Ham Radio 2021 Installation Winner – Jason
Jason has been a licensed radio ham since 2016, and has passed all three of the UK exams (Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced/Full). As well as amateur radio equipment, Jason also has a weather fax, a Navtek receiver, a general weather station, and tons of home automation and security controls. He also tracks planes and ships using AirNav ADS-B and AIS receivers, and enjoys tracking the ships he can see from his shack window that sits only about 100m from the clifftop at Cayton Bay, Scarborough. As you can tell, Jason’s shack – named “Marconi Lodge” – is his pride and joy.
Mechanical 2021 Installation Winner – William
William had the good fortune to get his Geochron from his friend Yvonne. He shared with Yvonne the story of an enormous mechanical clock he’d seen at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan. This amazing clock at the Imperial had mechanical slats that would flip from light to dark to show what parts of the world were experiencing day versus night. Yvonne surprised him a few weeks later with the gift of a Geochron. After getting his Geochron upgraded to use LED lights, William and his friend Gus built a custom mount in his office for the newly restored Geochron. Today, the Geochron is a conversation starter with William’s family and friends.
4K 2021 Installation Winner – Brian
Brian’s Geochron Atlas is located in the Horwitz-DeRemer Planetarium in Waukesha, WI, and replaced an old mechanical Geochron clock that was retired when the planetarium remodeled the lobby. The planetarium is part of the public school district and is located at the Retzer Nature Center, so they get a lot of traffic through their lobby, including students on field trips during the day and the general public for evening and weekend programs. The clock is the centerpiece of their lobby where visitors stop to study the day/night view of the Earth, which often opens the door for the planetarium’s docents to explain how the shape of the terminator changes with the seasons. For the planetarium, the Geochron Atlas is a valuable teaching tool that looks cool.