Biography

I was first licensed by the FCC in 1967 as WN2BHJ at age 12, then as WA2BHJ until recently. From 1967-1970, I was active from New Jersey on the short wave (HF) bands in a variety of areas, including DXing, morse code (CW), single side-band radio-telephone (SSB), contests, and 3rd party traffic handling on morse code. After moving to California, I changed my call to K6DAJ (my initials), to avoid confusion when DX stations call for "2s" or "6s".

I am currently active in Berkeley, California on all HF bands, plus MF (160 meters), VHF (6 and 2 meters), and UHF (70 cm.) Modes include morse code (my favorite), SSB, AM, FM, and digital modes, such as slow scan TV (SSTV) PSK31 and radio teletype (RTTY.) Interests cover pretty much the whole range of amateur radio activities, but DXing and contesting are high on the list. From 2000-2013, I had an HF rig in my car and did a lot of mobile CW, but I haven't yet installed a rig in my most recent car.

I have a challenging QTH for DX, as my city lot is only 100 x 40 feet, I have antenna height restrictions and the RF noise level is very high in this neighborhood. Still, I have worked over 300 entitites and over 100 on 7 HF bands... still working on 80m. I am on a hill, pointing south-west, so I have a good shot to Australia and the S. Pacific, but Europe and Africa are stright into a hill. Antennas currently include a 4-element tribander on the roof, a ground-mounted 80/40 meter vertical, a low half-sloper for 160/30/17/12, and a vertical for 2m/70cm.

I am also a professional composer of acoustic and electronic contemporary classical music. My interest in amateur radio is evident in several of my musical compositions, including Silicon Valley Breakdown, where a morse code "CQ DE WA2BHJ" can be heard about 2/3 of the way through the piece. Another example of the use of morse code is in the last movement of The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, where the names of all of the Wonders are intoned in morse code.

I am also an audio/music software developer and computer music researcher. For more info, please see http://jaffe.com

Equipment

Main rig: Icom IC-746, PW-1 linear amplifier
Other rigs: Icom IC-706 (was in the car), now used as second receiver, Icom IC-W32A HT, Heathkit SB-301 that I built in 1968

Antennas:
KLM KT34A tri-bander (not high enough!)
Butternut HF2V 80/40 vertical
1/2 sloper for 160, also used on 30/17/12/6
2m/440 ground plane vertical
Wellbrook active receive antenna
"Arrow" hand-held satellite antenna