I am a recently licensed Ham Operator. I received my Technician class license on March 1, 2010 and passed both my General and Extra on March 27, 2010. I became interested in ham radio many years ago from my grandfather (recently became a SK) who was licensed as W2CIY since 1932.

I am mostly interested in digital modes (especially PSK, JT65 and WSPR) and would like to get a small SDR and a netbook to operate it. My first QSO was via satellite, but I would also like to do EME and meteor scatter communications after I get the preamps installed on the 2m and 70cm yagis and either get the rotor interface fixed or replaced.

I, like everyone else, can't wait for the upper bands to open when the sunspot activity finally takes off. (Still waiting) To help with this, and meteor scatter, I will be putting up a 3-element yagi for 6m operation after the spring thaw. The last few weeks were amazing at how little power is needed for JT65 on 10m. For that matter, 20m and 40m were so much easier to work with low power with the recent activity on the sun, that I am looking forward to working all the bands over the coming few years as we reach a peak in solar activity.

I have also been interested in trying my hand at some contesting, albeit not for a full press at any time, but rather with many small breaks taking care of other things around the house.

At the end of July 2011, I received 2 SDR Kits, one recieve only and one transciever. I hope to have them on the air when I get my new station on the air to help with propagation monitoring and low-power QSOs. One year later and they still sit in their packaging. :-(

My main station (as of August 26, 2012) consists of:

• Transceiver- Yaesu FT-950
• Antenna - 10-meter dipole in attic (put up after T.S. Sandy) (Started using extensions for 20-meter dipole E-W only on December 10, 2012); started using attic loop E-Won February 21, 2013 for lower bands (60m-17m)
  • Antenna- 40-meter dipole up about 40 feet (dropped 10 feet due to October 2011 snow storm, broke during "Sandy")
• Antenna Tuner - LDG Z-11Pro II (160m-6m)
• Interface - SignaLink USB using the data port
• Computer - Homebrew AMD FX-4100 w/ 16GB RAM (dual-boot Ubuntu and Windows 7 Premium 64-bit) with dual 21" HD monitors
• Software (currently in use) - HRD v5 (including DM780 and HRD Logbook), WSJT7, WSJT9, JT65-HF, JT-Alert, WSPR, TrustedQSL, N1MM Contest Logger, fldigi (used w/ N1MM Contest Logger), MMSSTV, MMTTY, MMVARI, PropNET PSK, DXLab

Note: As of March 30, 2013 I have moved the 10-meter dipole outside approximately 40 feet up for use on 10 meters. The attic has extensions on a 11 or 12 meter dipole to approximate the old 20-meter dipole configuration. My hope is to get the 40-meter dipole back up after repairs are complete; 'til then, here's to hoping for high SFI values and a strong 10 meter band. I have also removed the loop from the attic for the time being.

My backup station consists of:

• Transceiver- Yaesu FT-847
• Antennas - 2m and 70cm yagis on Yaesu G-5400B Az/El rotors.
• Antenna Tuner - LDG YT-847 (160m-6m)
• Interface - SignaLink USB using the MIC connector
• Computer - Dell Dimension 5100c w/ 3GB RAM (Windows XP Media Center)
• Software (currently in use) - HRD v5 (including DM780 and HRD Logbook), WSJT7, WSJT9, JT65-HF, JT-Alert, WSPR, TrustedQSL, N1MM Contest Logger, fldigi (used w/ N1MM Contest Logger), MMSSTV, MMTTY, MMVARI, PropNET PSK, DXLab, Echolink

I also have a Yaesu VX-8DR HT, Wouxon 144/220 HT, Wouxon 144/440 HT, ICOM IC2-AT and use Echolink on both my computer and Droid smartphone. I have set up an Echolink repeater link to be used during our weekly club net for club members who are out of state.

My current memberships include:

• NPARC (New Providence Amateur Radio Club)(Vice President for 2013)
• ARRL
• eQSL.cc (Silver AG)
• QRZ.com (Premium Subscription)
• PODXS 070 # 1218
• DMC # 03278
• EPC # 12160
• 30MDG # 3936
• Feld Hell # 3121
• BARTG Friend # 8564
• NDG # 1025
• BDM # 2176

My Awards include:

• ARRL WAS
• ARRL WAS-Digital (JT65 as well, but not yet submitted)
• ARRL DXCC # 45,186
• CQ WPX Mixed #2373 (w/ 450 + EU + NA stickers)
• CQ WPX Digital #145 (w/ 350 + NA stickers)
• eDX from eQSL.cc (endorsed at 100+ DXCC entities)
• 30MDGM Bronze # 0967
• 30MDG 30-30 # 1298
• 30MDG 10-EU # 1236
• 30MDG ITUZ-15 # 0746
• 30MDG CQZ-10 # 0895

QSL via eQSL.cc (AG) and LotW and I've sent my first batch of cards via Bureau. I also load my logbook up to HRDLOG.net,QRZ.com, clublog.org,and hamlot.eu.

73, David - KC2WUF

Based on my HRDLOG.net logbook, here are my latest QSOs and a map of all my QSO activity (this may be missing contest entries as they are not automatically sent to the logbook):

 

 

 

 

 

My QSOs since I recieved my license March 1, 2010 (please note that I have never had a contact to Antarctica, so I shouldn't have a marker down there yet).