I've been an amateur radio operator since age 12, starting out with home built equipment, then a string of Heathkits. My original call was WA9RTU.

I spent most of early years chasing DX. After retiring the HW100, I moved up to a Kenwood TS-940. This helped, and I was able to work 5B DXCC and almost 300 DX entities. As it became more difficult to work new entities and even new band and mode entities, I got bit by the satellite bug. It started with RS-12 and RS-13, two satellites with uplinks and downlinks in the 15m and 10m bands, respectively. Hearing the satellite's cw beacon appear through the quiet 10m background hiss as the satellte appeared at the horizon was a thrill hard to describe. Hearing my own signal retransmitted from a satellite barreling through space at thousands of miles per hour many miles overhead matched the excitement of working new DX entities. The AMSAT website gave me the guidance I needed to understand and enjoy the sats, so I joined.

As new satellites were launched with VHF and UHF uplinks and downlinks, I purchased a Yaesu FT 847.

Now, I spend most of my time chasing grids and new DXCC entities on AO51, AO7 and the other satellites. When I travel, I carry a Yaesu VX-5R HT with a AL800 whip or Arrow yagi and work folks thousands of miles away with 3 watts. It's a pleasure meeting old friends and making new ones through the sats. I still get on HF and chase DX. But the sats are unaffected by sunspots and propagation is always excellent.