Biography

9/1/14 - Just set up a Winlink gateway using WINMOR 1600 on 80M, 40M and 17M. I hope they are well-used! I am also in the process of learning how to set up Ham Mesh nodes - I have configured and provisioned 10 of them so far and am experimenting with NZ6J, KK6AYC and K6RGI with sending a video feed several miles.

My Dad (K6MLF) got me into this hobby in Mid - 2012, so I am a new Ham. As a 40-something guy, it's a fun hobby!

My Ham-Shack is on full-time emergency power. It is run by solar-charged battery power - 240 AH.

For HF, I have a barefoot Icom IC-7200 and my trusty Kenwood TS-850S and some home-spun antennas (a 40M dipole, a 75M inverted vee and other dipoles ready to deploy in the field). For the Kenwood, I have a pan adapter (LP-PAN2) and use NaP3 as an SDR with panafall display, etc. The IC-7200 is a remote control rig as well and does well with HDSDR. Fldigi and RMS Express work really well with this rig too. The RMS sysop software needed a little fine tuning, but I got it sorted out after a few days of having stations connect.

On solar powered batteries, I have logged contacts from South Africa, Russia, New Zealand, Japan, Croatia, Romania, Brazil, Canada and even India on 20M, 17M, 15M and 10M bands. Mornings I can hit Croatia, the Netherlands, etc when conditions are good. Afternoons I can hit Japan, Hawaii and Alaska easily when the band is open, with occassional Eastern Russian or Korean contacts.

With the exception of Japan (which is almost always booming in) I tend to get more North-South contacts like New Zealand, Brazil, Chile and Alaska.

40M and 60M are NVIS situations for me, so I cover most of the west coast (anything west of the Rockies and from Southern Washington to Northern Mexico to Texas on those bands. I have even logged contacts only a few miles away on 40M.

I like building antennas... have constructed several dipoles, wound/soldered my own 1:1 and 4:1 current baluns, and constructed a 3-El 2M Yagi using welding rod and a wooden dowel. I like that antenna so much I made another one for KB6HOH to play with. so far he reports good performance with it.

Using an RTL2832 dongle and an upconverter, I have the capability to monitor bands using SDRSharp - so even when I'm away from my HF rigs I can be aware of band conditions if I want.

I have dual band mobile rigs in my car and motorcycle and I volunteer as a moto-marshal for local events in the hills of Sonoma and West Marin where cell phone coverage is poor. Our 2M repeaters tend to be better than the state troopers radio coverage out there, so we help out a lot during bicycle races, marathons, etc. My home 2M base station is 75W with a Diamond x200 and the 3 el yagi – so I can reach most of Northern California from Monterey and Fresno to Ukiah and Chico.

Right now I am learning about Packet Radio, Digipeaters, etc., with a Kantronics TNC I recently set up. I have Winlink capability on HF, VHF and through packet node scripts. Check out my ETAND node (via SMRSND or K6ACS) and leave a message on my BBS!

These skills and technologies may come in handy if we ever have a regional disaster – if one comes, I hope to be able to help! My dad and my sister (KI6TDG who is about 180 miles distant) are in contact every Tuesday - and thanks to this hobby, we know we will be able to continue that in almost any scenario.

NEW ANTENNA! I call this the ETA 3L MKII antenna. It is a 2M 3el Yagi that breaks down to 20 inches, is super light and a great performer! Originally I made them out of welding rod and wooden dowels, but the MKII is upgraded to Schedule 80 PVC and aluminum arrow shafts. This lets the whole thing easily break down and fit into a small bag.

Worked DXCCs: