Biography

"NOW CELEBRATING MY 25TH YEAR AS A LICENSED AMATEUR RADIO OPERATOR
QCWA NC LOCAL PIEDMONT CHAPTER 126 MEMBER # 279

Info: https://www.qsl.net/qcwa126/

*ABOUT ME: Born: Taylorsville, NC

Raised: Taylorsville, Hiddenite, Stony Point, & Statesville, NC (in Alexander & Iredell Counties)

Universities: Catawba Valley Community College, Cleveland Institute of Electronics - 2-year diploma for course "Electronics Technology with Laboratory" (1989-1991)

Hobbies: Amateur Radio & Shortwave Listening

Rev: KU4GW - Friday, July 28, 2023

My radio hobby story: I first became interested in radio when my mom bought me a Cobra 85 CB radio base station transceiver and a quarter-wave ground plane antenna for Christmas when I was 15 years old. I had so much fun, this was back in the day when CB was still regulated by the FCC and you had to have a license to use one. People wouldn't talk to you if you didn't have a callsign. When I started my freshmen year in high school a friend of mine invited me to his house to see his station one evening after school and that was when I discovered single-sideband! He had an old Regency radio with a Siltronix VFO-90 external VFO attached to it. I immediately wanted a sideband radio when I discovered on there they didn't use handles but instead used their first name and there were numerous sideband radio clubs and groups I became involved with. I also discovered I could talk all over the world using only the 12 watts the FCC allowed on 11 meter SSB. I remember talking to a guy on a ship in the sea of Japan onboard the SS Starfish! My goal after that was to get a sideband rig! I ended up getting a Realistic Navaho TRC-458 manufactured for Radio Shack by Tandy Radio Corporation hence the TRC in the model number. I had a blast on SSB working DX and met a lot of local friends in a group called the 12 America Sideband Club (number 12 because North Carolina was the 12th state to join the union) which at the time had over 600 members. I took on the job of publishing a monthly newsletter for the club and other members would send donations to cover the postage. I used an old Royal manual typewriter and stencil sheets from the local Taylorsville Times newspaper office and another club member that also later became a ham, David Hatten, N4WHL, owned a mimeograph machine with a hand crank on it and he would take my stencils and print the newsletters for me to mail. We also had an annual get-together at a lodge at the Elk Shoals Methodist Campground along the banks of the New River in West Jefferson in Ashe County, NC. I remained on 11 meters SSB for 20 years altogether running the Realistic Navajo TRC-458 as my main radio and had given thought about studying for my ham license and even purchased a book titled "Now Your Talking" at the local Radio Shack store which reminds me of how excited I used to get every year when the new Radio Shack catalog was published! It was like a Christmas wish book to me! Oh, by the way, those old catalogs can be viewed nowadays in an online archive of catalogs dating from 1939-2011 at this URL: https://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/ 11 meters SSB was exactly like the amateur radio 75-meter phone band with the exception we didn't have to ID every 10 minutes so I was having a blast operating there and one day a 16-year-old friend, Seth Oneal, got on the air and announced to the group he had gotten his ham radio license and I thought I was not going to be outdone by a 16-year-old so I took the Now Your Talking book off my bookshelf, blew the dust off of it, and started reading it. It was a well-written book written so that you felt like you were being talked to by a teacher as you went through it and it didn't just teach you the exam questions, it taught you the theory so you had a good understanding of what you were learning. Only 2 weeks later Seth, who I have listed in a short write-up on down this page where I credit him as my Elmer, came to my house and drove me to the exam session in Yadkinville, NC. I took the Novice and Technician exams that Saturday and passed! I felt 10 feet tall and was so happy! I then bought the WB6NOA Gordan West's book for General Class and 3 months later I went to a test session in Statesville, NC, and passed the General Class written exam and the 5 words per minute Morse code test. I had 2 VEs (Volunteer Examiners) tell me to keep studying while I was in the habit and I could go all the way to Amateur Extra Class quickly so I took their advice and bought the Gordan West books for the Advanced and Extra Class written exams. Another 3 months passed and I returned to Yadkinville with the intention of taking the Advanced and Extra written exams and the 13 words per minute code test and I passed them all! The Advanced Class was the hardest exam! It was the one with all the math and formulas that are now in the Extra Class exam since the FCC did away with the Advanced Class licensing although anyone who has an Advanced Class license still has a valid Advanced Class license. The Amateur Extra exam back then was just a review test of the previous 4 exams and I aced it first try! The Yadkinville VEs talked me into trying the 20 words per minute code test that day although I knew I was not ready for it, but thanks to them using multiple-choice questions on the code test answer sheets I got enough of them correct to pass that too! I could barely contain myself I was so happy! I had started only 9 months earlier and had reached the pinnacle of Amateur Radio in only 9 months! I felt drunk when I walked out of that building, the way I felt if I drank a 12-ounce beer straight down in less than 1 minute! I'm glad KF4LLF Seth was driving because I don't think I could have kept my mind on the road. That was 25 years ago as of 2021 and I never looked back at 11 meters after that and pretty much every single one of my friends have gone on to become ham radio operators as well although a couple of them have passed on. Anyway, that's my story of how I became a ham and how radio has been a lifetime hobby, the world's greatest hobby in my humble opinion! Oh, by the way, my mom said that radio was the only thing she ever bought me as a Christmas gift that I never got tired of!

Now I am age 62 and have been a ham since October 16th, 1996, Amateur Extra Class licensee with 20 words per minute CW since April 19, 1997. I am also an American-born Conservative Christian and a Southern Baptist, "American by birth, but Southern by the grace of God!" I enjoy many facets of the amateur radio hobby, CW being my most favorite mode. I am a member of the 3895 Khz HF group (see https://www.3895khz.com/ ) and occasionally participate in the 7240 Club Friendship Net held daily on 7240 kHz from 10 AM until 12 noon Eastern Time and occasionally check into the Ambassadors for Christ Net held daily at 2 PM Eastern Time on 7280 kHz. I also enjoy a few digital modes as well. My favorite digital mode for ragchew QSOs is Feld Hell also called Hellschreiber. I also operate FT8, FT4, JS8Call, and PSK31 digital modes and have been using a software app for Windows PCs and Android devices called "Peanut" created by David, PA7LIM. It allows me to use D-Star & DMR digital utilizing only a headset via VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) over the world wide web. It's similar to Echolink only Echolink is analog and Peanut is all digital. You can learn all about Peanut and view 2 short videos about it here. My newest radio, a Yaesu FT-991A will allow me to operate on C4FM Yaesu System Fusion and I hope to start using it soon, not many repeaters in my area with the capability so I'm hoping to purchase a hot spot in the near future so I can use it without the need for a repeater. I prefer Feld Hell digital mode over most other digital modes for ragchew QSOs on HF, mainly because it's shorter transmit duty cycle is much less than many other digital modes so it doesn't heat up the radio's final MOSFETs (Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors) as much as some other digital modes that have 100% transmit duty cycles. Feld Hell has a 22 to 39% transmit duty cycle with FM105-Hell a.k.a. FSKH-105 Hell having a transmit duty cycle of around 80%. In comparison PSK31 has a 100% transmit duty cycle. Duty cycle is defined as the maximum time a transmitter may transmit within a five-minute interval, expressed as a percentage.

Station Information: My station is located on the NE slope of Bald Knob Mountain (SOTA Reference W4C/WP-005) in Alexander County at 1,434 feet (437 meters) above sea level. My station equipment consists of a Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark V, a Yaesu FT-991A, and a Yaesu FT-897D for my backup rig for HF and for digital modes. I use a 130 feet (39.63 meters) long multiband doublet antenna up about 30 feet (9.14 meters) fed with 450-ohm ladder line which is connected to a Balun Designs model 4115t current balun that is rated at 5 kilowatts, (a gift from W4ACW John Surace), and a short piece of coax about 20 feet long coming on into the shack that I use on the 15 through 80-meter bands I tune with a Palstar AT1500CV roller inductor manual antenna tuner. The antenna will also tune with the internal ATU in my FT-991A on all bands from 6 meters through the top half/phone portion of the 40-meter band. I also have up a Solarcon A-99 vertical antenna better known as an Antron 99 that I use on the 10, 12, 15, and 17-meter bands that is on a telescoping pole at 30 feet (9.14 meters) high. Other antennas I have are a Cushcraft A148-10S 10 element yagi for 2 meters mounted on a roof tripod, a Cushcraft A-50-3S 3 element yagi for 6 meters, a Hustler 5BTV ground-mounted vertical I still have yet to get installed. The latter two of these antennas I still do not have up yet, but hope to get them up in the future. It's near impossible to get help working on antennas nowadays! I own one RF amplifier, an Ameritron AL-80B that uses one 3-500ZG vacuum tube. I use the amp mostly on the 75-meter phone band or when I'm trying to bust a huge DX pileup on other bands. I recently retubed my AL-80B amplifier (see photos down this page). I use a West Mountain Radio Rigblaster M8 digital interface for HF digital modes with the FT-897D or the FT-1000MP Mark-V with the exception of the FT-991A which has its own sound card built right into the radio. I also use a Yaesu FP-29 power supply for the Mark V and have the SP-8 Yaesu external speaker, a Yaesu MD100A8X desktop microphone, and a Daiwa CN-801H SWR/Power Meter. I sometimes use a Heil Proset Plus headset I key with a footswitch. It helps me a great deal for hearing very weak CW signals as my hearing has suffered slightly from working in a 90+ dB noise environment for 30 years although I did almost always wear hearing protection (earplugs). I am currently using a Jetstream JTPS32MAB 35 amp switching power supply I purchased new from QuicksiIver Radio at the 2021 Shelby, NC Hamfest. I especially like that the Jetstream power supply has a lighted meter for monitoring the voltage or amperage. For VHF and UHF I use my Yaesu FT-991A with the Cushcraft A148-10S 10 element yagi vertically mounted on a roof tripod. My Yaesu FT-991A & FT-897D are also capable of VHF, UHF, and 6-meter operation in addition to the 10-160 meters HF bands including the channelized 60-meter band on the FT-991A. I power both of them from the Jetstream switching power supply, one at a time of course! I use the FT-897D mainly for digital modes.

QRPTTF = QRP to the Field equipment: I have both a Ten-Tec R4020 2 band (20 and 40 meters) CW mode only QRP rig and a Hendricks PFR-3A 3 band (20,30, and 40 meters) CW mode only transmit with both CW and single-sideband receive QRP transceiver with attached W5JH BBW (Baby Black Widow) CW paddle and I also purchased a Flying Pig Rig kit and a Ten-Tec TPC-19 enclosure for the rig that I have not yet assembled. For my portable operation antennas, I use either a 66 feet (20 meters) long dipole fed with 450-ohm ladder line or a 42 feet end-fed wire vertical antenna and a Emtech ZM-2 antenna tuner I built from a kit. When using the Hendricks PFR-3A it has it's own manual antenna tuner built right into the rig. I also use this LDG RBA-4:1 Balun with whichever of my antennas I'm using at the time for QRP portable operation.

CW Keys: My favorite and most used straight key is a J.H. Bunnell CJB26003A Navy Flameproof I bought from (NOS) = New Old Stock from the J.H. Bunnell Company in Kings Park, New York. It is mounted on a 1/2" (1.27 Cm) thick steel base custom made for me by W4CUX Bill Worley SK. I had a Begali Camelback straight key, but sold it on a Ebay auction after mounting the Navy Flameproof on the 1/2" (1.27 Cm) thick steel base. The Navy key was like a completely different key after mounting it on the steel base, so much so that I began liking it better than the Begali Camelback key so I never used the Begali Camelback anymore and decided to sell it. I also use a Czech Army RM-31 straight key I bought from W4KRN Karen at the 2013 Dayton Hamvention and a Vibroplex Deluxe Chrome Vibrokeyer single lever paddle key that was willed to me by W4CUX Bill. Bill also willed me the Hendricks PFR-3A QRP rig I speak of above, a W5JH BBW (Baby Black Widow) iambic paddle that attaches to the front of the PFR-3A with 2 small red thumb screws, and a QRP Kits 10 watt 50 ohm SMT (Surface Mount) resistive dummy load. W4CUX Bill constructed the PFR-3A from a kit. I have photos of all of my equipment on this QRZ profile. I seldom work faster than 17-18 words per minute in a CW ragchew QSO with the paddle but do go faster, up to around 25 to 45 words per minute, in a short DX exchange QSO.

Clubs and Membership Numbers: SKCC # 652C, FISTS # 16001, NAQCC # 1491, Flying Pigs QRP International # 1183, Great Outdoors Radio Club=GORC # 399, 4SQRP # 536, Club72 # 46, QRP-ARCI # 15877, CW Ragchewers # 30, 7240 Club # 1303, International Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA) # 38573, QCWA Local NC Chapter 126 Membership # 279, Feld Hell Club # 0062, Southcars # 1967, Grit # 171, QRP Zombie # 867, Ambassadors for Christ # 1184, Digital Modes Club (DMC) # 6362, 30 Meter Digital Group (30MDG# 865), European Phase Shift Club (EPC#27746), Russia Digital Radio Club (RDRC#1534), ARRL A-1 Operator Club (inducted April 11, 2012), SOC (Second Class Operator Club) member # 952, A1 CW Club # 3440, & 30CW # 127, FT8DMC (FT8 Digital Modes Club) # 07470.

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

Radios: Yaesu FT-991A, Yaesu FT-897D, Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark-V

Antennas: 130 Feet (39.63 Meters) long Doublet dipole antenna up 35 Feet (10.67 Meters) high.

Cushcraft A148-10S 10 element yagi for 2 meter band on roof tripod.

Solarcon A-99 (Antron 99) vertical up 30 Feet (9.15 meters) high for 10, 12, 15, & 17 meter bands.

Antenna Tuner: Palstar AT1500CV

Meters: Daiwa CN-801H for HF & Yaesu YS-500 for VHF/UHF

Amplifier: Ameritron AL-80B 1 Kilowatt Maximum *(I usually run it at 500-800 watts maximum to prolong the life of the 3-500ZG-RFP vacuum tube. *(Used with Ameritron ARB-704 keying buffer relay).

Electronic Memory Keyer: AA0ZZ EZ Keyer II I built from a kit purchased from the 4SQRP (4 State QRP Group)

CW Keys: Vibroplex Chrome Vibrokeyer Deluxe single lever paddle left to me in the will of W4CUX Bill Worley of Alpharetta, GA, J.H. Bunnell CJB26003A Navy Flameproof straight key bought from NOS(New Old Stock) from the J.H. Bunnell Company of Kings Park, New York, and Czech Army RM-31 straight key bought from NOS from W4KRN Karen at the 2013 Dayton Hamvention.