Preview: August 28, 2018, meeting

Our speaker for the August 28 meeting will be Coy Terry, WØZWS.

After serving in the Army, Coy worked on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. He performed maintenance and did all of the electrical work on the rig. While employed on the rigs, he experienced Hurricane Katrina; he was housed in the Superdome in New Orleans and then transferred to various states from there. He had an interesting experience while in Cheyenne, WY, which maybe he’ll tell us about.

In 1986 Coy earned his baccalaureate in astrophysics from Louisiana State University as a result of his interest in astronomy. He studied clusters and wrote articles for several astronomy magazines.

Coy’s eyesight started going bad in 2006, possibly related to his stay in the Superdome. It is a slowly developing condition which will most likely result in total blindness.

In 2013, Coy went for his first amateur radio license and tested through to Extra Class. About two weeks later, he traveled to Kansas City where he took the commercial broadcasting exam. By this time, Coy had to have someone read the questions to him as he could no longer see well enough to read. Even though visually challenged, he worked in the broadcasting field repairing broadcast equipment for a number of years.

In amateur radio, Coy has enjoyed reconditioning tube-type receivers and transmitters. Yes, he has even learned how to solder, after burning his fingers countless time. His other passion is in antenna design. Not content with only the technical aspects of amateur radio, he has earned several difficult-to-get awards. Coy is a very accomplished CW operator, which is his favorite mode.

No doubt, Coy will have some interesting tales to regale us with. Hope to see you there.