First licensed in 1957 as KN5KBH, I worked my way through General, Advanced and finally, after getting my code speed up to 20 wpm, qualified for Extra in 1968.  I still love CW and spend most of my on the air time pounding a key while chasing DX on 160 meters.

In addition to chasing DX, I also enjoy restoring old tube era gear, some of which can be seen in the photo.  These old boatanchors are also fun to operate occasionally, but I'm very much attached to the modern Icom rigs.

My interest in old boatanchors led me to scan my few manuals and put them on a small ftp server in late 1997.  I made the manuals available on the internet for free downloading. Then a few friends added their manuals and very quickly the collection was much too large for my small desktop server.  Fortunately Sweet Briar College, where I served on the faculty, agreed to provide space on their server and the BoatAnchor Manual Archive was born.  Starting with five Hallicrafters manuals in 1997, BAMA has now grown into a collection of over 40,000 files occupying over 35 GB of disk space and representing countless hours of scanning and uploading by the wonderful folks who support the BAMA idea.  In addition to the main server at http://bama.sbc.edu  the collection is mirrored at http://bama.edebris.com through the courtesy of Bob Duckworth, AH7I.  If you need a manual for an old piece of ham gear, have a look at BAMA. You may find just what you need and are welcome to download it without charge.

I retired from teaching after 35 years at Sweet Briar College as Professor Emeritus of Government and International Affairs and now happily spend much more time on the air chasing DX and working on my boatanchors.

Currently I am using an Icom IC-7800 transceiver to an Alpha 78 amplifier as my main station.  However, I've got a Kenwood TS-940SAT that I use occasionally with an Ameritron AL-80A amplifier.  Used less often are the Drake R-4C and T-4XC twins and the Viking Ranger and Collins 75A-4 that I use for vintage occasions.

For 6 through 20 I have a SteppIR 4 element yagi at 77 ft. and a Force 12 Delta 230/240 at 87 ft. for 30 and 40 meters.  I use a dipole on 80 and a folded umbrella on 160.  For listening, I have two reversible beverages and plan to add more as time permits.

I use DXLab for logging, rig control, digital modes generation, spotting and automatic LOTW uploading.  http://www.dxlabsuite.com/  You can see various parts of DXLab running in the shack photo above.  If you are looking for a logging program, this is one of the best, and it is free!

Give me a call when you hear my signal.  I QSL 100% via LOTW and am happy to send a QSL card via the bureau.

73,

Ken - K4XL