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home QRZCQ - The database for radio hams 
 
2024-03-29 10:10:52 UTC
 

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KY4ROD

Active QRZCQ.com user

activity index: 1 of 5

Rod Milligan

Florence 41042
United States, KY

NA
united states
image of ky4rod

Call data

Last update:2023-07-28 19:19:15
QTH:Near Cincinnati OH
Continent:NA
Views:293
Main prefix:K
Class:General Class
Federal state:KY
US county:Boone
Latitude:38.9960712
Longitude:-84.6853502
Locator:EM78PX
DXCC Zone:291
ITU Zone:8
CQ Zone:4
ULS record:4235243
Issued:2019-12-24

Most used bands

20m
(44%)
40m
(20%)
17m
(9%)
15m
(9%)
30m
(8%)

Most used modes

FT8
(88%)
MFSK
(11%)
SSB
(2%)
DSTAR
(1%)
FM
(1%)

QSL data

Last update:2022-05-22 17:45:30
eQSL QSL:YES
Bureau QSL:no
Direct QSL:YES
LoTW QSL:YES
Extra QSL Info:Send a stamped self addressed envelope to me and I will send you a QSL card

Biography

Please visit my QRZ.COM Home page located at: https://www.qrz.com/db/ky4rod

Hello, my name is Rod and I live in Florence, Kentucky which is located about 12 miles south of Cincinnati, OH in Northern Kentucky. I am retired, I love the outdoors and I enjoy staying active. My current hobbies include amateur radio, genealogy, traveling, hiking, photography, bicycling, fishing and canoeing. When traveling, my favorite activities are to visit and photograph national parks, covered bridges, lighthouses and other historic sites.

I have had a successful, long varied professional career working in the fields of Bio-Medical Electronics with a NW Indiana Hospital, FM Radio Broadcast Engineering with a Chicago FM Radio Station & IT Engineering with a major US airline. After a career spanning 40 years, I took an early retirement package in 2020 during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Now that I am retired, I am able now to sit back, enjoy life to the fullest & have more time to devote to amateur radio and my other hobbies. I manage to stay active with all my hobbies and I sometimes feel busier now being retired than when I was working.

I have been interested in amateur radio and have been a dedicated shortwave listener for the past 50 years. My interest in radio dates back to my teens in the early 1970s when I spent many late nights listening to Voice of America and BBC World Service on shortwave. In the 1980s, while I was employed as an engineering intern at a Chicago FM Radio Station, my boss Warren - the station's chief engineer (WA9GXZ - now a silent key) was always patient, very supportive and encouraged me to pursue my general radio-telephone operator (GROL) and ham radio licenses. I considered WA9GXZ as my first "elmer", without his encouragement I would not be where I am today. I obtained my general radio - telephone operators license (GROL) while my employment at the radio station but never got around to getting my amateur radio license at that time.

In 1984 to 1988, I moved around to Atlanta, Washington DC and finally to the Cincinnati area for my IT job with an airline. Upon arriving in Cincinnati, I found out that the Voice of America had a relay station here in Bethany OH, just North of Cincinnati (how lucky was that... I used to listen to them on shortwave in the 1970s!). The VOA Bethany Relay Station in Bethany, OH (now known as West Chester OH) was decommissioned in late 1994. Today the VOA radio towers are all gone at the site, but the building still remains. The VOA Building now houses the National VOA Museum of Broadcasting and is home to the West Chester Amateur Radio Association Club (WC8VOA). If you are ever in Cincinnati visiting, I highly recommend visiting and touring the National VOA Museum of Broadcasting, you won't regret it (I am a member of the West Chester Amateur Radio Assn - WC8VOA... so I am a little biased!). There is a lot of broadcast history there and radio history in general, as well as information on the role that Voice of America played during World War II and the Cold War Era.

Information on the VOA Museum and its hours can be found at: http://voamuseum.org .
The history of the VOA Bethany Station can be found at: http://www.voamuseum.org/about-us/bethany-relay-station-history/ .
Virtual tours of the VOA Museum can be accessed at: http://www.voamuseum.org/museum/virtual-tours/ .

All of the events described above contributed to my interest in amateur radio. I have always had an interest in amateur radio since the 1970s, but family, jobs and life sometimes gets in the way... I never got around to testing for my amateur radio license until 2019 (just about 9 months before my retirement). In Dec 2019, I tested and received my Technicians license as KO4AKL. Shortly after being licensed, I applied and received my vanity call - KY4ROD. I passed my General Class exam in April 2022. I am currently a member of the ARRL and the West Chester Amateur Radio Association (WC8VOA).

I currently operate on HF, 2m and 70cm. I enjoy working analog, digital data modes including: FT4, FT8, SSTV and digital voice modes: D-Star, System Fusion, Wires-X & DMR. I enjoy having QSOs and participating in nets over Digital Hotspots, local VHF/UHF Repeaters, as well as making HF DX contacts. I still enjoy just tuning in the world and listening to shortwave broadcasts. I really enjoy being involved with Parks on the Air (POTA), it gives me a chance to be involved with two of my favorite things... Ham radio and enjoying the outdoors. For more details on POTA, visit the Parks on the Air website (https://ParksOnTheAir.com) and the POTA.app (https://pota.app).


My shack equipment consists of:

* Base HF: Icom IC-7300, BHI NES 10-2 Mk4 DSP Ext Speaker, LDG AT-200 Pro2 Tuner & Samlex
SEC-1235M Power Supply.
* Base VHF/UHF: Icom ID-4100A, Yaesu FTM-300DR, Alinco DM-330MV Power Supply.
* HotSpot / Digital Modes: SharkRF OpenSPOT3 Hotspot allowing access to D-Star REF & DCS
Reflectors, System Fusion - YSF, FCS Reflectors, XLX & XRF Multimode Reflectors, BM & TGIF
DMR TGs via any of my digital capable radios as well as cross-moding between modes to any
other mode.
* Yaesu C4FM System Fusion access via local repeaters or hotspot. Yaesu Wires-X access via
Direct Connect PDN/HRI Nodes (Nodes 71058/71078) with my FTM-300DR & FT-3DR.
* D-Star access via repeaters or hotspot with my Icom ID-4100s, ID-51A+2 and ID-52A.
* Receivers: Hammarlund HQ-160 Receiver (1958 vintage tube), SDRPlay RSP-1 & RSP-DX SDR
Receivers, Sangean ATS-909 Portable SW Receiver and Uniden Bearcat SDS-100 Scanner.
* Base Antennas: Comet GP-3 VHF/UHF (2m/70cm) Antenna, Palomar Engineers Bullet 9U-500 9:1
71' EFRW Antenna (6m-160m), Comet DS-150 Discone Antenna (50 Mhz - 2 Ghz) & a Homebrew 41'
9:1 EFRW Antenna in my attic for SWL.
* Mobile: Icom ID-4100A w/Comet SBB-224 Tri-Band (144 / 220 / 430) Antenna.
* Handhelds: Icom ID-52A, Icom ID-51A+2, Yaesu FT-3DR, Yaesu VX-6R.
* POTA / Go Kit: Icom IC-7300, BHI NES Mk4 DSP Ext Speaker, Icom ID-4100A, Yaesu and Icom
Handhelds (listed above), 2 battery boxes with Bioenno 15 Ah & 20 Ah batteries & chargers,
Jackery Explorer 300 Solar Generator, Alinco DM-30T Power Supply, Android Tablet & HP 15-
DW3363 Win11 Laptop, VK-172 GPS Dongle for Location/GridSq and GPS Time Sync.
* Portable Ops Antennas: Elk 2m/70cm Log Periodic Beam / N9Tax Labs 2m/70cm Slim Jim, Wolf
River Coils SB-1000 TIA Vertical with 9' & 17' Whips (80m-6m) / MFJ-1979 Telescoping 17'
Vertical with WRC "Sporty 40" Resonator & finally a 49:1 Multiband EFHW with coverage on
40-20-15-10m.
* Analyzers: Rig Expert AA-55 Zoom-BT, Rig Expert Stick Pro
* Logging Software: Local Logs: Log4OM2, N3JFP AC Log, HamRS /// Online Logs: QRZ, ARRL LoTW, ClubLog, POTA, eQSL.

Be kind, respectful and helpful to your fellow hams and others everyday. Never stop learning your hobby and offer encouragement and support to others. Operate your station in a professional and courteous manner.

I am a member of the following groups:

* Member of the ARRL
* Member of the West Chester Amateur Radio Association (https://wc8voa.org)
* Member of the Northern Kentucky Amateur Radio Club (https://k4co.org)
* N. Ky Repeater Group 146.79 League of Extraordinary Hams Facebook Group
* Member of the FT8 Digital Mode Club #19586 (https://www.ft8dmc.eu/)
* Member of the FT4 Digital Mode Club #01760 (https://www.ft4dmc.com/)

73! Stay "Radio-Active" & have good times, but more importantly... stay safe and healthy! I look forward to making contacts with you on the air!

De KY4ROD


Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

My shack consists of:

* Base HF: Icom IC-7300 with LDG AT-200 Pro2 Tuner
* Base VHF/UHF: Icom ID-4100A, Yaesu FTM-300DR
* Alinco DM-330MV / DM-30T Power Supplies
* SharkRF OpenSPOT3 Cross-mode Capable Hotspot
* Yaesu Wires-X PDN Node
* Hammarlund HQ-160 and SDRPlay RSPDX Receivers
* Uniden Bearcat SDS-100 Scanner
* Comet GP-3, Comet DS-150 Discone & Chameleon Emcomm3 Base EFHW Antennas
Elk 2m/70cm Log Periodic, N9TAX Labs 2m/70cm SlimJim & Wolf River Coil SB-1000 antennas
for portable ops.
* Mobile: Icom ID-4100A w/Comet SBB-224 TriBand Antenna
* Handhelds: Icom ID-52A, Icom ID-51A, Yaesu FT-3DR, Yaesu VX-6R
* POTA Go Kit: Icom IC-7300, BHI NES Mk4 DSP Ext Speaker, Icom ID-4100A, Yaesu and Icom
Handhelds (listed above), 2 battery boxes with Bioenno 15 Ah & 20 Ah batteries & chargers,
Jackery Explorer 300 Solar Generator, Alinco DM-30T Power Supply, Android Tablet & HP
15-DW3363 Win11 Laptop, VK-172 GPS Dongle for Location/GridSq and GPS Time Sync.

Misc Shack Equipment:
* CW Morse Camelback CW Key & Scout CPO
* Icom SM-30 Desk Microphones (Icom ID-4100A & Icom IC-7300)
* BHI NES10-2 MK4 DSP Speaker (IC-7300)
* Shark RF OpenSPOT3 Hotspot
* SDRPlay RSPdx SDR Receiver
* Hammarlund HQ-160 1950s Vintage Shortwave Receiver
* Sangean ATS-909 Portable Shortwave Receiver
* MFJ874 SWR/Watt Meter / MFJ260C Dummy Load
* RigExpert AA-55BT Zoom, RigExpert Stick Pro Analyzers

My Antennas include:
* Comet GP-3 ground plane antenna for VHF/UHF (2m and 70 cm).
* Comet DS-150 discone antenna for general listening with my SDRPlay RSPdx and my SDS-100 scanner
and as a backup for my VHF/UHF handhelds.
* Palomar Engineers Bullet 9U-500 9:1 71' EFRW Antenna (6m-160m)
* LNR Precision End-Fed antenna HF listening on my SDR RSPdx and my HQ-160.
* Elk Antennas 2m/70cm Log Periodic Beam for Satellite QSOs, ISS SSTV and Portable VHF/ UHF Ops
* Homemade 49:1 40-2-15-10m EFHW, N9TAX Labs 2m/70cm Slim Jim & Wolf River Coil SB-1000 antennas for portable ops.
* Comet SBB-224 antenna for my mobile operation.
* Diamond SRH-320A / SRH-770S / ​Signal Stuff Super Elastic Signal Stick HT antennas.

DX Code Of Conduct

dx code of conduct small logoI support the "DX Code Of Conduct" to help to work with each other and not each against the others on the bands.

Other images

second pic
KY4ROD / Pic 2
  

Rev. 76d955ecd7