my QSL card from my novice station. This page is always under construction, please pardon the dust...
Now that I have to kids, the hobby time is very reduced. However I've remained active with the Champagin County ARES group, and am currently an AEC with them.
For Hams interested in Emergency Services find out more about the Champaign County ARES group. The group has been meeting since Feb. 1996 and Steve Hilberg, N9XDC, is the EC. ARES meetings are the First Wednesday night of the month from 7-9 pm in the Fire Service Institute. The ARES net is on 70cm at 9pm on Tuesday evenings on the 444.100 repeater (PL 162.2). Get more info at their web site ARES group. For more info on ARES in general see the ARRL Web site .
Well, if I'm driving the Explorer you might see me on APRS. We don't have APRS in our Prius yet, but when it gets installed it will probably have KD5EOQ as the callsign
Click to view, or click-hold (right click if you use Windows) to download a JPEG version of the form. Reproduction is allowed as needed for any VE session.
I got my Novice license in February 1981 (see the front and back of it). That fall I attended my first hamfest as a licensee SARAfest (can't find me? I'm 3rd from the right in the front row, my Dad N9EDT (then WB9VDV) is 3rd from the right in the 2nd row). In 1983 I upgraded to Technician, and in 1987 to Advanced. After a stuggle with 20 word-per-minute Morse Code, I got my Amateur Extra License in 1993. Most of my operation is on 2m and 70 cm both FM and packet. I also do a little with Amateur Fast-scan Television (ATV).
As of October 10th, 1997, my new callsign is N9DN. I applied for a 1x2 call under the vanity callsign program (all the 1x2 calls in 9-land were gone when I finally got my extra-class license in 1993).
my QSL card from my novice station.
For packet I have a 9600 bps TCP/IP set up, which I used to use with KB9FMN's network. I have my own IP address on the Amateur Packet Radio network. Host ka9jyi.ampr.org is 44.73.131.221. Currently this is a Mac SE running the Net/Mac version of KA9Q. I have a Tekk KS-960 data radio on 446.075, and a Kantronics KPC-9612 for the hardware, my antenna is a vertical 1/4 wave with 4 ground radials at a 45 degree angle.
Well, I used to have this, but KB9FMN moved and I never got it set back up after I moved. The coolest packet I have now is a GPS-connected APRS system in my explorer that reports where I am every 2 minutes. This is cool because I can go storm spotting and people can see where I am without me having to call back in to the net control all the time. APRS is the current thing to do with your old 1200 bps packet gear. Check out the Mac/Win APRS page . For a nice program. The DOS stuff is written by a different person, but is still nice.
I have an Icom IC-706MKII HF rig for mobile and regular HF, 6m and 2m allmode. I got my mobile HF antenna installed in the summer of '96 and but I sold that vehicle in 2003 and don't have the mobile antenna installed. I do have a modified G5RV (it supports 160m) up about 30-40 feet in the trees at my house, and at least in-state I do pretty well on HF.
I'm a former officer and current member of the Twin Cities Radio Club of Champaign-Urbana, and also occasionally active in the Synton Amateur Radio Club at the University of Illinois.
A really nifty thing I found is this scanner frequencies list that was put togther by Mitch Kazel, N9HDQ.
I also enjoy storm spotting, and checking in to the weekly 2m net held Thursday nights at 9 on the 146.76 repeater in Champaign.
For Hams interested in Emergency Services find out more about the Champaign County ARES group. The group has been meeting since Feb. 1996 and Steve Hilberg, N9XDC, is the EC. ARES meetings are the First Wednesday night of the month from 7-9 pm in the basement of the county building. The ARES net is on 70cm at 9pm on Tuesday evenings on the 444.100 repeater (PL 103.5). Get more info at their web site ARES group. For more info on ARES in general see the ARRL Web site .