N9HAX

So, as usual, I've neglected my blog. Actually, I had neglected amateur radio for a solid six months - work, life, etc. took priority for a bit. I spent the last year acquiring new HF gear. Some of it stuck around and others were sold/traded for rigs that were more fitting for what I wanted to do. In the end, I only kept two transceivers: An Elecraft KX3/PX3/KPA100 combo A FlexRadio Systems 6600M Since I acquired the Flex, the KX3 has taken a back seat for a while. I'm no stranger to SDR, but the capabilities of the 6600M are phenomenal!  Antenna-wise, I've still been using my Alpha Loop Sr., which tunes from 10m-80m. Unfortunately, the great ATU in the KPA100 and the Flex 6600M aren't being used as I have to manually tune the loop; but, I'm still making contacts from Canada to Cuba! ...which leads up to today: I need a better antenna. I've been talking with local Elmers and I believe I'm going to give the Alpha Delta DXCC a try up in my atti...

What do you say, what do you know fellow blog readers??! It's a great day for me today! I finally made my first SSB contact on 40M tonight! I had the pleasure of a short QSO with KD2RD out in Long Island, NY on 7.181.850. I heard him at about 40 over 5/9 and I was received at about a 5/8. I was working off my Buddipole and KX3 in the back yard at about 100W and John was working off of roughly 1700 (!!) Watts. The bands were on the crummy side this evening, but I figured it would be worth a shot trying to talk to somebody. After roughly an hour it paid off! Not really much else to say this evening, but I wanted to get this short blog out there as soon as I could!  73 de N9HAX

It's now official, folks! My vanity call sign was approved and I'm now N9HAX on the airwaves!! For those who know what my day job is, this will make total sense. Applying for callsign is relatively easy, painless, and best of all: it's now FREE! There are a bunch of resources out there with details about how you can apply for a vanity callsign, so I won't bore you with much detail.  Here are the basic steps: First, you need to figure out what you'd like your callsign to be and if that callsign is available. You'll also need to see if you're eligible for that type of callsign. This will depend on your license class as well as your location to an extent. Make sure that you have at least a couple available callsigns in mind just in case you're not the only one applying for it. I used  ae7q.com  to figure out all of this information.  Once you've found an eligible callsign, you'll need to apply for the vanity callsign. You can start tha...

Greetings to all who have stumbled across my 13,490,395,585th time of trying to successfully start a small blog! The majority of my other blogs have been focused on Information Security, so this one will be a bit different focusing solely on all-things amateur radio. Let's start out with the basics:  I'm Chris My current callsign is KD9JCJ Probably on 26 September 2017, my callsign will change to N9HAX I currently hold a General class license and am studying for my Amateur Extra I'm slowly  learning CW I'm a newly-licensed operator, actually. I only received my Technician ticket back in mid-August! However, I've dabbled in many different forms of radio for quite a bit of my life - now I simply have the ability to legally transmit over the airwaves! Being a new ham, my shack is small right now; but I have enough to work most bands and some digital modes as well! Here's a quick breakdown: HTs - Yaesu VX-8DR (Analog) - Yaesu FT2DR (Fusion) ...