I was first licensed at age 17 in 1958 as KN0WJJ, a call to quickly be rid of for a CW enthusiast, operating from the  basement of my parents' Anoka MN QTH. My Dad did not understand a thing I was doing but helped me do it.

Next call WA1GRP while serving aboard a submarine under construction USS Gato SSN615, the station located  in Pembroke MA where I lived in a house built in 1685. After a quiet period I surfaced in Vallejo CA as WA6CXK, holding that call for a few years. More Navy duty took me to KP4USN,  KA2MY (Military station in Japan), KH6SP at Naval Submarine Base Pearl Harbor, HI and a few other exotic spots plus /MM operation from the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic oceans and the Mediterranean Sea.

After the early-70s rules change segmenting the bands so that the Extra class license was worth the effort I upgraded to K6XT in 1971 or 72, I forget. The second increment. Non-vanity call K6XT has been issued only once, the two reasons why I'll probably never be a Zero.

Moving along to other exotic spots courtesy of the US Navy, I operated from the harbor at Mauritius 3B8 as  K6XT/MM but could not obtain a 3B8 license in the time available. Bummer. But I've been  able to help out Jacky 3B8CF so perhaps my XYL W0MOE and I can DXpedition there one day. In 1982 I was K6XT/NH9 Wake Island, the first ever NH9 operation. Check your log, I still have a few QSLs left.

After Navy retirement I settled on a second career in the San Diego area. The station was established in Ramona CA on 2.5 acres with two towers of 160 and 60 ft plus some wires etc. for receiving. The 160 ft tower,  shunt fed on 160M with top loading effectively a 3/8 wave ground plane, ignited my low band interest which  continues today. In Ramona I earned 5BDXCC and Nr. 1 on the ARRL honor roll. Nr. 1 rank was lost thanks to  Stepanenko's P5RS7 pirate operation leaving  N. Korea at the very top, and the only entry, on my all time DXCC need list. Put him back in jail. My time in San Diego saw operation from contest stations W6RDF, N6ND, XE2MX, and of course K6XT. A young teen contest up-and-comer operated K6XT mostly in SSB contests in the 1990's, a revelation because I'd never seen a human survive an entire weekend on nothing but Doritos and Jolt Cola.

By the early 2000's it became clear CA is exceptionally undesirable from several points of view. Looking for a good retirement gig my XYL and I noted Colorado has earned #2 spot from at least one reviewer (George Mason Univ.) as the state second least obnoxious for government interference in private affairs. Sounded good to us, so here we are near Allison in La Plata County about 35 miles SE of Durango, 2 miles N of NM and half a mile from Archuleta County.

The quiet QTH has been good for my award progress. I've been able to complete 9 band DXCC, 160M and 80M CW WAS, 160M DXCC (now at 149), RTTY DXCC, won a few contest awards and more to come as the tower and  antenna situation evolves. This summer (09) I've planted a second crankup tower base to complement the  LM354HD installed in 07. This one will support a Tristao HWS-670 that is currently on sawhorses for  refurbishing. Also this summer the plan is to plant the base for the first tall tower, 150 ft of Rohn 45 to get the 40M  antenna up where it works really well. Since moving to CO I got mildly interested in QRP, joined NAQCC and  participate in some of their contests, primarily low bands. There is nothing like 5 watts or less chasing DX on 160M for a bit of a challenge anywhere in ham radio.

ART K6XT

Dick W0RAA

I have a Yaesu FT-92Ø Xcvr on HF and occasionally run an Ameritron AL-811 amplifier on HF. My backup rig is a Yaesu FT-857D. The main radio in my car is an Icom-2720 Dual Band FM for local use around Colorado Springs.

Antennas are a Hy-Gain TH-5DX on a 40' crank-up/tilt-over Tristao tower, butternut HF-9V ground mounted vertical, and a Ringo Ranger AR27Ø on 2m/70cm. I also use a dipole on the low end of 80 meters for CW & RTTY contests. My first QSO with the TH-5DX beam was with N8S on Swains Island. A great way to break in a new antenna.

I retired from Deluxe Business Forms in October, 2ØØØ. I am a regular on the internet.  In addition to chasing DX on the HF bands, I also operate digital modes PSK31/MFSK/Throb,RTTY,etc.  I am a member of PPDXG (Pikes Peak DX Group), and also GMCC (Grand Mesa Contesters of Colorado).  I am a QCWA member (#32521) as well as FISTS (#10912). I am also a member of OMISS (OM Int'l Sideband Society - #5081), 10X (23811) and numerous other organizations. In addition I am a member of the Royal Order of the Wouff Hong. I also received my DXCC Certificate in June, 2006.

The highlight of my 43 years as a ham occurred in November, 2006, when I went to Costa Rica for the CQWW CW Contest on November 25 & 26, 2006. We operated at contest station TI5N and had over 6800 contacts and a score of a little over 9 million points. It was awesome to operate on the DX side of the fence during a contest like that. I would love to be able to do it again in the future. I will never forget it. Our hosts, Keko, TI5KD and his wife Sophia, TI2IY, were wonderful hosts during our stay at their home just north of San Jose, Costa Rica. 

My wife Mary and I were married 52 years on October 8, 2007. We have 4 grown children, 9 grandchildren & 2 great grandchildren (a boy and a girl).

If you hear me on the air or see me on your computer screen, give a shout. I love to rag chew. I enjoy DXing, contesting (especially RTTY & CW), CW, and just the hobby in general. 

Janice KBØQAA received her ham license in 1994 before marrying Bill KØUK. She is active on 2m. Janice supports Bill's contesting  by her friendly relationships with neighbors.  Janice supports the club and club members in many ways, large and small, too frequently and too numerous to list but well known to many of us!

KIØG is a QRP builder/operator and the photo is of his latest, 5/25/03, project. The AT Sprint, 3 bands with 150 KHz tuning and 5 watts out. The unit has a built-in memory keyer and excellent signal processing. The box is an Altoids mint container. 

RADIO INTERESTS: CW DX and Contests; currently operate only 40 & 17 meter CW. Also active on Field Day as WØGG with local group. 

Jerry KØDU and his XYL, Chris KC0DKX, reside with their two German Shepards, one cat and seven towers. Under construction is a 550 sq. ft. shack for contesting, DXing and hanging out with Ham buddies. Visitors to western Colorado are invited to take in the georgous views from the Colorado National Monument and to stop in. 

K0GAS Connie Schaeffer - first licensed as KN0GAS in 1956, received her  Conditional license the next year, and the Advanced and Extra Class licenses sometime in the 1980's.  Back in the 1956 she won a certificate in the Novice Roundup.  Connie was active on the Ladies Loaded Clothes Line Net in the '50's and '60's, participated in Field Day regularly until they moved to Utah in 1973.  They didn't like women in their Club so she wasn't active those years.  But she had a request for the Utah YL contact before her license even arrived.  Bob KJØG retired in 1976 and they traveled for 4 years before returning home to Montrose and building a house in a location selected for antennas.  Began doing DX and Contesting in about 1983 and, of course Field Day every year.  Also participated in the Ladies Only Net from 1981-2003. She took over as net control in April 1995 when K0MA became a silent key.  She  received the Top Gun award in 2000, the Japan International DX contest plaque  for first place - US Zone 4 all band  phone  for the six years from 1991-1996, and a bunch of certifcates  for WPX, CQ160, ARRL DX, SS,as single OP and ARRL 10M (multi with KJØG).

Bob K0NR (ex-KB0CY) is interested in HF, VHF/UHF, satellites and lots of other stuff. His contesting interests are mostly above 50 MHz, usually mountaintop portable or as a rover. He has been known to get on the air for a few HF contests. Bob lives in Monument with his wife Joyce (K0JJW).  The photo was taken during the 2003 CQ Worldwide VHF Contest out roving near Last Chance, Colorado. For more info, see Bob's web page
at www.k0nr.com
 

Larry (or Lou) KØRI  was first licensed in 1962 as WN0DGL.  He received K0RI in 1976 when the FCC made 1X2 calls available to extra class hams.  He spent 20 years in the Marine Corps and returned home to Colorado to settle in the Black Forest where the air is clean and there are high pine trees for to stringing  antennas.  Lou is also a mission coordinator/IC for El Paso County Search and Rescue and credits ham radio with stimulating his interest in public service.  Lou  likes to contest on the HF bands and enjoys VHF weak signal DXing.

Uncle Bethel P. Brown in KØUK's  home town of Henderson, Ky. first introduced him to ham radio.  In 1960 with the advent of the transistor in 1960 he received his novice license.  He discovered contesting by wanting to work DX especially on 40m SSB & CW. In 1973 he moved to Denver CO where the contesting bug bite hard. Hamming with the Colorado Conspiracy Club he met W0UA, K0RF, W0UN, W0ZV, K0YK and K0TR.   These hams helped him  to improve both his station and contest techniques.  Bill’s main mentor was K0KE Keith Errickson. He was most influential in helping Bill hone his skills and encouraged him to compete against himself not others.  Bill mostly uses the LP power level due to pesky neighbors.   Bill was also one of many Grand Mesa Contestors and DX Society Presidents & served various functions,  trustee being the latest. 

6 meters has been a secret interest of Bob's NØFCK.  Bob got my license 44 years ago. He is  on the air every day, mostly on 75 meters. For BOb, having a cw contact is still fun, not very fast, but still fun. 
 

Dan NØHF loves contesting and DX.  He operates at KØRF MM. Dan also teach General and Extra class theory for the Boulder Amateur Radio Club Jr. and assists with operating events. He is the GMCC liaison for youth activities on Front Range.  Dan works at The University of Colorado in Boulder as a Data Network and IT security Manager. Previously he worked at Alpha/Power as a Project Engineer and brought the Alpha 99 HF amplifier from concept to production. His lovely XYL is a Veterinarian and has a mobile practice. 

NØIO Mark Grand Junction

Joe K8FC has been a licensed Amateur Radio Operator since 1957. Joe has spent most of his amateur career in the suburbs of Detroit.  He moved to Rochester NY in 1990 where he worked for the Xerox Corporation as a Systems Engineer.  He then moved to Colorado in September of 2001 after retiring from Xerox. Joe has 5BDXCC,  Honor Roll with all current countries worked and confirmed. Joe is very interested in contesting and his  favorites are CQ160, ARRL 160, ARRL Sweepstakes and CQWWCW. 

 Phil NØKE  was first licensed as WN8TTN in 1954.  Even now, over half his QSOs are made on CW. Phil got into contesting after discovering that it was easier to work DX in a contest situation and later loved the competition. Phil enjoys QRP and QRO & VHF contesting and HF. He  has equipment to operate from 160m thru 1.2 GHz plus 10 GHz. He has 35 states and 6 countries on 2m, and WAS, WAC and 76 countries on 6m. On HF he has worked all but one of the current DXCC countries (need VU4)--- 300 of these QRP also.  His operating is mostly done portable.  Phil is fortunate to be one of only a handful of Colorado hams that have worked Europe on 6m. Phil  teaches skiing and snowboarding for the Vail Ski School. In the summer he drives 4 WD tours.  In the 1999, 2000 and 2001 CQWW WPX CW Phil  operated TI5N to first in the world for QRP single operator AB. 

June NØLER became a ham in 1986 as a Novice. She did  not do a thing with it until l989 when she became a Classic Tec and finally got on HF. June upgraded to General in l991. June has always enjoyed contesting.  It took he OM Bob NØFCK 20 years to get her interested in radio and now she really enjoys it.  As another hobby, June researches family genealogy.

Wayne NØPOH got his license in 1991, after many years of activity as a  SWL, BCB DXer and scanner enthusiast.  He has been very active over  the years as a member of the National Radio Club & is the Chairman of  the Board of Directors and is editor of the National Radio Club AM  Radio Log. He is activewith the Aurora Repeater Association as an  officer of the organization and currently the trustee of the 147.15  (+) repeater.  He contests VHF, and can be found active on 6 through  1296.  His XYL Joan is KBØYRX & they published the Rocky Mountain VHF+  Newsletter which catered to weak signal activity on six meters and  up for many years.  He is a real estate appraiser and computer jockey  for the Arapahoe County Assessor's Office.
 

 Gary NØSXX was first licensed in 1968. He is very interested in CW, Contesting and QRP, especially operating from the field. Picture was taken when he operated from 14036 ft Mt Sherman in Colorado. 

Kelly began his radio career at an early age. He vividly remembers getting his first pair of walkie talkies as a Christmas gift around age 5. During the late seventies and after several sets of walkie talkies and several years later, he hijacked an old CB radio from the family car. While in high school, he spent many evenings talking to the locals and dreaming of working the skip that he‚d hear. Eventually several of his friends decided to take the amateur radio exam and talked Kelly into joining them. Everybody passed and on January 5, 1985 his first license arrived in the mail. That afternoon in a driving snowstorm, a dipole was strung from the roof of the house out to some trees. It was official, KA9SYF was on the air!

DXing has always been Kelly‚s passion. From the early days of hearing those distant signals on 11 meters to present day, there is still magic in being able to talk to somebody half way around the world. During his college years, he found a way to string a wire from his 11th floor dorm room in order to work DX. During that time he worked on improving his country count between studying and chasing the young YLs. Kelly actually achieved DXCC before accomplishing Worked All States.

Over the course of the last 20+ years Kelly has managed to achieve DXCC Honor Roll only needing 3Y0/B, KP1 and a good 7O. He has also been climbing the DXCC Challenge ladder with around 1,300 band countries, Kelly has also been an active DX cluster sysop since the early days, putting his first node on the air in 1994. Today he keeps busy with his DX oriented website, DX Central. Kelly has recently taken up the exciting hobby of traveling to tropical islands and running the pileups from the DX side. Pictured here is Kelly enjoying the pileups on PJ4.

The last frontier for Kelly is 160 meters and he has been aggressively pursuing the 160 meter DXCC endorsement. He‚s active on all bands and you can be sure if there is a good pileup, he‚ll be calling. If you happen to hear him on the air, please say hello

 NØZA Ross was first licensed in 1965 as WA5LTQ. His primary interest in Amateur Radio has always been DXing. He originally was drawn into contesting as a way of working some new DX.  He enjoyed working the CQWPX SSB, CQWW CW, and the ARRL 160M contest from TI5N in 2003. I also enjosy boatanchors, homebrewing, and VHF. 

NX7TT Ed Idaho Falls, ID 

 I am now NX7TT here in Idaho Falls, Idaho.  I have held the following calls: NT4TT, AH2BE, AH2BE/KH6/KH9/KH0, KB6DAW/KH2/KH6/KH9/KH0, HL9MM, 8P9GI and HZ1AB as well as a HP2.

I have been doing radio since 1972, mostly across the oceans.  I am now working from the United States and having a great time mostly due to the GMCC club and Bill K0UK.  Thanks to Bill and Janice for allowing me to come and play radio.   I am, according to the 3830 reflector, #2 SOAB LP for the WPX SSB contest.  In addition I have been in the top 10 these last few years, so not too bad.  To those who may not know, I am the sponsor for the MS Asia Plaque for CQWW and WPX and the CQ160 as well.  Had there been one to win when I was at HZ1AB I am sure we would have won it.  Now there is one to win....  I have purchased 5 acres here in Idaho and I am slowly putting together a small station again thanks to Bill K0UK.  I have enjoyed my time with the group and hope to be able to contribute to the club.  73 from Idaho Falls  Ed now NX7TT

First licensed as KN1DNE (novice) in 1957. Call changed with move to Chicago and upgrade in 1958 to K9QLK (general). Call changed again with move to Denver in 1975 to W0RSG (general). Upgraded to extra class in ~1980. Moves to Mass, Cal, Wash and back to Cal. Call changed to NU6I (extra) in 1997. Active in contesting and DX primarily on CW. President of the Eagle County Ham Organization (ECHO) in 1985-87, and finally call changed to N0KQ in 2005 on returning to Colorado. Obtained tax exempt status and led several public service projects.  Profession: clinical research in the pharmaceutical industry.

George W1XE, was first licensed in 1965 as WN1DYU, became Extra class in 1969, and received his current  callsign in 1977, while in Groton, MA, then moved to Nederland, CO area in 1981.  George is an electrical engineer, specializing in magnetic recording physics,
and is an avid RF and power amplifier designer.
Favorite bands are 6 meters, 20 meters, 160 meters, 10GHz and 2m EME.  He's been a guest op at K0RF, TI5N, AA6TT, Aspen Contest Station, as well as host/operator during the ARRL VHF QSO Party Contests (W1XE/0, W0KEA/0, K0YO/0,W0DK/0) from "rare" grid squares or
mountain tops.  George is not an avid collector of
"certificates" but does have WAS on 160m and 6m, numerous QRP QSO contest awards, and when finally pplied for, one of these days, 5BWAS and DXCC. 

First got involved in ham radio as a SWL-DL4 in Wiesbaden, Germany in 1957 when father was stationed with USAF at AFB there.   Was great to hear loud USA stations (still remember W4TK in FL with his booming signal) running their KW's onb AM from east coast late at night !  Followed up SWL/Ham radio interest at our family's next posting at Wright-Patterson AFB Fairborn, OH when received KN8MTK in 12/58 and K8MTK in '59 at the local DAyton Amateur Radio Asso. convention, a small affair which had about 500 attendees.  (Never dreamed it turn into such a huge convention !) Got a new callsign K7MFF while at first year of college in Centralia, WA (which helped me decide not to major in Forestry!) in 1960, and W0ETT when transferred to Univ. of Denver in 1961.  - Upon graduation, I later operated PY7CKQ's QTH in Goiana, PE, Brazil occasionally when stationed with the Peace Corps there, but was back to SWLing when stationed in S. Vietnam with USAID/MACV for about 3 1/2 years.  In 1974, returned to Colorado to live and got back into CW traffic handling and casual contesting with a 2 WL rhombic about 20' high at father's cabin near Como iin South park.  Enjoyed VHF on 6 and 2m while in Conifer and Littleton QTH's as family time permitted.  Now retired in Parker on 5 acres, its nice to have a couple of towers and a bunch of HF/VHF antennas for contesting, working DX, and having fun on VHF.  Been involved with RMVHF 2m Monday night net since 2000 and enjoy 6m grid expeditions in the CO-WY-NM surrounding area.  Most recent grids activated were 2009 to Wyoming's DN63 and DN73 both considered rare ones for the Fred Fish Memorial Award which is for working all 6m grids in USA 48 states.  I've enjoyed being a member of GMCC and participating in various contests on CW and SSB.

Carson WAØRSX was first licensed in 1967.  He is active on 160-70cm.  Carson works CW, RTTY,PSK31, SSB and FM. He kike contests and is  DX active in AF  Mars.

Mikes Montana QTH

W0MU Mike

W0MU – Mike Fatchett
I was licensed when I was 13.  My grandfather had been using CB radios with their RV group and he gave one to my father and me one year for Christmas.  We had a lot of fun with them.  A short time later he told me about Ham Radio and I was interested.  It just happened that the Junior High School where I was going has a ham as a teacher and they actually were having classes at the school on a regular basis.

I jumped in and purchased the Morse code tapes and sat many weeks in class and at home trying to learn the code.  I can still remember sitting at class and seeing my first word appear on my paper.  A short time later I finally passed the 5 WPM code test and took my Novice exam.  I passed the written with out any trouble.  Now I had to wait nearly twelve weeks for my ticket to arrive in the mail.  It finally arrived and I was issued the callsign, WD0GXR.

I began my contesting as a Novice and competed against my friend.  He had a much better station, as his dad was a ham.  We had a great time working contests and DXing as best we could as Novices.

About a year later I passed my general exam after a number of failed written exams.  The code was never really an issue for me.  I upgraded to Advanced and received the call, KC0FW and not too long after upgraded to Extra as NI0E.  I applied for W0MU under the vanity program.

10 meters was the mainstay for me for many years. The band was hot and I had a big 5 ele beam mounted on the roof.   I finally talked my folks into putting up a telephone pole and a triband TH7DXX and then they finally relented and I was able to erect a 70 ft tower.  I moved to 15m and built a home made wide spaced 4 ele 15 beam which worked well.  That came down and a 2 ele 40m beam went up with other tribanders.  I now live near Castle Rock and have a 70ft self-supporting tower with a 2 ele 40 and a 4 ele SteppIR beam.  I plan to stack another SteppIR beam lower on the tower for gain and SO2R functionality.  I also have a home in Montana where I have a 60 ft self-supporting tower and a 40m beam and SteppIR.

My first contest was the Novice Roundup.  I recall operating mostly DX contests for countries and having lots of fun.  I also was very active with 10-10 and collecting numbers and being involved with a couple of local 10-10 groups.  WD0FVV, Mike, lived up the road about a mile from me and got me interested in the 10-10 QSO parties.  Shortly there after I met Russ, N0RK, ex WB0IWL, now SK,  who I operated with extensively in Sweeptstakes Multi OP efforts.  We had a great time and his presence is missed around the shack.  K0RF, invited me up to operate the CQ WW DX SSB contest.  I was lucky enough to  pair up with W0UA on the 15m station.  George taught me a lot about contesting.  I also met N2IC, K0GU, W0YK, W0ZV/W4ZV, W0UN at Chuck’s and at many of the Mile Hi DX meetings.

My most memorable contests were when I operated from St. Kitts with K0GU and WB0MIV.  We setup a station at a beach house just off the ocean.  The first year we were narrowly beaten out and took 2^nd in the World as VP2KBU.  We return a couple of years later and with better antennas and planning we won the world Multi two with just three operators.  This was in the 80’s when computer logging did not exist.  All the logs were paper.  There is nothing like running a pileup on 10m with rates over 350 qso’s and hour!  Family and other priorities have not allowed a contest-pedition since but I would sure love to do it again soon!

I am primarily an SSB guy focused on the domestic contests since I don’t have the best location or station to hang with the big stations in DX contests.  RTTY my next favorite mode and then CW.   I have never been super proficient at CW but I am enjoying that mode more and more.

 I have two sons and my youngest, Brenden, KD0ASY,  passed his Technician test and we are working on upgrading to general.  We have operated a few contests together and we look forward to operating more together.  My oldest is 16 and has found girls, nuff said.

 I also enjoy passing out counties while mobile on my frequent trips to Montana. 

Colorado Station:

2 x Yaesu FT-2000’s

1 K3 soon

Alpha 99 amp

Acom 1000 amp

Microham MK2R+ SO2R controller.

4ele SteppIR at 70ft

2 ele Cushcraft XM240 40m beam at 85ft

Inv V on 80

Inv L on 160

Dx Eng 4 sq receiving array

Montana Station:

FT-1000MP

AL-811 amp

Microham Micro Keyer II

4ele SteppIR at 60ft

2 ele Cushcraft XM240 40m beam at 75ft

Inv V on 80

Inv L on 160

Dx Eng 4 sq receiving array