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Greetings from California !

My QTH is in the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountains of northern California approximately 160 miles (257 KM) east of San Francisco, CA. I live near the town of Murphys, in Calaveras County. The station elevation is approximately 3500 feet ASL or 1066 meters ASL.

 

 

<---- Winter at QTH - View to northeast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer At QTH - View to northwest ---->

 

I obtained my Novice license in 1971 and remain active on all modes on HF in addition to VHF and UHF activity. Please visit my website for more information regarding the station. You can monitor my station receive and transmit audio, when the link is on-line, from the audio menu on the website.

I stream live video from the shack sometimes. If the video is active it can be viewed at K6HP video.

The picture at the top right (click for full size) is the latest shack layout with the Elecraft KX3 (which is normally in the RV) and the Yaesu FTDX 5000 MP Limited. The shelf the CW keys / paddles as well as the KX3 are located on was custom made for me by Jack - KE7HTY. The wood work is beautiful and I now have a shelf over the radio to hold either the KX3 or the keyboard for a second computer as well as the CW keys and paddles.

I obtained a model ZN-SL single lever paddle, from Tony at N3ZN Keys early in 2013, and spent the spring and summer practicing. The N3ZN paddle is a great paddle that I enjoy using on the air and while practicing to reach my new goal of 30 wpm.

N3ZN Model ZN-SL

 

                                           

A friend recommended these Begali Keys so I had to try them. The result being both a Begali HST II paddle (above) and a Begali Blade (below) straight key. Both of them are amazing keys and fun to use!

                                     

Begali Keys

The  CW Ops Academy  is a great way to learn CW or to improve your CW skills. Check out the CW Ops website if you are interested in learning CW or improving your CW skill and speed. The CW Ops - CW Academy program really works if you put in the practice. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to learn CW or improve their skill level.

Also, the CW Ops have a sprint, once a week, called a mini-CWT that is a lot of fun as well as their annual CW Open Contest!

With the recent purchase of an  Elecraft  KX3 ,  along with the pan adapter and a few other options, I will now occasionally be operating QRP at home or more likely from my RV as portable QRP. I am looking forward to using the new KX3 and it's associated toys while operating from several Sierra Nevada lakes and rivers we typically camp at during the summer. I have not decided on an antenna to use while portable but have a few ideas for wire antennas and will probably also try the Buddy Pole antenna for quick deployment on mountain tops in the high Sierras. Hopefully I'll get the chance this summer to do some SOTA  (Summits on the Air) activations with the KX3 as well as some "FOTA" (Fishing On The Air) activations from a few of the many lakes and rivers here.

I have recently gotten involved in Ham-Mesh net and have 5 nodes operating around the property with video cameras on four of the nodes. I see a good potential for Mesh nodes becoming a great asset for EmmComm in the future as the firmware and implementation as well as applications (ie. VoIP, live video, IRC, etc.) become perfected. Take a look at Broadband - Hamnet website.

My brother - N6PBC is trading out his analog 1.2 GHz repeater for a D-Star repeater in the near future. In preparation for that I've recently purchased (Jan. 2017) a CS-760 DMR HT and also got the new Kenwood TH-D74 HT that has a lot of features including D-Star. I'm currently using an Open Spot for DMR and a DVAP for D-Star. I also set up an Open Spot in my Jeep with a DMR profile and D-Star profile. Hopefully, either a DMR or D-Star repeater, or both, will go on-line with coverage up here in the mountains of Calaveras and Alpine counties in northern CA., in the near future. I will probably be active on both modes as the HF propagation continues in its downward trend (not that I'm giving up on HF)!

 

My Novice license from 1971 - Talk about nostalgia!

 

I am very proud of my son, Garrett, for deciding to obtain his amateur radio license and subsequently doing so after about one month of studying the manual in between work and family. Garrett works in the computer field and is hoping to add an understanding of RF and radio principles to his expertise. As of Feb. 4, 2012 Garrett passed both his General and Extra exams! Garrett's new call sign is KZ6S.

Also, please visit the Sierra Amateur Radio Club (SARC) website and the Calaveras Amateur Radio Society (CARS) website for information regarding local clubs in the area.

 

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Not all Club Log or HRD LogNet additions are loading in real time - Not sure why but, my apologies if your QSO isn't shown, it should still be in my log.

If I signed as portable or remote ( /P or /R ) then the on-line log can be viewed on my website log page.

 

DX Code of Conduct

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Affiliations: CW Ops - 1267,  SKCC - 5772,  FISTS - 16109,  NAQCC - 7756,   ARRL ,  A-1 Ops ,   QCWA - 36430,  OMISS - 7019,  MARAC - R4563,   CAHP