If you are reading this you must be either intersted in either a QSL card or just knowing a little more about me. I've been a ham for over 60 years and still love the hobby. I'm an active contester and DXer. In 2016 I made over 30,000 contest QSOs. I'm also in a some what rare county (Burnet) and as a result receive quite a few QSL requests. If you're planning to send me a card here is how I handle them:  All contest QSO's made from Burnet County are normally uploaded to LOTW within 24 hours after the contest is over and non-contest contacts at least once a month. Logs for N5AW/0 (Archuleta County, CO) and my 1996 3C5A DXpedition are also on LOTW.  I MUCH PREFER QSLs VIA LOTW - I have thousands of paper cards and do not need anymore!   I've loaded over 330,000 QSOs to LOTW with over 146,000 confirmed including 5BDXCC and WAS on 10 bands. I do not routinely upload QSOs to EQSL but will on request. If you still need a paper QSL a SASE assures you of the quickest reply - normally within 24 hours. If you are a DX station, send $1 and I will make up the difference for return postage ($1.10 is the currrent rate for international mail).  You can also request a card via email and send me postage with PayPal (send it as a friend to avoid the fee). Due to a high level of contest activity the past few years I have received an unusually large number of bureau cards. With recent the recent increase in fees for the outgoing ARRL QSL bureau the cost of QSLing via the burean is over 20 cents per card. Multiply that cost by the over 1000 cards I have recently received, add in the time to answer all those cards and hopefully you will understand why I'm unable to answer them. Please use LOTW, send a direct card, or email me.

I was first licensed in 1955 as KN5ABV. I became N5AW in 1976. I have also held WA6CLR and VE6CGS. About 80% of my contacts are on CW. I enjoyed the challenge of low power for almost 62 years and until January 2017 never owned an amplifier. With 100 watts I confirmed all entities except North Korea on CW and North Korea and Bouvet on phone. I received 5BDXCC #386 in 1974 and now have endorsements for 10 bands. I  have 200 zone 5BWAZ and single band WAZ on all bands from 80 through 10 meter CW. I got my 200th country on 160 just before the amplifier arrived. Did not quite make my goal of 300 countries on 80 - finished with 292. I made my first RTTY contact in August 2008 after acquiring a K3 and have now completed the "Triple Play" and worked 250+ countries on RTTY. I still consider myself somewhat of a "lid" on RTTY but it has given me a new challenge.

I'm  honored to be a member of the CW Operators (#157) and First Class CW Operators (#1941) Clubs . I've also been an ARRL member continueously for over 50 years. I'm also a member of the Central Texas DX and Contest Club and trustee for the club call, W5CT.

After I retired from Mobil Oil in 2000 my wife Judy and I bought a small ranch (268 acres) in the Texas Hill Country. We built a new home complete with antenna farm on a hill top. It is a tremendous improvement over any of my previous locations. I have 5 towers: 137, 134, 94, 75 and 40 feet. They support various yagi and wire antennas including a 40 meter Moxon, 4 element SteppIR, 3 element SteppIR, two stacked 4 element 20 meter yagis fixed NE, a 7 element M2 six meter yagi, an array of 5 sloping dipoles for 80 meters, and a 40 meter lazy H pointed NW-SE. One tower has six elevated radials for 160 meters and I have two beverages - NE and a reversable NW-SE. The 94 foor tower is a recent addition not shown in the photo. It has a rotary 6 element OWA 15 meter yagi on top and a second at 61 feet fixed NE. It also has a 5 element 10 meter yagi at 50 feet fixed NE.

 

My dad got me interested in radio at the age of 11. I got my novice at age 13 (KN5ABV) and my dad followed soon after with the call K5EAU. He is now a silent key but my XYL, Judy, got her license so she could keep his call in the family. Our son, Bret, holds KA5NTD but is not active.

I received a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas awarded in 1967. Most of my career was spent working as a geophysicist for Mobil Oil. My work required extensive travel and I've had a few occasions to operate as DX: OA4U, HZ1AB, K5ABV/KL7, N5AW/NH6, N5AW/NP2, SM0/N5AW, and 3C5A. I was also a competitor with team mate N4TZ at the 2010 WRTC in Moscow (R31D) and was as a referee for K1V at WRTC 2014 in Boston.

Other interests include nature photography with an emphasis on wildflowers (I'm a Texas Master Naturalist), hiking, cross country skiing, and woodworking.

Here is a picture of me in the shack taken in August 2015. Radios are an Elecraft K3s and an older K3. The cabinets were one of my wood working projects. The amplifier added in January 2017 is an Expert 1.3K-FA.

We spend two or three months a year at our second home in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. I bring gear from Texas. Shown below is an IC706 and an ATS-4 QRP rig used on one of our trips. I have operated my Texas station remotely with a K3/0 but our Internet connection in Colorado has been so poor that I have not done that recently.  I put up and take down either a Butternut vertical (pictured) or a G5RV when we are in Colorado. I also have a permanent 20 meter ground plane on the roof and in October 2014 added a 15 meter Moxon.

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Rev: N5AW - Mar. 4, 2014