I was licensed as KN9LIO in February 1958 in the old Novice up or out days and suffered a great deal of anixety until I upgraded to General that fall. I was quite active as K9LIO in CW contests and DXing until 1964 when I moved away from home. After that I was mostly QRT until I rebooted myself as AB1J in 1978. I was quite active again until 1983 when raising two lovely daughters and my job in the computer industry took up all my time. In 1998, while convalescing from an illness with a lot of spare time on my hands, I got back in again and enjoy it more than ever. In October 2009 I retired so I now have more time for amateur radio and other hobbies. Lately I've been dong a bit of contesting, CW and RTTY. I particularly like RTTY contesting. It's contesting with a speed limit, which works for me. I like CW but I'm not a hot shot op. When some European rocket man comes back at 45 WPM with a cut number up in the thousands, I say "Huh?"

With the slack conditions lately, I decided to expand my horizons a bit. First with JT65-HF, inspired by the May 2012 QST article. It's surprisingly addictive, sort of the crack cocaine of digital modes for me. It's quite a change from the DXing and contesting operating I'm used to, but it's an opportunity to have some interesting QSOs when not much else is going on while I await Cycle 25. I've recently tried OLIVIA but haven't found much activity on that mode.

Call me "Ken". At least in the NAQP and other contests which exchange a name. My parents apparently never thought of the problem Kermit would present when they named me back in 1942. At least they didn't call me Sue. ("Son, I knew how rough it would be out there, with all the QRM, QRN, QSB, key clicks and splatter, that's why I called you Sue." Hmm. Think there's a song in there somehow? Gee, I miss ya, Johnny)

My QSL Policy is simple: Just Do It. I upload all QSOs to LoTW, eQSL(AG), ClubLog and Logs-a-Million (just kidding) plus I send many bureau (via Global QSL) and direct QSLs since I like to chase awards. I reply 100% to all received QSLs. Please QSL. I've been stashing away QSLs for decades and now I'm cashing them in for awards. All my ham radio life is flashing before my eyes. What a trip!.

Soapbox: I would encourage all serious ops, contesters, DXers and award chasers, to use both LoTW and eQSL. All eQSL users should get AG status so their QSLs can be used for awards. eQSL is especially useful for looking into LoTW, which is otherwise a black box. I've seen QSO matches go missing in LoTW because of bad data. When these QSOs are also submitted to eQSL, I have a chance to figure out the problem. Otherwise, I don't know what I don't know. I know this sort of subverts LoTW's obsessive security, but, uh, well, it's not Fort Knox gold we're talking about here, you know.

Still on soapbox: Electronic QSLing is clearly the wave of the future. Some progress is being made as LoTW now supports CQ Magazine's WPX award, with other CQ Awards to follow. eQSLs have been allowed for CQ and DARC awards for some time. I hope some day electronic QSLs will be accepted for all awards, just like paper QSLs.

Thanks for stopping by. I'm #127 on the NA#1 WRTC ladder, having slipped down from #81, so please call me in contests. I could use a leg-up.

73,

Kermit (aka Ken), AB1J