K3RYI/KL in the Alaska Aretic in 1976
K3RYI/VE in the Canadian Aretic in 1977-1978
Over the years I have worked and confirmed a few more than 300 countries, all band-mixed. About half of these contacts were CW.
For the moment, I am operating a lot of CW on all bands except 160 meters. Other than that, I am just honing my skills, and waiting for the next sunspot cycle to appear.


My station in Wichita, Kansas in 1982. Equipment was: TS-930S, SB-220, TS-520. I had a 10 element tribander at 60 feet at this location that was a great antenna. Wichita was, by far, my best operating location.
My station as it appears in late 2007 on Pomme de Terre Lake in SW Missouri. Equipment is: FT-1000 MPV, SB-220, IC=746, IC-751, MFJ-989C SA-2060, RigBlaste Pro, Tower Controller. The SB-220 is modified to operate QSK. The antenna system consist of a Force 12 C3SS at 55 feet and a Windom at 40 feet. While it is not the station I had in Wichita, it does quite well.

HB Keyer and Paddle. Thirty-five, or so, years ago, while in the Air Force, I built this iambic keyer and paddle, because I could not afford to buy a bug. The keyer parts, except for the chip, were acquired mostly from my junk box. The paddle is made from aluminum stock, a lead loaded wood base, and parts from old straight keys. The paddle worked well, except that it needed to be cleaned frequently. The keyer is still in use today. At the time I wouldn't let anyone see the paddle. Today I am kind of proud of it, HI. Note the dust on the paddle.

This old boy, Carmello, copied code with me for about thirteen years. He prefered ICOM over Yaesu, as you can see. It appeared that code soothed the beast in both of us. Should you buy a rig from me, it will be smoke free. There may be a few cat hairs in it, though.

This Yaesu FT-1000 MPV came with CAT Software on top. Tux is a new member of this radio family. He also likes CW. Can you Tell?

Spooker just showed up at our house one day looking for a handout We kept him and made a DX hound out of him.

Here is another new guy at our house. Carma is more of a Computer Nurd.

This is the Force 12, C-3 SS five band yagi on top of an old Tri-Ex 55 ft motor driven tower. This antenna replaced my 5 element 10 meter monoband yagi, which is now in storage.