Amateur Radio

Amateur Radio

Welcome to the 

KØXXX, K5QQQ, W2XXX and KØQQQ 

Amateur Radio pages

Currently off of the air due to a dropped tower and subsequent loss of all antennas. I hope to be operating again in the late Spring or Summer.

Grid:          EM46ff

State:        Arkansas

County:    Sharp

Since I was a young boy, I have been interested in Amateur Radio . My family and my job always seemed to have other plans for me, though. Once I retired, life slowed down enough that I was able to finally pursue the hobby.

I was granted the call KD5LUN as a Technician in June of 2000. Three months later, I passed both elements of the General test. It wasn't until a year later that I got off my duff and took, and passed, the Extra exam. 

The whole family has caught the "radio bug". My wife holds K5QQQ, my son Paul, is W2XXX and my daughter, is KØQQQ. My son lives out of state but my wife, daughter and I enjoy working the VHF contests together. 

Through an acquaintance, I was introduced to ARES and Emergency Communications. I took over his position as the County ARES Emergency Coordinator and RACES Officer in 2001. I was forced to resign, due to health and family reasons, in 2006. Bill Wilson, KE5RGN, has taken over the EC position and I now help out as AEC.

HF has been a lot of fun but, my real love is VHF and up. In the summer of 2001, I happened to tune my G5RV to six meters. The band was wide open and I ended up with over thirty states and almost 100 grids during the 2 months that followed. I was hooked. My excitement with the higher bands really took off after I discovered Joe Taylor's WSJT program and Meteor Scatter. I'm also hoping to try my hand at EME, in the not too distant future.

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Some time back, lightning destroyed my Yaesu FT-100D, RigBlaster and the computer that I used for logging and my VHF/UHF digital work. I had saved log files on two separate hard drives, so if one failed, I would still have the files on the second. The "genius" that repaired my computer was supposed to put the operating system on a new hard drive and leave the good, original hard drive as a secondary so that I could retrieve my files from it. He goofed and now I have no log info for 90% of 2004.

Also, my shack is in disarray at the moment. I'm trying to get my "shack on the hill" operational and moving items between it and the house. If you've sent a card and I haven't returned one yet, please drop me a reminder via e-mail and I'll get one out asap. I'm hoping to get the base, for the first of the towers, cemented in place during the first week of decent weather that is forecast.

73,

Mark, KØXXX

"Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense."

"I am nerdier than 99% of all people. Are you nerdier?