Amateur Radio
Besides EMS, one of my real passions is Amateur Radio (sometimes called "Ham" Radio for short). I have been continuously licensed by the Federal Communications Commission since 1974. I have held the Novice License (1974-1975) with the call WN2VWR. In May, 1975 I went with a close friend, Chuck Drass (WA2WRS) to the FCC Office in Philadelphia. Both of us passed the 13 WPM Morse Code Test and Radio Theory Test and received our General Class Licenses. My call was "upgraded" to WA2VWR. I retained my General Class License until April, 1988 when I passed my Advanced Class License. Then, in May, 1988 I passed the 20 WPM Morse Code Test and extensive Radio Theory Test and received the coveted "Amateur Extra Class" license. My call changed to the shortened, "WI2C" which I still use today. For a brief time I also held the call signs "N0ESP" (when I lived in St. Louis) and "N2GVZ" when I moved back to New York.
I am an avid CW operator (Morse Code), enjoy "Rag Chewing" (which means carrying on a conversation besides just exchanging technical information) and really like building kits and homebrew equipment. Pictures of some of my projects follow. I also work SSB, AM and FM
Throughout my Amateur Radio "career" I have received several awards including the American Radio Relay League (affectionately called the "ARRL") Worked All States Award and the "3905 Century Club" award (for contacting 100 stations of an on-air club I belong to). At one time I was very active with RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service), the communications arm of Civil Defense (now called "Emergency Management" more politically correct, I guess...) I have held membership over the years in the Maple Shade Radio Club, Maple Shade, NJ; and the Suffolk County Radio Club. I'm not active with any groups right now and prefer just to "play" on my own.
Every summer my brother Jim, W2UUU, and I head for the woods. We camp in South Jersey and set up a battery powered station in the woods and throw a wire antenna up in the trees. It's always a good time for us!
Enjoy the pics!
My first QSL Card
My General Class QSL Card
My first "Amateur Extra" QSL Card
This is my present "QSL" card. It is sent out to other Amateur Radio Stations that I have contacted to confirm the contact.
SOME OF THE EQUIPMENT I HAVE BUILT:
This is the "TUNA TIN II". It is a fully functional 40 Meter CW Transmitter that puts out a little less than half a watt. I've made a bunch of contacts with this little beauty, built in a tuna fish can. It is amazing what can be done with such low power (called "QRP" in Ham lingo).
Above is a frequency counter that connects to my low power transmitters. It "reads" the frequency out by tapping the numbers in Morse Code. I built this in an Altoids tin.
This is a WattMeter for low power (QRP) equipment built from a kit manufactured by Oak Hills Research, May 2004. It is shown measuring the output of my Tuna Tin II Transmitter (about 450 Milliwatts).
This is a 10 kHz Frequency Marker/Generator. When I push the button on the front, it sends out a signal ever 10 kHz to enable calibration of my transmitters and receivers. I built this in an "Icebreaker" mint tin. It is powered by a 9v battery.
MY PRIDE AND JOY- This is my Elecraft K1 4 band CW Transceiver (40 Meters, 30 Meters, 20 meters and 15 Meters). It's up and running and have made a bunch of contacts on it. I am presently working on building Elecraft's internal antenna tuner and an external balun so I can run 300 Ohm TV lead as a balanced antenna. My brother Jim and I have used this balanced antenna for the past 3 years on our camping trips.
This is my Wilderness Radio NorCal 40A. It is a complete 40 Meter (7mHz) transceiver and works like a champ. This little baby goes camping with me every summer. This was built from a kit I purchased from Northern California QRP Club ("NorCal") and built in the summer of 2000 before I entered my Paramedic program. Turns out that my Paramedic Class was directed by another Ham operator, Paul Werfel. It's truly a small world!
This is known as a "BLT Tuner". It was constructed "down and dirty" using PC Board as the case and "Manhattan Style" construction, with point to point wiring and standoffs to isolate the wiring from ground. I built this in the summer of 2001.
THE ARDUOUS TASK of winding Torroidal Coils. This particular coil is a part of the filter board in my Elecraft K1. There's not a lot of room for error when winding coils and transformers-- the correct amount of turns must be placed with the correct spacing.
FIELD DAY, JUNE 25, 2005- I set up a QRP station in my backyard working off of battery power, "1B NLI". I'm not a "heavy hitter" when it comes to contesting; I have never submitted any paperwork or officially entered any contests. But I participate for the fun of it and to rack up contacts for the log book. I worked 35 stations in about 3 hours. For the first two hours I utilized my MFJ QRP setup at about 5 watts. For the last hour I used the Norcal 40A (See Picture above) and worked 8 stations with 3 watts. Amazing what one can do with a "peanut whistle."
