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Sending Signals To the Heavens - Father Andy Returns to St. Mary's:
from
sleepyeyenews.com
Website:
http://sleepyeyenews.com/articles/2008/07/16/news/news2.txt
on
July 17, 2008
View comments about this article!
Sending Signals To the Heavens - Father Andy Returns to St. Mary's:
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What Are Those Blue Lights in the Sky???
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by K3JLS on July 19, 2008
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Hi there Father Andy. I tried to contact you directly, but the email address you have listed in eHam doesn't work. If you have the time, would you please send it to me??
I spent 5 years (1960 - 1964) studying for the priesthood at Saint Charles Seminary, in Philadelphia. For my last three years, the Dean allowed me to bring my ham station to the seminary. It consisted of an S-85 receiver (with a QF-1), an Eico 720 / 730 combination and a Heathkit VF-1 VFO. The antenna was a full length 80 / 15 meter dipole that was about 50 feet up - as you may imagine, it worked very well.
We spent much of our 'free time' on the air, usually on 75 and 10 meter AM, and on 40 and 15 CW, and made a lot of friends.
I would like to recount one rather funny story involving our ham station. We had installed flourescent tubes at either end of the antenna. With the meager 30 or 40 watts that the 720 would muster, the bulbs would flicker in cadence with our Vibroplex bug and would increase in intensity with AM modulation peaks. We all thought it was 'cool'.
About one week after their installation, the Dean of the seminary bruskly asked me to accompany him outside to the courtyard over which our antenna was suspended. Pointing to the bulbs, he asked me what earthly purpose they served. Stammering, I told him that they were used as a 'tune up' indicator to be used in conjunction with the transmitter plate meter. Then, I asked him 'why the ruckus'??
As it turns out, one of the students walking along the rear of the seminary this particular dark winter evening had glanced up to see the two bulbs dimly flickering in the night sky. It wasn't long before a couple of other students joined him, all gawking at the transient luminescent bluish glows in the darkened sky. As this was around the time of the Cuban missile crisis, one of the guys thought it was the precursor to a nuclear attack, and another thought it might be UFO related. When the lights abated (as the other station was now transmitting), three of these guys ran up to the Dean's room with their suspicions. Of course, when the Dean accompanied them outside, the lights had disappeared (as we had QRT'ed).
The Dean watched as we lowered the antenna and removed the bulbs. - It was fun while it lasted (hihi)
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Sending Signals To the Heavens - Father Andy Retur
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by KD5LWU on July 22, 2008
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Hi Fr. Andy nice article! I posted a response at the news paper site. There are a few of us Priest's that are also Ham's. My joy is in serving the religious community in Cortez, Colorado but in also serving the Ham Radio community as well. It has been a real gift for me to be able to serve as the President of our local ham radio club for the last 4 years as it has also opened doors to marriage and funerals to fellow hams and their families. 73 and God be with you - Fr. johnny Shepherd O.C.S.T. kd5lwu - fatherjohnny@beyondbb.com
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