VE3HRJ Bio

VE3HRJ

Jack Hepworth 25 Lakeview Crescent RR1 Rosseau Ontario Canada

www.jackhepworth.ca         DMR 3023947

As a youngster I was fascinated with radios, aircraft and remote communication. My first experience with radio technology was a Heathkit Crystal Receiver Model CR-1 which I ordered and put together. A long wire antenna out my second story bedroom window with a ground wire to the earth below allowed me to experience headphone reception and many hours of radio listening to AM broadcasts from all over North America. Its an antique now, but it still has a reserved spot in the station to remind me of my childhood in the late 40’s and 50’s growing up in a rural community of Ancaster on the outskirts of Hamilton Ontario.

My next radio pursuit involved CB in 1966 – XM43-118 was taken to the air with a Lafayette 23 Channel Transceiver. A Satellite Base transceiver followed the Lafayette mobile. We were fortunate at that time to live in an 11 story high rise apartment 421 Maple Avenue in Burlington. Gail and I were both teaching at Beamsville District High School. With a wee bit of negotiation, the superintendent gave permission to install an ANTENNA SPECIALIST SUPER SCANNER MS119 CB. 3 element antenna on the roof of the apartment building. Ground wave coverage performance on the 11 meter band was commendable from that location.

Now married Gail VE3GHX and I moved to our first home in 1969. The same antenna was mounted atop a Delhi 68 foot self supporting tower. Sadly in July of 1971 we took a direct lightning hit on the tower and all my equipment was fried. 1972 our first child arrived and my Radio hobby was put on hold. I returned to radio in 1991with the purchase of a Uniden BC760-XLT Scanner. 20 years passed filled with– teaching careers, 3 sons, hockey, camping, a cottage purchase and the joys of family life all together.

I was always interested in getting an Amateur Radio license, but needed a kick start to make it all happen. That came in February 1993 when a fellow teacher on staff at Highland Secondary School in Dundas got his license and Morse Code 12 WPM. Rob McGuffin (VE3CBH) had a passion, he wanted to sail his 36 foot Bayfield with his wife Joan from Bayfield Inlet on Lake Huron to the Bahamas’ via the intercoastal Waterway. Once in Miami it was a short cross to the Bahamian Islands of the Caribbean, for a semester. Rob loaned me the books he had used, by March of ‘93 I had my basic license. Morse Code 12 WPM followed by the end of May that year. Gail VE3GHX joined the amateur hobby soon after getting her license with a course from the Burlington Amateur Radio Club in 1997.

In 1998 we were both retired from teaching. Shortly after we left Burlington moving to our new lakeside retirement home in Seguin Township on Sucker Lake.

Our radios and scanners cover a large portion of the spectrum. HF Kenwood TS50 with Auto Tuner and an ICOM IC 706 MKIIG with Auto Tuner – Antennas – 80 meter horizontal loop suspended in the trees and an optional G5RV. VHF/UHF Mobiles Kenwood TM741A and an ICOM IC-2720H. Handhelds Kenwood TH78 Dual Band and DMR TYT MD-2017 Dual Band with a DV4mini. 9 Scanners – analogue, digital, and DMR occupy the spaces below and beside the keyboard and to the left of the video display. The sloping clear panel roof is in a retracted position for the winter. Snow cover is a concern in this area we get a lot of lake effect snow off Georgian Bay to our west. When the roof is lowered it shelters all the patio furniture from the elements. When spring comes we “raise the roof” so to speak and have a rain protected deck overlooking the lake and bush. My antennas are all mounted at the side of the deck on masts supported by the deck and railings. Wire antennas are supported by the mature maple, oak, beech, yellow birch, pine/hemlock trees most are 80 footers plus on our lot.


We are fortunate to have 3 sons and daughter in laws who have given us 8 Grandchildren currently ranging in age from 5 to 21.

Other hobbies and interests that we enjoy are hosting the grandkids for holidays in the summer at the lake, UTV and motorcycle rides, bush walks with our dogs and snowmobile grooming our bush trail for walking and skiing in the winter months.


Thanks for your interest – looking forward to contacting you on the air – 73  Jack and Gail