Biography

Hello my radio friends from all over the world.

My name is Stefan and I was born 1984 in south-west Germany in a small town near Heidelberg.
I lived there for over 30 years and got infected with the HF-virus by the age of 14.
I started with CB-Radio, as a lot of other HAM radio operators did before I guess, and got my "small"
Class-E license in 2006 where the Shortwave was released also for the entry level and my first callsign DO9KW
that I used until May 2026 smiley

On 12.05.2026 I finally upgraded to the highest class A in Germany and got my new callsign DK2SW on 21.06.2026

The callsign DK2SW belonged to a HAM Radio Operator (Mr. Kurt Wendel) from southern Germany, who went Silent Key in 2022, may he rest in peace.

As mentioned before I started with CB-Radio in 1998 and already contacted a lot of stations around
the world because the solar maximums were very strong back in the days and it was possible to contact
Asia, Pacific, NA and SA with a "rusty nail" and that fascinated me.

2006 I got my HAM license because the shortwave was accessible since 2005 also for the "small HAM" here in Germany and shortwave DX`ing is what I like.

From approx. 2008 - 2014 I was also active on 80m and 15m with a 2x20m Double Zepp mounted about 15m above the ground, but I was getting very much noise from the neighbourhood and I was also a young man with a lot of different hobbies and therefore the operation on the HAM bands dropped off very much.

these were the years where I was not much active, my SG-230 antenna tuner broke and I took down the multiband antenna. I still have it but I have not much space in my new QTH.

New QTH:
I moved to northern Germany at the end of 2016 and live now in a small town near the city of Bremen close to the Motorway (Autobahn) A1 Hamburg Bremen.
I am married, have 2 beautiful kids and back on the air since the summer of 2019.

currently I am active on 10m, 11m (old love), 15m and 80m (September/October until ~April/May)

Because of the fact that I have not much time at the moment to be on air (SSB) I am mostly active on FT8 (10m, 15m and sometimes 80m).


my current working conditions:

Transceiver: Icom IC-7300 (160-4m)
Output: 100W (running FT8 with maximum of 30-80W carrier, depending on the propagation but mainly 30-40W only)
Microphone: Icom SM-30 Desk Microphone and modified original Microphone
Antenna Switch: SW:3000/8G - 8-Way Switch (PC-controlled) by amplitec (HA8UG)

Antennas:
1. Grazioli FE-10V 5/8 Lambda vertical GP (10/11m) on a 14m Aluminium telescopic mast
2. Homemade 1/2 Lambda Inverted-V monoband Dipole for 15m with Kelemen 1:1 Balun, mounted below the GP on that mast (direction E-W)
3. Homemade 1/2 Lambda Full-Size Dipole for 80m (Monoband) with Kelemen 1:1 Balun, mounted on an 13.8m Aluminium telescopic mast (direction N-S) in about 12m height.
--> only for temporarily operation from autumn to spring (in the "dark months").



DARC OV: I19 (Rotenburg) since 01.10.2024



FT8DMC # 17311
FT4DMC # 00476

QSL via: LotW, eQSL.cc, QRZ.com, ClubLog, HRDLOG.net.
I don't have any printed QSL cards yet, therefore the confirmation is only possible on the electronical way.
Please no Paper QSL Cards via Bureau because I have no printed QSL Cards yet.
I will give an Info, when QSL Cards are ready.