KK4GGL

I took a Ham course in the winter of 9th grade.  I quit 2 weeks before the test. Everyone else eventually made General. It has bothered me ever since. In January 2012 I passed my Technician. I bought a small 2 meter (Baeofeng UV-3r) HT. In February 2012 I passed General. That afternnoon I bought an Icom 718, an MFJ-949E tuner and some Hamsticks. I now also have several  Baofeng UV-5Rs, 2 FT-7900s, an IC-706 MKIIg and an FT-8900. I am now using a Yaesu FT-991a as my base.

I live in a first floor condominium, so "obvious" antennas are out. Unfortunately, a Hamstick outside was a little too obvious. I used to have an end fed wire (Hawaii EARC 6-40 matchbox antenna) tacked underneath the front porch roof, running about 30' long and 8' up. I now have  a  wire loop tacked to the bedroom ceiling.

I am presently uploading to eQSL and LOTW regularly. I got ARRL WAS, DXCC and  am eligible for WAC. I think that was   pretty good for for a 27 foot wire tacked to a wall 8 feet off the groun and a wire loop tacked to the ceiling in a ground floor condo. :-)

I have used  Christmas Lights as an antenna during the holidays. I modified the directions in March 2013 issue of CQ using an LDG automatic tuner. I only used it for a short while the first and only made one contact, but it was a 59 into the Carribean and have made more contacts on subsequent Christmases.