[OZAPRS] Gateway Closure

[Ray Wells]

All,

Thank you one and all for the kind comments.

The reason I'm closing the gateway system is that I may be moving from 
here in a very short space of time and I will have no facilities for 
antennas once I move. My health is ok, it's just an inevitable move.

Ian, I will be hanging on to the TS430 and a 2m rig for "just in case". 
My licence is up for renewal in May and I will evaluate my situation 
when that draws closer.

FYI, I was licenced in 1969 as VK2ZSX. I did the morse in 1978 and 
became VK2BVO. The change to VK2TV was in 1983. The call previously 
belonged to a fellow member of the Central Coast ARC. I knew that Wilf's 
family were not interested in AR and they sanctioned the release of the 
callsign to me.

My time in AR has been quite busy. I held various positions in the 
Central Coast ARC including president, newsletter editor and field day 
chairman. I was actively involved in their repeater committee, the 
acquisition of the Somersby repeater site, construction of the building 
and installation and maintenance of the repeater equipment. I was the CC 
WICEN coordinator for 20 years. Following my move to Kempsey in 1994 I 
was responsible for the construction and installation of VK2RMY on Mt 
Yarrahpinni. I built and installed the local UHF CB repeater and built 
and installed VK2RMC at that site. I ran a BBS for 13.5 years. It 
finished up with 6 radio ports. The aprs gateway has been running for 
about 4 years.

AR is not out of my blood but I have other priorities that will take 
precedence for a while, at least. I'd like to spend a lot more time 
restoring vinyl recordings and digitising them and I'm going back 
fishing after a 16 year break.

I've been a volunteer for the last 36 years and mostly for at least two 
organsations simultaneously. I've just resigned from all committee 
positions (president, newsletter editor and technician) at the local 
community radio station, having been on-call 24/7 for the last 15 years. 
For a while at least, I'm going to do a few things for me.

So there you have it, no sour grapes, just climbing a different tree for 
a while.

Regards,
Ray vk2tv