Biography

Been a ham since 2013. Wanted to get my ticket since I was a kid in the 80s but never got around to it. Now I'm making up for lost time.

I am mostly involved in EmComm. I also do a lot in infrastructure maintenance for the local club including a bit of mountaintop time at our repeater sites keeping the voice repeaters working as well as keeping our packet and APRS systems up.

Homebrew is something I try to spend as much time as possible on, but I am frequently too tied up with other radio stuff to get back to the build bench.

These days we are in the planning phase of a countywide IP mesh net so I am spending a lot of Linux time hammering out a VoIP system and other db driven resources for CERT and ARES/AUXCOMM.

My responsibilities include ARES Emergency Coordinator and AUXCOMM Coordinator for Klamath County, a board member of the Klamath County Emergency Communications Workgroup, a NTS Relay & Net Control Station and Local Net Manager, a director of the Sky Lakes Amateur Radio Association, Director of Civil Defense Communications Auxiliary, a Volunteer Examiner and Field Examiner, License Instructor and Field Instructor. Tangentially, I am also involved with the county 911 board.

Along with my ham license, I hold a GMRS license WQZJ382, a commercial General Radiotelephone license GP00049804, and a SHARES callsign.

Klamath County AUXCOMM/ARES/RACES http://kauxcomm.org
KBTN (Klamath Basin Traffic Net) NM/NCS http://kauxcomm.org
OEN (Oregon Emergency Net) #1416 http://www.w7oen.net/
BSN (Beaver State Net) relay station http://k6ugs.com/BSN.htm
KBARA (Klamath Basin Amateur Radio Association) http://www.facebook.com/kfalls.radio/
4SQRP (Four States QRP Group) #997 http://www.4sqrp.com/
ARRL (American Radio Relay League) Life member http://arrl.org/
FPQRP (Flying Pigs QRP Club International) #3582 http://www.fpqrp.org/
NAQCC (North American QRP CW Club) #7855 http://naqcc.info/
QRPARCI (QRP Amateur Radio Club International) #16166 http://www.qrparci.org/
SKCC (Straight Key Century Club) #14047 http://www.skccgroup.com/

Equipment

An equipment list for my shack is a moving target. Since I do a lot of prep work for services that will be made available from various groups I often have "test stations" running and I use them for my own communications as I burn them in and prep them for their new homes.

For HF operations are using a Kenwood TS-450S with a Signalink for voice and digital.

For VHF/UHF voice I am temporarily using a QYT KT-8900D

For VHF/UHF FM digital I am using an Alinco DR-135 MkII. For packet I am using either a Kantronics KPC-3+ or a KAM-XL, I also have a KPC-3 in the wigs that gets occasional use, and for APRS I am running a Raspberry Pi 3B with Direwolf.

I also have a Midland MXT-400 GMRS that I need to plex on one of my two Diamond X-50A VHF/UHF verticals and a a Bearcat 980 SSB that I want to get up and running for 11 meter at some point

I have several single-band wire dipoles, but the one I use most is an 80 meter in an NVIS configuration. Plans for a 60 meter EFHW are also in the works. I also have a 6 meter dipole at about 25 feet.

For bench testing, I have a Yaesu FT-2500M and a Yaesu FT-817 which I also use for HF mobile.

My mobile has two Baoji 218s, one for voice and the other for FM digital. I am currently using a TinyTrak 4 for mobile APRS but I have a Raspberry Pi 3B set up for that as well. I need to work out mobile packet as well, all the parts are there, I just need to get it going.

For pedestrian APRS, I use a Mobilinkd with my Android phone and an HT which brings up the assortment of HTs for EmComm.

This is only a current snapshot, the sands are always shifting.