Towers Go Up at K5TR

de WM5R

Two of the first towers to go up at K5TR

One of the best-known alumni of UTARC is George Fremin III K5TR. George has become a famous phone contester, particularly in the United States. He has won the Single Operator High Power (SOHP) category of the ARRL November Sweepstakes, has won the SOHP, phone-only category of the IARU HF World Championships, has won the SOHP, phone-only category of the ARRL 10M contest, has twice been a member of the winning US multi-multi team in the CQ World Wide Contest, and has won the SOHP DX category every time he has operated outside the US as a single operator in the ARRL DX Contest.

George has never really had much of a personal home station before, so most of these contesting feats have been done as a guest operator at the station of someone else. George has been heavily involved in building, maintaining, and using the N5AU Super Station, then the W5KFT Ranch Station, and the station at 6D2X. Now, he's starting to build his own station.

K5TR's new house is located at the top of a hill about eight miles east of Johnson City, TX, a 45 minute drive west from campus into the Texas Hill Country. With almost 14 acres, there is just enough room for a reasonable number of towers. George has been acquiring tower sections and parts for some time, and in the past two months, the bases and guy anchors for the first five towers have been poured and set. As this article is being written, two of the towers have been completely built, and the remainder will be completed early this spring. The tower closest to the operations building will be used exclusively for highly directional VHF/UHF yagis. The remaining four will be used for yagis for the 40M, 20M, 15M, and 10M bands. A four square antenna is the most likely 80M antenna planned for the future, and there are plans for beverage receiving antennas as well.