Topband: A Visit with Jack Leahy VE1ZZ...

[K1ZM at aol.com]

Hello Folks

I have been meaning to do a writeup on this for some time and with the 
forbearance of W4ZV allowing me the bandwidth, I thought most Topband folks might 
enjoy hearing about this topic.

This past summer I needed to take my wife over to Halifax airport and after 
dropping her off around 11AM I made my way about an hour Southeast over to the 
Head of Jeddore which is on the  SE coast of Nova Scotia.

I had made arrangements with Jack - and he was pleased that I was finally 
going to return the visit he had made to my place in August of 2002.  It wasn't a 
bad trip out there at all - part of the time I was on a coastal road which 
meandered in and out of bays, hills and forests.

When I reached his homesite I honestly must say that I was thinking "Well, 
how in blazes does Jack poke out such a signal from this place?"  At the time, 
all I had seen was about 65 feet of road frontage with an old farmhouse right 
at the roadside - and I could not see much at all in the way of antennas for 
ANY band!

Boy, was I mistaken.......!!

After saying hello to Jack's wife Opal, Jack led me outside for a tour of the 
antenna field.   This was quite an experience as Jack's antenna farm is about 
a half MILE deep and it is built into a rising hillside that just keeps going 
UP UP & UP.  It seemed we walked forever passing his 6m yagi on a small TV 
tower, then his 80M 4 square array and finally near the top of the hill, his 
modified 4 square for 160M.

We used to have a fellow near my home here in NY, W2YV Dave Horbachuk, who 
used to refer to his station as the "$1.98 contest station".  Dave gave it this 
name because nearly all of it was made from spare parts and discarded stuff 
others had parted with.  I was reminded of the W2YV station immediately and I 
would have to call Jack's place the "$0.50 cent lowband station" because what 
that man has done with spare parts is nothing short of mind-boggling.

As we walked around his place on the outside, here are a few things I 
remember:

1) A beverage COMMON tie point with about 17 pieces of hardline coming into a 
remote relay box - with a large empty SPRITE soda bottle covering the 
important parts of the thing - that's all the weatherproofing there was...

2) His 80M 4 square was interesting as well.  It was made out of old Rohn 6 
TV type tower and polypropylene guys - yet it looked solid enough.  As I recall 
the radiators were full-sized for 3.5Mhz.

3) His 160M 4 square was not full sized - and was more like a 4 square that 
used 70 foot TV towers for MOST of the radiators - with the remaining parts of 
each radiator being #10 wire - so this antenna was really an inverted L array 
on a four square footprint - and switched with a hybrid like a classic 4 
square.  As I recall, Jack had built his own hybrid.  I noted that many of his 
ground radials were made of 1" HARDLINE - several hundred at least were old junker 
pieces of the stuff that Jack had  acquired from a JUNKYARD for nothing.

4) His base insulators were novel indeed.  Under each Rohn 6 TV tower was an 
old tire wheel lying flat on the ground.  On top of the tire was a flat piece 
of procelain - and the TV tower just sat atop the procelain!  Not elegant - 
but it works - as most of us know who have heard Jack's topband signal.

5) The PIECE DE RESISTANCE was Jack's 137Khz xmit antenna.  This antenna 
started at his house and went up almost the entire length of his property - which 
means about a half mile of #10 wire (or better) to some spruce trees at the 
very top of his hill.  About 1/2 way up there was a little shed - and inside was 
the BIGGEST loading coil I have ever seen.  It was about 8 feet in diameter 
and the vertical supports for the wire were made of 4" PVC tubing standing 
vertically about 5 feet in height.  I'd say there was about 1000 feet of #10 wire 
wrapped around these PVC supports - which was necessary to make the thing hit 
137Khz.

Jack explained that he was having trouble forcing current into the antenna - 
so his solution was to put on rubber gloves and tape up a BIG alligator clip.  
He then had his XYL key the rig on 137Khz and he kept fishing up and down the 
coil with the alligator clip and a DC ammeter until he found a tap point that 
was putting the RF into the antenna.  Neat solution again I thought....

It is probably not too well known, but Jack was the first NA station to work 
into Europe on 137Khz - at least I think this is true - he had a certificate 
for the QSO with some G station I cannot remember. Jack said he had to use 
computer recognition to copy the incoming CW - he said it was very slow speed CW 
and he could not hear it but he could SEE it on the computer....impressive I 
thought.

6) I should mention that I saw beverages EVERYWHERE - most of them 1000 feet 
or better. At least 20 of them I think in all.....

7) Inside the shack was a very modest layout of home-made stuff - homebrew 
amps for the HF bands and one also for 6m - and a TS830s for his main radio.  I 
think I saw a second radio as well - I think it was an little ICOM radio - but 
Jack said he used the TS830s mainly for 160M work.

His operating table was quite compact with room only for a paddle situated 
parallel with the front of the table.  Interestingly enough, Jack is a LEFTIE 
and while this would have been too tight for me to work with, it seemed to suit 
him just fine.

8) After the inside tour, Jack took me through some outbuildings - I'd say 
there were about 6 rooms I viewed.  Each of these was filled with one principal 
kind of device.

EG: One room must have had over a 100 vacuum variables in it of all shapes, 
working voltages and sizes.  Another room was filled with EIMAC tubes - all the 
way from 4-400's to 4-1000A's.  Another room had small parts.  Another room 
had older tube type radios he had used years earlier. And on it went.....

9) One of the most interesting things I learned while there was during a 
discussion with Opal, Jack's wife.  I don't know how we got onto this topic, but I 
asked her how she felt about Jack and his radio hobby (since he LIVES on the 
radio).  Her reply to me was unique and a pleasure to hear. She said "Jeff, 
ever since I met Jack I knew this was what he loved to do - I'd be a fool to try 
to change that!"

(I've met a few wives of some BIG contest stations over the years who could 
learn a few things from OPAL!!!!   This is probably one of the BIGGEST factors 
that has allowed jack to be so successful for so long on Topband.)

I'll close with this final observation.  When I arrived there, I said "How 
the HELL can Jack be so loud from this place?"

After seeing it all, especially the views from the TOP of the hill almost a 
mile behind his small farmhouse by the road., I knew the answer.  It is a fine 
QTH overall, with a superb shot to the SOUTH out over the ocean and the head 
of Jeddore.  Plus jack is as close to Europe as you are gonna get in NA - 
except perhaps for VO1.

It was a great visit with one of the arcons of 160M.  I hope to get back 
there one day for a return visit.

73 JEFF

K1ZM at aol.com