N5KAE CQ Contest CQ Contest

Here my husband fires up his "winter garage" amateur radio station. His fully loaded ham shack is inside the house.

Today he made contact with Argentina, Aruba, and Dominica, all by CW telegraphy using his Morse code key (15 and 40 meter bands).

Last weekend he entered the ARRL Sweepstakes Sideband Contest and worked 161 stations, and all 80 ARRL sections (all 50 states, Canadian sections, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, etc.). He will get the “Clean Sweep” coffee cup from the ARRL.




Shown here is an old but reliable transceiver….the Drake TR-7. It runs on vacuum tubes. Mark restored it and it has been in use for 23 years, and was bought used in 1986. Antenna is a Cushcraft A-3S tri-band Yagi at 40 feet. Bencher iambic telegraph key, with an MFJ keyer rounds out the CW portion of the station.

Currently has “Worked All States” for mixed, phone, CW, 10, 15, 20, and 40 meters. Has DXCC awards for mixed, CW, phone, 10, 15, and 20 meters, with 235 countries confirmed in the mixed category.

Yeah, he says, he’s a nerd, always has been, and admits it with pride.