A little about me:

My Amateur Radio hobby started in 1966 with the call WN8UMV. I received the call WB8CNZ in 1969. My first station was set up in the basement of my parents house in Livonia. Received the call KF5KF in 1986 after moving to Texas and getting tired of telling people I was not in "8" land (Michigan). I kept the KF5KF call for over 10 years. In the summer of 1990 I upgraded my license from Advanced to Extra Class.

With the call KF5KF I had trouble with DX stations being confused with the suffix being the same as the prefix. State side stations felt it was unique, which it was. But during contests it was always a problem trying to explain that the "letters were the same front and back" Seems like everybody thought they had only half the call!

With the Vanity Callsign program from the FCC, I changed my call to N5KF in early November, 1996. I have also held the call KZ5OM while in the Canal Zone (now part of Panama) in Central America and more recently operating as VK3FPE near Melbourne, Australia.

Current Ham Radio equipment includes ICOM IC-736 HF Transceiver for 160-6 meters, an ICOM IC-251A (2 Meter SSB/CW) and Yaesu FT-7100 and FT-8800 146/440 FM transceivers. I also have a Kenwood TS-440SAT HF Transceiver as well as an Icom IC-706MKIIG Transceiver as back up. 

Antennas include a Force 12 C4 Beam (40-10 Meters) at 78 ft, a 140 ft long Carolina Windom, at 50 ft hanging from the tower, a 9 element 2 meter beam at 84 ft, and a dB Products 440 MHz folded dipole array at 70 ft. These antennas sit off a 78 ft. Heights Manufacturing Aluminum Tilt-Over Tower. Unfortunately I am having some serious engineering issues with this tower and may have to take it all down since the legs between the sections do not fit properly. I also have two 146/440 MHz verticals at 35 ft. off the house for local communications and IRLP backup. Currently active on 80 meters through 440 MHz on CW, SSB, FM, satellite, and digital modes.

I have an IRLP (Internet Radio Linking Project) connection. My node number is 3437. The frequency is 440.750 MHz with a 100 Hz PL tone.

My current QTH is in Georgetown, Texas, Williamson County. My former QTH was in Round Rock, just south of Georgetown (1993-2003). The grid square is EM10cr. If you would like to make a sked on any band 80-2 meters, send me an e-mail message and I will be happy to try to meet with you. Evenings and weekends are the best.

I am not a big time DXer, so if I work some good DX, please drop me an email and/or QSL card and tell me about your station and your family. I enjoy travel and learning about other parts of the world.

Updated 30/March/2006