates consisted of hours together in a
VW bug with a 75 meter mobile rig. After marriage and "before kids" we
often had dinner in the ham shack. She has no interest in obtaining her
license, and gladly plans her activities so that I can spend RTTY
contest hours in front of the rig. As a down-East fisherman might say
when refering to a legal-sized lobster, "she's a keeper", and I
acknowledge how fortunate I am to have her!
Bob - W1VXV
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