(as of the end of June 2007, my P.O. Box 25 address in Gavere has been discontinued. It is with a bit of pain in my heart I abandon the Box after having it used for almost 30 years. Direct QSL (I prefer bureau!) now goes to my above listed home address)

OPERATING PRACTICE: An extensive document with focus on improving the poor operating behaviour as noticed on the bands nowadays, can be found at : http://www.on4ww.be/op.html If you find the document or parts of it meaningful, please use it by all means, giving credit to the author.

ON4WW was first licensed as ON4AMT in 1988. That same year he entered his first CQ WW contest on 10m band, making some 2000 Qs with low power to his astonishment. Immediately hooked onto contesting, he continued to enter both domestic and international contests, succesfully. In 1989 he went abroad as LX/ON4AMT during the CQ WW. There he met with then new record makers LX7A, from the Bavarian contest club. They made a big impression on him. Those were the same guys who put CN8WW to dazzling world records in 1999 and 2000. In the beginning of the nineties, together with his brother in crime Peter ON6TT, he went onwards to try some multi-multi operation himself, from the fortress in Lier, then ON7LR, now OTxA.

After a local presentation on antenna hardware by ON4UN and ON6WU, Mark asked John ON4UN if he could visit his station during the low band entries in major contests. Soon John handed the key to Mark, a new low band addict was born.

In 1993 ON6TT and ON4WW formed team at ON4UN's, together with contesters from the local club, the Bavarian Contest Club (BCC) and the Rhein Ruhr DX Association (RRDXA). OTxT was born ! Some ass was kicked from John's superstation, witness the many first places in Europe, and top 3 World Wide results.

In 1995 Mark started working for the UN in Rwanda, airing 9X on all HF bands (9X/ON4WW - 9X4WW) during his spare time. After this tour of duty and spending some time with his family, he went back for the UN to the Western Sahara in 1998 (S07WW). That same year he moved to Liberia, where he stayed until the end of 1999 (EL2WW). At home to take care of his family, he applied to join the DXpedition of the Year awarded, FO0AAA team. He was taken on board by team leader N7CQQ, who led the team to make an astonishing 75.000 QSOs in less than seven days operating time. The day Mark got back from Clipperton, he received an invitation to join another DXpedition of the Year, A52A. From Bhutan the team made 82.000 QSOs with low power stations, during 12 days of operation.

Once back home, Mark started working on the renovation of his house. Beginning of January 2002, a first mission for the UN World Food Programme brought him to Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he was active from AP2ARS and YA5T. A second mission brought him to southern Iraq in 2003, where he was active as YI/ON4WW. Also operated in the region as JY8WW, J28WW, 9K2/ON4WW. His last stop for the WFP was in The Gambia, activating C5WW. Currently at home enjoying family life with xyl Katrien and Mark jr. Working as a civil servant again, but this time close to home.