Biography

Licensed as WN9MQK in early 1973. Then became WB9MQK with the general license. Moved to IA in 1979, took my Extra exam, and received KB0V. Lots of contesting and DXing in the 80's, then kids came along. NO HAMMING FUN from about 1992 through most of 2019, but end of 2019 I installed a FlexRadio and lo-and-behold, the antennas I'd installed about 20 years ago are still good! (Force12 tribander and 40/80 dipoles with buried coax that survived all this time!)

DXCC, but now there are many new countries on the list, so I'm back at it with 1000W. Rarely on the WARC Bands, but a new beam eventually will change that.

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

FlexRadio 6600 and TS-2000 (using the Flex mostly). Also a Flex PGXL amp, Flex TGXL Auto-tuner, and a 2x8 antenna switch. Force 12 tribander (that's an old name, now taken over by JK Antennas) up about 60 feet, and 40M and 80M dipoles and a 160M OCF dipole off that same tower. Stacked arrays of 2 each, 11 ele on 2M and 13 ele on 440. Finally, a 5-ele 6M yagi, all up 73 ft and above. During winter months, I also install a dual-direction beverage system that gives me 4 directions (2 each of them), and a 160M inverted "L" (but with 2 legs, so more of a "T"). I have 80M verticals waiting to be installed as a 4-square, then a 70ft RG-45 tower that needs a planting location and list of what to put on it! Good problems for the retired to have, keeps me busy.