[CQ-Contest] KC5R

[ku8e@bellsouth.net]

Got an email from my friend Al, KC5R who lives in Covington, LA. You might remember him as
KC3N. I met Al when we were both going to Ohio State in the late 80's - early 90's. We had quite a few contesters at W8LT around that time - WD8IXE (N8SM sk), KD8NS (now W4EF) , N8VW, W8LX, K3JT,KC3N and myself .  Al's favorite contest is CW SS, which he does QRP. 

He  makes a point to do the KCDXC CW PIleup test in Dayton every year...
Plus he fell asleep in the SMC suite one year and we all know what happens when you do that !!!


Jeff , KU8E

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It's been an interesting 10 days. On Sunday before the storm The family 
(my wife, son, and our 2 wiener dogs) flew to Tyler, TX to my wife's 
folks house. On Tuesday after the storm, we left the "boy" with his 
grandparents and the dogs at a vet, and flew back to check on things. 
Remember, we live 30 miles north of New Orleans in Covington, LA.

The house got clipped on the side by a tree that was snapped in two, and 
just tore the overhang on the roof down (about 20 feet worth). The rest 
was just a messy yard. No roof penetration. I made a temp fix. My 
neighbor next to me ended up with (2) trees in their roof. My TV antenna 
on the roof, the 2/440 5 el cushcraft on a wall mount above it, and the 
satellite dish all were unscathed. I had taken down my HF wires about a 
week earlier since the tree folks were to take down a few trees in my 
yard. We were without power last week (we did get back phone and 
water/gas), so after (2) days of clean-up and no AC, we flew back on 
Friday of last week to Tyler and spent Labor day weekend in Dallas. I 
stopped by Texas Towers and bought a Yaesu FT-8800R & an extra antenna 
for communications.

We got power in our neighborhood over the weekend and flew back 
yestruday (Tuesday). Phone, DSL, and power are ok. I bought gas 
yesturday here (not a line at this station, and I got it for $2.59/gal - 
There is a pricing "hold" on all supplies by law here now - one of the 
few benefits). Walmart is open. They suspended all alcohol sales. Roads 
get closed once and a while as they try to clear trees and/or put in 
power. I'd guess that only 25% of everybody is here, and that includes a 
bunch of relatives of folks from New Orleans and Jefferson Parish that 
can't get home. Only about 35% off the area has power here, and about 
50% have water. Nearly everyone is "off" of work, who has a white collar 
job. We are just lucky.