Biography

*** IOTA activation of NA-077, Anticosti Island (Île d'Anticosti), Québec, Canada, 15-27 August 2023 ***

Logistics permitting, I will be activating the above IOTA entity this week and next using WB2OIL/VE2. I will be operating on 160-10 m on FT8, SSB, and CW, as time permits. Xiegu G90, 20 W, end fed sloping wire, located seaside. Activity will likely be 2300-0100 Z, as I am part of a scuba diving research team, and need to sleep because of the arduous work conditions. (We are surveying kelp beds.) I think Anticosti was last activated in late 2021. Hope to see you on the air.

73 from Salem, Massachusetts, USA! I'm Mark, and I'm a Professor of Marine and Environmental Sciences and Civil and Environmental Engineering (https://cos.northeastern.edu/people/mark-patterson/) at Northeastern University, in Boston. In case you are wondering about the pics.....I do live underwater for my research on corals and I have spent about 89 days over 10 separate missions on the bottom of the sea. I can thank ham radio for giving me an interest in electronics and computers that led to the creation of the robot shown in the second picture. That's a free-swimming Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (Fetch) I co-developed with Jim Sias, a friend from Rochester, New York, where I grew up.

I was first licensed in 1970 (age 12 - WN2OIL) and became WB2OIL (General, then Advanced) in 1971. My Elmer was my metal shop teacher, Paul Rood (SK), W2TQB. I have maintained my license continuously for 51 years. Working DX on CW and SSB, and homebrew and kit building, got me hooked on ham radio. I saved money from my paper route so I could buy and build the Heathkit HW-101. The DX Century Club award was a big accomplishment for me back then. But even headier was receiving a Public Service Award from the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) in 1972 for the work I did helping run traffic during the aftermath of Hurrican Agnes, into southern New York and northern Pennsylvania, as part of a team from the Rochester Amateur Radio Association (K2JD). RARA sent me into the disasater zone, which was a gripping experience. I can thank the East Coast Amateur Radio Service (ECARS on 7.255 MHz) for letting a young teen serve as net control on many occasions. That helped me greatly during the Hurricane Agnes event; on the air no one knows you are 15 ;).

During college, I put my amateur radio skills to use during two summers (1978, 1979) spent in Africa on humanitarian relief projects in Sudan (now South Sudan) and Mali, setting up shortwave communications for the US State Department/Peace Corps. My next big adventure was surviving the eyewall of Hurricane Allen (1980) in Jamaica while I was working at the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory. I had lugged my Heathkit HW-101 with me so I could operate /6Y5; little did I know Allen was coming! After Allen hit, I was running traffic for relief efforts into St. Ann's parish for many days.

After a long QRT because of kids and career, I just returned to the air in 2021. In the shack, I have an Elecraft KX1 QRP transceiver (4 W) that I built for 20, 30, 40 m (CW), and a Xiegu G90 (20 W) 160-10 m transceiver that works all modes. The Elecraft feeds a random wire in the attic with a counterpoise. The Xiegu feeds an NI4L end-fed wire (11 m long) sloping from 10 m to 1.5 m, also with a counterpoise.

I love CW, especially straight key, and joined the Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) member #24391. I am also a Lifetime member of ECARS and belong to ARRL.

Looking forward to trying out FT8 soon, and also satellite QSOs. But DX on CW and SSB is still the big attraction! One thing still on my bucket list is to operate a ham station from an underwater habitat. Fabien Cousteau is building a new station called Proteus (https://www.forbes.com/sites/katiejennings/2020/07/22/fabien-cousteau-is-raising-135-million-to-build-the-international-space-station-of-the-deep-sea/?sh=b0b61e310132) and I hope to twist his arm to let me bring my radio when we eventually saturate there.

CU on the air!

Mark, WB2OIL

Equipment

Elecraft KX1 QRP transceiver (4 W) that I built for 20, 30, 40 m (CW only)
Xiegu G90 (20 W) 160-10 m transceiver that works all modes
NI4L end-fed wire antenna