de KC3AF

A photograph of my Kenwood radios. One is hooked up to a Thinkpad and running FT8 on 20m. There's a HT in the background

I’ve been a licensed ham operator since December 2020 and active in my local ham radio club since Spring 2021. I enjoy our nets, public service events, fox hunting activities, and occasional special outings like POTA. I sometimes use APRS while hiking.

I upload contacts to QRZ. I have not been able to get LotW to renew my certificate when it came back online after the disaster. I’m saving those to upload once that’s been sorted out. At some point I hope to have a proper QSL card, I’m just very picky!

HF Radios: Yaesu 991A, Kenwood TS-480SAT

VHF Radios: Yaesu 991A, Kenwood TM-271

Digital modes: primarily FT8, getting started with fldigi so I can do more actual messaging

Antennas: fan dipole 80/40/20 (and 15m resonant) outside my house, 2m quarter wave ground plane in my home office, 10m occasional-use at home, AlphaAntenna Hextenna dipole for the field.

My radios are connected to a PC running Linux Mint. I’m keeping an eye out for a low quality Windows PC so I can use conventional software more easily.

My first callsign was KC3QXJ - distinct but hard to say in the phonetic alphabet and a real CW headache. Once I tested up to Extra class, I applied for KC3AF. KC3AF was formerly held by silent key “Skip” Hoffman.

73! 🫡