Licensed: October, 1976

Other calls: JY8XY, W9XY/HI7, SM/W9XY, & HA/W9XY

QSL manager ONLY for: KE9A/DU3 & JY5SK (and my other DX calls).

County: Marquette (rare one!). I'm the most active HF'er/DX'er in the county.

Interesting Fact: The county seat of Montello is home to Wisconsin's largest tree! It's a cottonwood, measuring 23.2 feet (7M) around and 138 feet (42M) high!

QTH: Located very near the boyhood home of John Muir, famous naturalist & Father of our US National Parks. http://www.tn.buffalo.wi.gov/default.asp?id=14&mnu=14

HF: Kenwood TS-950SDX & Ten-Tec Titan II KW amp. Rohn 45 tower supports an M2 KT36XA (6 el triband yagi) at 83'/25M, and a Cushcraft 2 el 40M beam at 95'/29M. A Hy-Gain Tailtwister turns it all. On the low bands, I use inverted vees for 80 & 160M mounted near the top of the tower. Fortunately, living in the country provides a situation where there is very little or no receive noise whatsoever on the bands.

VHF: Icom IC-2200 & Diamond X510M (duo-band, 17'/5M) vertical at 100'/30M. Also available, IC-2100 & Cushcraft 11 el yagi (vertically polarized) at 89'/27M.

Wildcard: Icom IC-706MKIIG and any of the above antennas. This rig is also taken on mini-expeditions such as the HI7 trip. I use the Paddlette BP (tiny!) with it, just for fun.

Keys: Two Vibroplex Brass Racers, two Benchers (one black, one chrome) , and a W5JH "Black Widow" reside in/around the shack. You can never have enough keys!

Spare HF rigs/amp: Yaesu FT1000MP MKV Field, Kenwood TS830S, Yaesu FT301D, DenTron MLA2500 amp. You can never have enough rigs either!

Have Visited: A6, JY, G, EI, GM, XE, 6Y, HI, SM, HA, & OE. (Also VE7, and most of USA). None for work or business. All for visiting friends, having fun, being DX, and exploring new experiences & cultures!

More: I enjoy CW and am blessed to be able to copy high-speed Morse code. In the past, I've been clocked in excess of 55 WPM and have also won the CW Pileup Contest at the annual W9DXCC Convention (in Chicago) several times.

Other: Besides DXing & traveling, I enjoy aviation. When not "on" the air, I like being "in" the air. In the spring of 2005, I passed my flight exam and received my Private Pilot license (VFR). Occasionally I take my 2M HT and operate air-mobile while flying the pictured Piper Cherokee PA28-140 out of the Baraboo-Wisconsin Dells airport (DLL).

My Motto: "Adventure is the essence of life". (Thanks Dick Rutan, KB6LQS, pilot of the Voyager aircraft; first non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world).

Please visit http://www.maqs.net/~w9xy for more details about family, the station, and my DX'ing career:

Tnx & 73, Bob W9XY