AE0GL

I was first licensed in Detroit, Michigan when I was 12 years old as KN8APF and subsequently as K8APF and later WB8CMY and VE3DNK.

I've been away from amateur radio for about 35 years and recently decided to get back into it. I received my Amateur Extra class license in May 2019 as AE0GL and have been slowly finding my way back into a hobby that's much different (and more exciting) than the way I remember it!

I'm having fun playing with digital modes and building antennas and I am trying to get back into CW again, but it's a slow process!

Please be patient while I figure out all the details of QSL cards and other 21st century ham etiquette. I believe that I am now handling eQSL and LoTW correctly. My apologies to anyone who missed a confirmation while I got them set up.

I use an ICOM 7300 transceiver, which I like very much.

VHF/UHF News 29-Nov-2019

I'm now on 2 and 3/4 meter FM and C4FM using a Yaesu FTM-100DR/DE, and also experimenting with 2 meter SSB, CW, and FT8 with a low powered transverter from www.transverters-store.com, both of which have worked out very well!

ANTENNAS

My signal's are a little weak because I'm currently using rather simple antennas.

For 40/20/15/10 meters I have been using a hybrid trap/fan dipole (pictured) at about 20' oriented to radiate NE/SW, but...

HF ANTENNA NEWS 26-Oct-2019!

The dipole pictured and described above has now been retired! The new antenna is a 40/30/20/18 meter parallel dipole in a sort of inverted V like configuration with coil loaded extensions for 80 meters and tweaks to allow 15 and 10 meter operation! So far the results are very much improved, but I haven't figured out a way to photograph it! It looks very similar to the old one but is mounted in a different location and the center is now about 30' up.

I have a 6 meter dipole oriented to favor E/W in my attic at about 25'. I've also had some lucking using it for 2 meter SSB and FT8 since my other VHF antennas are all vertically polarized.

I also have an attic mounted discone that I use for VHF/UHF monitoring and spectrum analysis with various SDRs including an SDRPlay Rsp2 and an RTL-SDR dongle.

VHF/UHF Antenna News 25-Mar-2020

I have replaced my Comet DS150s discone with a Comet GP3 vertical for 2 and 3/4 meter FM operation it's at about  30 feet and fed with LMR400. Direct operations and distant repeaters are much improved now. I continue to use the homebrew attic mounted discone shown above for secondary transmit and wideband monitoring.

OTHER INTERESTS

Some of my many other interests include microcontroller HW and SW, fiction, bicycling, playing DADGAD guitar and Anglo concertina, and cooking. 

Thanks for dropping by this page and I hope to run into you soon!

Mario