My Radio Shack and Vertical Antenna (Grayslake, IL)

My QTH has changed as of 01-JUL-2009 to Westford, MA (Grid Square - FN42go / County: Middlesex County)

I am an Extra Class licensed amateur radio operator and volunteer examiner. My QSL info is good in QRZ.com.

I earned my first license and all the upgrades while serving in the U.S. Navy, earning my Novice license (KB9FQE) in 1990; upgraded to Tech (N9KJJ) shortly after the Novice ticket, while in Bremerton, WA. And in 1992, I jumped from Tech to Extra (AA9DY), while stationed in Idaho Falls, ID.

My interest in operating went to the wayside for several years, and I started back into ham radio in late 2002, after being introduced to the radiosport of Amateur Radio Contesting. I have been relatively active since then, and I have completed a few different flavors of Worked All States awards... and slowly working on my DXCC.

My wife, Michelle, is KC9BLP. Both my wife and I are Life Members of the American Radio Relay League. She participated in her first radio contest in the 2006 Sweepstakes Phone Contest.

Amateur Radio areas of interest to me include: Contesting, Home-Brew projects, QSL Card Collecting, paper chasing (Awards), and High Speed Meteor Scatter (HSMS) Communications.

I QSL via LoTW, Direct, ARRL Bureau, OMISS Bureau (info at www.OMISS.net), and now the 3905-Club's WM9H Bureau. I'll send you a QSL via the route it came, unless otherwise noted on QSL Card. Please QSL to me via Logbook of the world, if you can.

In the past, I've held different leadership role hats with the Motorola Amatuer Radio Club in Libertyville, IL: Treasurer, QSL and Awards Manager, and acting VP/Secretary roles as needed to support the club.

Radios:

• Yaesu FT-920 HF/6m Radio
• Kenwood TS-50S HF Radio

Antenna(s) and Bands Operated at home:

• 40/20/15/10/6/2 meters with a MFJ-1796 Center-Fed Vertical Dipole Antenna mounted up on an pipe.
• 160/80 meters with a 160-meter Inverted-L at my new QTH. Pics and details will be forthcoming. At my previous QTH I tried the 160-meter band for the first time. Read about my experience for setting this up.

Portable Ops:

• I've worked portable with my home station and a G5RV antenna in Jo Daviess County for the 2006 Illinois QSO Party. Read about it here.

Awards:

At my Grayslake, IL QTH:

• WAS Mixed Mode/Band (#52,082) - granted 26-Aug-2006
• WAS on 40-meters - granted October 2006
• WAS RTTY (#507) - granted 28-FEB-2007
• WAS CW Mode - granted FEB-2008
• WAS RTTY - 40M - I have the credit--but not going to apply at this time.

At my Westford, MA QTH:

• None yet, but coming close to WAS again after a few contests.

Some of my Logbook of The World stats (needs updating):

• Grayslake, IL QTH (2002-2009)
• Westford, MA QTH (2009+)
• DXCC

Awards and Certificates (adding them as I find the info)

American Radio Relay League - WAS, WAC, VUCC, DXCC
CQ Amateur Radio - DX, DX Field, WAZ, WPX, US-Counties
TARA (Troy ARA) Digital Awards - PSK31 and RTTY

APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System)

APRS Client for Windows - The Official UI-View32 Web Site
APRS Page - WA0VSL, Doug Wilson
APRS World: Welcome!
APRS
http://www.aprs.net/javAPRS.html
KB9VBR APRS Information Page
Tri-State Area Working Group
http://www.winpack.org.uk/

Packet Radio

http://www.packetradio.com/bbbb.htm
Welcome to www.PacketRadio.com
TAPR - Home Page

Antennas

The Buddipole - hf portable dipole antenna system
AC6LA MoxGen
http://www.moxonantennaproject.com/index.html

Propagation

Aurora Predictions - Custom longitude maps for ...
PropNET (BeaconNET) Live Propagation Research -...
Propagation
50 Mhz PROPAGATION LOGGER!
K9SE E-Layer Propagation Assessment Page
Near-Real-Time MUF Map
HF (high frequency) and VHF Radiowave Propagati...
Understanding Solar Indices

Weak Signal / Meteor Scatter

WSJT - FSK Meteorscatter by K1JT
WSJT Home Page
Working Weak Signal Modes - Seven Necessary Steps

Contesting

RTTY Contesting
NCJ Web Home Page
CQ WAZ Rules
Contest News
Contesting Online Home
WriteLog for Windows Home Page - Contesting Software
The Contest and DX Library by KA9FOX
US State QSO Parties
WA7BNM Contest Calendar Main Page

RTTY

AA5AU's RTTY Page
AD1C's RTTY Worked All States Honor Roll
RTTY.com

DX

Announced DX Operations
W9DXCC
Telnet Access to DX Packet Clusters
The DX Notebook: Main Page
DX Atlas: Amateur Radio software
DX Cluster / Packetcluster
DX Summit
DX-Central DotCom : News & Information for the...
DXAWARDS
DXtuners.com - The real Time Radio Network
Working DX on a Dead 50MHz Band
Ham Radio DXpedition, Calling & Simplex Frequen...
DX.QSL.NET

PSK31

General PSK information
DigiPan - Digital Panoramic Tuning for PSK31
070 club
IMD Measurement
PSB - An improved digital mode reporting system
The Very Best Pages For PSK31 And Software / I...
N1NKM's PSK31 ELMER page
RASCAL GL ''KIT'' Home Page

Amatuer Satellite

AMSAT - The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
CelesTrak WWW: NUGE Transition Notification Req...
Cubesat - UIUC
Satscape Home Page
Live OSCAR Satellite Status Page

CW

CW / Morse Code World-Wide - NW7US
CWguide
A Morse Trainer using the Koch method

Ham Callsign Databases

QRZ.com Callsign Database
WM7D dot Net

Misc Clubs / Organizations

OMISS Home Page
ARRL Central Division: Director's Page (Main)

Nets and Repeaters

A Sampling of Nets of Interest to Illinois Hams
Amateur Radio Repeater database - Updated daily
Amateur Radio Repeaters

Commercial Links

Kenwood USA
ICOM
Yaesu/Vertex Standard
The R.F. Connection
FlexRadio Systems - Software Defined Radios: Home
HEILMICROPHONES

Sorting...

HFRadio.org - by NW7US
Cypher and Crypto Bookmarks
Famous Ham Radio opperators
HAM radio software - Programs for amateur radio
http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/
http://www.eham.net/
http://www.qsl.net/ac6la/mnoverview.html
http://www.qsl.net/w9bureau/
http://www.qsl.net/wa7s/
KJ4QF :: ARS KJ4QF
KL7J HAMRADIO OR AMATEUR RADIO SOFTWARE
Ken Harker WM5R - Amateur Radio
Kenwood TS
MMSSTV/MMTTY
http://mailman.qth.net/
N4MC's Vanity HQ
QRP ARCI - QRP Amateur Radio Club International
RAMS Home Page
SpyNumbers.com
Steve & Kelly's Virtual Home
Sure Grip Xstamper Samples
QSLMaker
UX5UO print - world of QSLs
W5YI : Resources for Amateur & Commercial Radio
WW9R Amateur Radio Station
Worked All Continents Award
W6RK County Hunting Spots
US Islands Awards Program Homepage
RSGB HFCC Site. IOTA.