A little history on K4WES.
Myself:
I passed my Novice exam in April 1990 in Wichita, KS after
taking a course with the Boeing Employees Amateur Radio Society (BEARS) and I received my ticket for KA1VVA on 05/20/90. I eventually passed my Advanced exam in June 1991 in Milford, CT and changed my call to KD1DC. After moving to Pittsboro, NC in late 1995, I changed my call to KU4GT in mid-1997. Once the vanity gate for the Advance class opened, I changed my call again to my current call of
K4WES, which I plan to keep for a very long time.
And in April of 2000 (I took the test in February, but had to wait a couple of months, because of the reorg in licenses), I finally upgraded to Extra class!
Equipment:
I am currently using a
Kenwood TS-2000 rig at home into a Force 12 C-4SXL beam on top of a 50 foot tower. It's a Hazer aluminum tower with an 18 inch face by Glen Martin Engineering. I'm using a Hygain Ham IV rotator to turn my beam. I have a half wave sloper from the top of my tower for 80m and 160m. I have contacted Germany and Morocco on 160m LSB, so it does get out.
I also use a Carolina Windom 160 Special wire antenna up about 40 feet and a
Cushcraft
R5 vertical up about 15 feet.
I use
CT software
for contesting and I keep all of my contacts in
Win-EQF software.
I have an
MFJ
1278B multi-mode controller and a Tono 777 RTTY controller that I use for
RTTY contests and for making RTTY contacts. RTTY is a fairly new mode for me. I just wish I had more time to use it. And I completed RTTY DXCC too (3/20/03).
Awards:
I currently have completed
WAS (in both CT and NC),
DXCC
(292 confirmed and 298 worked as of 2/15/08 -
my DXCC list,
my all band DXCC list), and
WAC (my WAC list).
I currently have DXCC confirmed with ARRL on SSB (# 21,473 on June 6, 1994), RTTY (# 1,250 on April 16, 2003), and CW (# 9,993 on May 24, 2004). I also have DXCC confirmed on 10m (# 31,625 on August 24, 2000), 12m, 15m (August 24, 2000), 17m (April 16, 2003), 20m (August 24, 2000), 30m, and 40m. I also have the Challenge award completed (1-31-05). IOTA is at 257 confirmed and 310 worked as of 1-10-07.
All the rest for DXCC that I need to work will have to be dxpeditions, since no active hams are stationed there on a regular basis, except for Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Sorry, but I've been quite busy and I haven't had the time to update all of my individual lists on this web page yet, so some are quite outdated.
A few of my latest stations worked for new entities are: FW0YL (WALLIS & FUTUNA ISLANDS), 3B7SP (AGALEGA & ST. BRANDON), 9X0VB (Rwanda), N8S (SWAINS ISLAND), VU7LD (Lakshadweep Is.), 1A4A (Sov. Mil. Order of Malta), ZL8R (Kermadec), Montenegro (YU6AO), 3Y (Peter I), 3C0 (Annobon), FT5XO (Kerguelen), 5T0CW (Mauritania), YV0D (Yves), KH9 (Wake Island), and XF4 (Revilla Gigedo).
I am currently working on
5BWAS
(my 5BWAS list and
my all band WAS list),
5BDXCC
(my 5BDXCC list),
WAZ (my all band WAZ list),
WPX,
county hunting, and
IOTA. I QSL 100% to anyone sending me a card either direct, through the buro, or
LoTW. Please include return postage or it will get sent back via the buro. Thanks!
Clubs:
I'm also a member of the Potomac Valley Radio Club in the East North Carolina Chapter and Chat-Hams Radio Club. Chat-Hams meets in Siler City's Dry Dock at 11 AM on the first Thursday of each month. And they meet at Captain John's in South Chapel Hill (off of 15/501 in Chatham county) at 6 PM on the third Thursday of each month.
I'm also an
ARRL member and a life member of
10-10 International and I enjoy collecting 10-10 numbers. My 10-10 number is 60118. I enjoy working the
CQ,
ARRL, and many other contests too.
I also belong to the
OMISS Net and my OMISS number is 4161. It's a great net for working on WAS and 5BWAS. You don't need an OMISS number to work the net either and they have a free QSL buro.
73 es gud dx de K4WES
Here is my current QSL card (from
Rusprint):
My current age:
How long I've been a ham:
