Peter Cain, WB1GJI (SK)

                                                                                  
                                                This web page is dedicated to my Elmer, Peter Cain of Wayland, MA, WB1GJI (SK), who assisted us at each FD we
                                                did from Reeve's Hill,  Wayland, MA. Not only was Pete helpful to so many others and taught us well, he was the
                                                living spirit of ham radio by home brewing  his on gear, particularly QRP rigs and multi-band Quad antennas. Pete
                                                was a WWII  fighter pilot in Europe, settled down after the war in Wayland but passed away in 1994. He was the
                                               THE definition of the "Greatest Elmer".

                                                No other memories are as wonderful as those days when three generations learned and worked together.

                                                                            
                                                                          This is a photo of my Elmer, Peter Cain - WB1GJI (now an SK) in 1987
                                                                  before he became very sick and passed away in 1994. I am in the middle, and Jody,
                                                                  KA1LDD, then 15 years old and now a career Navy submariner, comprised
                                                                          our 2A team. We had done 5 Field Days before this photo was taken.

                                                                                          
                         This was my 1st shack in 1986. Notice the                                                       This is my shack in 1988 set up for HF and AO-13 satellite
                         old RTTY machine that my PD threw out                                                          operation. Notice the Commodore 128 computer and drive
                         when the PD went computerized and took                                                       that automatically tracked the antennas (shown below) to the
                         two people to carry it into the house.                                                              bird. The HF rig was a new Kenwood TS-440S but for the life
                         It worked great but had to throw it                                                                  of me, I can't remember the model of the Kenwood all mode
                        out when we moved.  A rotary phone?                                                               V/UHF transmitter. If you think you know, please send that
                                                                                                                                                 information to me by e-mail, NG1I@arrl.net. The Heathkit
                                                                                                                                                 U-matic keyer, new then (I have two), and the MFJ 989C
                                                                                                                                                 tuner are still in use today.                                                                      
 

                                                               
These shots were taken at my first Field day event hosted by the Wellesley, MA ARC in June 1986, six months after I received my ticket. I took the midnight shift.....and I caught the  FD "bug" forever!

                                                                 
Since my last FD in 1994 eleven years ago, I dropped in on the Worcester Emergency Communications Team (WECT) and on my first visit to them on FD, I decided after all these years to make a go of it when I was asked if I would like to operate for them. As they were a MA Emergency RACES station, the Team was allowed to operate as an F station in WMA, hence the indoor location and a 4F designation and used their call sign WE1CT. Though propagation was the worse I have experienced, I still managed to get a number of CW Q's on 40M from 02:00 to 07:30....not the greatest but not bad after all these years. I joined WECT on the spot and committed myself to CW for midnight operations again next year. Makes me wish I didn't miss all the years I did. If you made a 40CW contact with WE1CT, chances are that was me and if you need a QSL card from MA for 40M CW, just e-mail me.

    
               And Finally..................................

                                       .............................My future DXpedition
 

                                                                     
Listen up!  If I do a QRP operation from here and I don't receive a return confirming QSL card, then I'm going to rush straight back and in year or two and I'll be knocking on your front door for it!!!!!  (:

I hope you have enjoyed these photos....tech advances have only made ham radio that much more interesting, a challenge to learn new things, and more enjoyable! 73, GL, and good DX! I hope to work/hear from you on the bands!

Frank
NG1I
"Never Give 1 Inch"
WMA