amateur radio

License history

First licensed as a Technician in 1979. Upgraded to General in 1983. After several years with little activity, I sat for the Extra class test at HamCom in Arlington in 2003 and passed it on the first attempt. I decided not to apply for a new call sign, though.

General station notes

My QTH is in Northwest Houston, TX. We live in a deed-restricted community (who doesn�t�), so an antenna farm is out of the question. The station equipment occupies a portion of my home office. I also have a computer network and the home entertainment center set up in the same area.

Antennas

With the deed restrictions, stealth antennas are favored. I currently have a G5RV jr on the back side of the house, a 40 meter bazooka in the back yard, a 15 meter dipole in the attic, and a Ringo Ranger dual band vertical in the attic. I plan to put up an 80 meter antenna for NVIS and a long wire antenna for 160.

I plan on trying some of the loop designs in 2007, as well as a vertical if I can find one used at a hamfest.

Station equipment

This is the station before I went on a general upgrade program during 2006. HF transceivers in the photo include a Kenwood TS-520SE and an Icom 703. An FT-290 and amplifier are also visible in the photo.

The current station includes the following:

Interests

I tried packet on 2 meters for a short time. Insufficient time and poor antennas at my former QTH led to shelving this project. I may give this mode another try if time permits. For now, I am working on getting my code speed back up and have been working with some of the weak-signal sound card digital modes. PSK-31 and PSK-63 are pretty amazing.

I am also trying to find time to work with Linux. This OS has come a long way since the early command-line only interface. With a full graphical user interface that rivals anything I have seen on that other OS and extensive amateur radio support, I believe it is a viable option for low cost, reliable, and versatile amateur radio computer support.

Activities

I am a member of Northwest Amateur Radio Society (NARS). The club sponsors a 2-meter repeater on 146.66 and participates in many public service events through the year. I am the club webmaster

Though I was not too active through the mid-90s, I maintained my license and membership in the ARRL. I do not always agree with their position on every issue but I firmly believe that a strong voice is essential to retain access to the radio spectrum. Individual dissenting voices do not carry much weight when making decisions about who gets the privilege of using our spectrum resources. Collectively, we have a voice that cannot be silenced. Further thoughts on recent developments are here.

Silent Key Tribute

One of the very first hams I talked to when I first got on the air was Bill Wahlen, N5AGE. He was part of an informal evening ragchew group on 2 meters. The group members were all located within 15 miles of each other, so 2 meter simplex was the order of the day. Last year, I learned that Bill gave his life trying to save fellow workers during a storm in Indonesia. Here is part of a QSO I recorded during one of the ragchews.

Wiki

I have started an experimental WIKI to collect and organize some of the station notes and information on the projects I am working on. I may open it to contributors in the future, but only on a moderated basis and only to licensed amateurs. Before that, though, I want to get the structure organized a bit and learn a about the idiosyncracies of the wiki andhow best to administer it.