[SCCC] W6VPH SK

[Glenn Rattmann]

Hi Mike,

Your memory of the VPH 20m signal into Italy is 
no doubt correct.  However-- I suspect that ZZK 
wasn't on the band that evening.  If he was, I'd 
guess he would have beaten Bud's signal into 
Italy, and that's what you would remember.  In 
addition to the huge antenna, Phil was known for 
using some  serious Goo  in those days; meaning "more" than Bud.  ;-)

73,
Glenn K6NA

At 11:14 AM 7/2/2024, Michael S. Mitchell W6RW wrote:
>Bud was one of my heroes when I was a teenage 
>ham. He had a 7 element wide spaced 20 meter 
>yagi at his San Gabriel Valley home. It would 
>hang over the Interstate 10 when it was pointed 
>in certain directions. In those days, a pure 
>DXer only had a 20 meter antenna. There was no 5 
>Band DXCC or Challenge. When I was stationed in 
>Italy when I was in the Navy operating the club 
>station I1DFA, the blower motors on his amp 
>would wipe out the pile up. He was really LOUD
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Michael Tope <W4EF at dellroy.com>
>Sent: Jun 30, 2024 12:58 AM
>To: reflector SCCC <sccc at contesting.com>
>Subject: [SCCC] W6VPH SK
>
>I am saddened to report that Bud Ansley, W6VPH 
>lost his long battle with Alzheimer's disease on 
>June 19, 2024. I first met Bud when I started 
>working in the Communications Ground System 
>Section of JPL in 1997. Bud was an R&D 
>technician who built RF equipment used in NASA's 
>Deep Space Network as well as occasional prototypes for spaceflight hardware.
>
>Bud loved to talk about his contesting and DX 
>exploits and I spent many a lunch hour in his 
>lab talking with him about all things real ham 
>radio. These included Bud's operations from 
>various HF super-stations such as Dr Phil 
>Coussen WA6ZZK's QTH in Lancaster and Jack 
>Hachten W6TSW's high mesa QTH in Anza. Circa 
>1990 Bud built a 13 element 20 meter Yagi 
>designed by Dan Bathker K6BLG at Hachten's Anza 
>QTH. It was fixed at 15 degrees north for 
>working Europe short path. A short article on 
>this monster antenna along with a photo of Bud 
>on one of the towers that supported it can be 
>found here: (). There is also an article on this 
>antenna in the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and 
>Propagation (unfortunately it is behind a 
>paywall): 
>https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/88217/authors#authors 
>(https://jplarc.org/newsletters/1996/feb/feb96.html)
>
>In addition to his many exploits on HF, Bud was 
>an avid satellite and EME operator. On his small 
>lot in Monrovia he had a fairly large EME array. 
>If I remember correctly it was a pair of very 
>long-boom 2 meter Yagis stacked horizontally 
>along with four large 70CM yagis in an H-frame 
>all on a common AZ-EL rotator. Bud also enjoyed 
>building homebrew amplifiers for both HF, VHF, 
>and UHF and from what I understand some of these 
>amplifiers (in the style of the time he came up 
>in) had considerable headroom 🙂. In addition 
>to working many DXCC entities on satellite, Bud 
>traveled to Haiti as a guest of Dan HH2MC to put HH on satellite.
>
>Bud was a veteran of the US Navy. Services will 
>be held at 10:30 AM on Monday July 8th at the Riverside National Cemetery.
>
>73, Mike W4EF
>
>
>
>
>
>
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