Biography

I received my Novice license in 1979 at the age of 15 and was issued the call sign KA8HLX. I upgraded to General shortly thereafter but retained my novice call sign. My first rig was a Heathkit HW-8 that I built myself and I was limited to QRP CW exclusively in those early years. After starting college in 1982 I operated very sporadically over the next couple of years until I went totally QRT in March 1984. College, then career, and then family commitments kept me away from the hobby. However, I kept my license up to date and after 30+ years I'm back on the air! I passed the Extra Class exam in January 2015 and subsequently changed my call to AK5SD.

QSL

I upload to Logbook of the World (LoTW) regularly. I'm also happy to send out a paper QSL card upon request or if you send me your card and a SASE. My QRZ picture shows the front of my QSL card. The artwork was done by Jeff, K1NSS, over at www.dashtoons.com. If you'd like your own custom QSL design, give him a shout.

Summits on the Air (SOTA)

On February 28, 2015 I had a chance QSO with a station calling "CQ for Summits on the Air". That station was being operated by Patrick, KI4SVM, and I responded to his CQ to find out what he was doing operating from a mountaintop. SOTA is a organization of radio amateurs that encourages portable operation in mountainous areas. There are awards for activators (those who ascend to the summits) and chasers (who either operate from home, a local hilltop or are even Activators on other summits). By the time the QSO was over, I knew I wanted to get involved in SOTA. I love to hike and I enjoy ham radio, so why not put the chocolate and peanut butter together?

I hastily assembled a portable station consisting of an Elecraft KX3 in a custom made go-box and an AlexLoop antenna. I made my first summit activation on May 12, 2015 on my way to the Dayton Hamvention. I've been having great fun with it ever since. My go-box was recently feature on the QRPer blog. You can find a bill of materials there if you want to make one of your own.

KX3 Go-Box

Activating Mt. Herman with Steve, WG0AT and his goats, Peanut and Boo.

Peanut letting me know who the alpha goat is.

I recently earned the "Shack Sloth" certificate by accumulating 1,000 chaser points. I still have a long way to go before earning the coveted "Mountain Goat" award, but I am working on it!

 

My Home Station

My current rig at the home QTH is a Kenwood TS-590S driving a multi-band resonant end-fed antenna from the HyEnd Company up about 10 meters. I modified the Kenwood to use a FUNcube Dongle Pro+ as a pan-adapter. My shack computer is a 15" MacBook Pro running MacLoggerDX for logging and spotting, FLDIGI for digital modes, and the Windows software HDSDR (running under Parallels) controlling the FUNcube.

Kenwood TS-590S

HyEndFed 5-band 80/40/20/(15)/10m Resonant End-Fed Antenna

MacLoggerDX Logging and Spotting Software

HDSDR (used as a pan-adapter)

Other Awards