Spokane DX Association

Barbara (KE7AJ) and Gary (K7OX) Elliott—along with their collie, Milo on the Cover

Barbara (KE7AJ) and Gary (K7OX) Elliott—along with their collie, Milo—stand on part of their 15 acres of land outside Spokane, Washington, with a 72-foot tower in the background. On the tower are, from the top, a Hy-Gain TH6DX tribander at 72 feet and a Cushcraft A4 tribander at 40 feet, fixed on the Caribbean. The tower itself is shunt-fed as a vertical for 160 meters. (Gary tells us that since WB2ZPI took this photo, the TH6DX has been replaced by a 4-element Hy-Gain 204BA 20-meter monobander; and that he and Barbara have put up a second tower with monobanders for each HF band and a 4-square array for 40 meters.)

Both Gary and Barbara are active contesters and DXers. Gary’s main interests are CW and SSB contesting, while Barbara prefers RTTY DXing and contesting. “We both enjoy the competitiveness of contesting,” says Gary, who’s been licensed since 1953. Barbara has been a ham since 1980, and got the RTTY bug about 10 years ago.

Each of them has won a variety of operating awards. In addition, Gary says he has operated overseas many times and has held many overseas callsigns. Some of these opportunities came about in conjunction with his 20-year career in U.S. Navy intelligence, which he followed up with 20 years in law enforcement in Arizona. After retirement, Gary and Barbara moved to Spokane, where they are “just enjoying retirement.” Oh, there was no DX or contest club in the area when they moved in, so they started one. The Spokane DX Association now has 38 active members. For a look inside the Elliotts’ shack, see the March 2006 page of the 2006–2007 CQ Amateur Radio Calendar. (Cover photo by Larry Mulvehill, WB2ZPI)

The above was taken from the May, 2006 CQ Magazine.