I began learning CW at the beginning of 2024 and made my first ever CW QSO to CWops member K5OHY in March, 2024.
Almost all of my initial CW involvement was via the POTA program. Within 6 months, I had hundreds of activations and 8,000+ QSOs. Still to this day, I activate daily. I’ve begun to venture into the world of CW beyond POTA which has involved ragchewing, DXing and now contesting. I’m not much of a reader, but when I picked up The CW Way of Life by Chris Rutkowski I finished it in two days. I really love that book!
I think growing up I had a belief system that ham radio was older tech and not very useful today. I couldn’t have been more wrong. We are seeing the impact of ham radio at the most critical times. I am obsessed with QRP field operations and have an unwavering addiction to paddle collecting. Including a recently found love for Bugs!
I particularly enjoy building homebrew equipment. I’ve built multiple antennas and 5 QRP radios. I still feel some disbelief when I use a throw-line to get a wire up in a tree and make DX QSOs from a small 5 watt QRP rig I built. The fact that it’s just us and the ionosphere makes this form of communication unlike anything else.
As cliche as it may sound, the single best part of this hobby really has been the friendships I’ve made in such a short time.
I am so excited to begin to participate in CWops contests as an official member!
This biography is what appeared in Solid Copy when the member joined CWops.