Thanks for looking up my callsign. I've been a ham since early high school in 1992. I grew up in north western North Dakota, also known by my elmers as the "western edge of civilization". Time marched on and attended North Dakota State University (amongst other pior colleges) and graduated with a bachelors in electrical engineering in 2000. Since then central Wisconsin has been my home with my wife Carrie and son Anthony. For my day job I work for a contract engineering and manufacturing product development company. My focused discipline is analog engineering (power electronics, RF, medical instrumentation, EMC, etc.).
Over the past 10 years, much of my ham radio activity has been seasonal in nature. Since I commute ~40 miles to work each day, I keep in touch with friends on the local 2 meter repeaters. Our repeater is on IRLP node #4294 and Echolink #409257.
I discovered the joy of QRP/CW sprints the winter of 2010. This has greatly improved my CW speed and starting to develop operating skills I never had. I joined the Flying Pigs QRP Club, North American QRP CW Club, and Straight Key Century Club. Each has their own unique contests and/or rewards that I'm casually working towards. In my ~21yrs as a ham I could have cared less about stuff like this, but once you get into it, it's very fun. Set a goal and work towards it and learn something new.
Rigs:
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Icom 746pro - Mar 2007
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Ten Tec Argonaut 5 - Dec 2010
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Elecraft K1 - Feb 2011
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Small Wonder Labs SW40+ QRP - Jan 2010
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Rockmite RM80 QRP - Feb 201
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Elecraft KX3 - Aug 2012 (most used)
Antennas:
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80M Loop - up ~30ft fed with 450ohm ladder line and Johnson Matchbox - Feb 2011
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Butternut 6 Band Vertical with qty 20 of 40ft radials- ~2003
Other Stuff:
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Signalink USB interface from Ham Radio Deluxe
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Nye Viking Speed-X Straight Key - Gift from Elmers upon achieving Extra class at International Peace Gardens Hamfest- North Dakota, 15yrs old in 1993
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American Morse Dirt Cheap Key - Feb 2011
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Palm Paddle Iambic Key - Aug 2012
SDR Experiments
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Softrock 40 v5.0 w/PowerSDR on MS Vista
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Ensemble RXTX 40m, 30m, 20m software defined radio (sold)
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RXTX v6.2 software defined radio (sold)
Project wishlist:
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Medium power HF amplifier ~150W
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Low power HF amplifier ~5-10W
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Tube transmitter of some sort, likely 40 meters.
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Solid state regenerative receiver.
Other hobbies:
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Fly fishing for trout and smallmouth bassand fly tying
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RC Soaring - Handlaunch glider competitions
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Full scale aircraft project - Quad Cities Challenger II
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Canoeing, kayaking
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CNC Router build
Straight Key Century Club #7429
Flying Pigs QRP Club #2629
North American QRP CW Club #5355
QRP ARCI # 14708
Smallmouth caught with a 7 weight fly rod and popper on a drift boat in a NE Wisconsin stream
Composite RC Discus Launched Glider
