Note: My callsign changed to K1OC effective 13 September 2011. The QSL instructions below apply to contacts with my new call on or after 13 September 2011 and to contacts with my old call, KB1SUN, prior to that date. My e-mail address will remain the same for the time being.

Bio

New ham later in life finally fulfilling an interest from my youth and trying to make up for lost time. Licensed August 2009, on HF since May 2010, basic WAS awarded on 9 November 2010, WAC (phone) on 8 February 2011, mixed DXCC as of 11 April 2011, and phone DXCC as of 25 October 2011. It generally took longer to get the QSL's than make the QSO's! Now I am working toward 5BDXCC as well as expanding my list of entities. I do some contesting, but it's mostly to rack up new entities and new bands and modes.

QRV

HB9/KB1SUN - in Zurich, Switzerland, grid square JN47gi, from 3 May 2011 to 5 June 2011, thanks to a friend, Thomas HB9DRM, who lent me his IC-706 and AH-4 tuner. Conditions were challenging operating from an apartment in the city, but I did manage a few contacts with stations in Italy, Germany, Crete, and Bulgaria on 17, 20, and 40 meters, and (using my HT) locally over a UHF repeater. I have uploaded my HB9 log to eQSL and LoTW. Paper QSLs via home call. I also had the privilege of operating HB9O, the Swiss equivalent of W1AW, which I highly recommend doing if you can create the opportunity. Visiting amateur radio operators can sign up here.

QSL

Direct or Bureau for paper cards, which I like to send and receive, in addition to Logbook of the World (LoTW) for ARRL awards credit and eQSL.cc for CQ awards credit. As a newbie, I am working on awards (see above), so QSL's are greatly appreciated.

If you need my paper QSL, please send a self-addressed envelope with return postage along with your QSL. If I need your paper QSL, I'll send you a self-addressed envelope and return postage along with mine (I am a little behind right now). You can search my K1OC and my KB1SUN logs to see if you are in them.

I would encourage anyone who is not already a LoTW and eQSL.cc user to try them both. There is something magical about uploading your logs and seeing your QSO's with other users automatically confirmed, and it makes confirming QSO's, especially DX QSO's, for awards credit so much faster and easier, not to mention less expensive. If you are a serious DXer or contester, you should use both, because eQSL.cc helps to give you some visibility into busted callsigns and the like, and you are more likely to get a card back if you know the DX station has you in their log. The more people who use them, the more useful they will be, so I favor LoTW and eQSL.cc users when contesting.

Operating Conditions

QTH: An IC-746 barefoot into a 7-band Buckmaster off-center-fed dipole suspended at about 60 feet (just under 20 meters) between a couple of very tall trees for HF and a Diamond X50A for VHF. Active on all HF bands except 160M (for which I do not have an antenna), usually SSB but often PSK, RTTY, and other digital modes, and occasionally JT65.

Portable: An IC-706MkIIG and a Ventenna HFp vertical antenna. 

Mobile: A Yaesu FT-7900R and a MFJ-1729 antenna. For APRS, an Argent OpenTracker+ (OT1+), a Garmin GPS III, and a Puxing PX-777 HT.