I’ve been a HAM radio operator since 1968, when I was 15 years old. Then I started with an HW-101 and a vertical antenna. Back then I was WB2CGK, as my station was on Long Island New York. Since then I’ve been on and off active, approximately every 10 years or so. Fortunately, this has matched up with the Solar Spot cycles. This past year I’ve regained my interest in this hobby and purchased an ICOM705 and a zBitx. Many years ago , I purchased an ICOM735, which I still own… a awesome rig for the time. Recently I’ve had to regain my code speed. I’m up to about 18 WPM.

I’m enjoying combining my love of bike riding with Ham radio. I’ve been riding to POTA locations and setting up on 20 meters. For this I bring the 705 , a 50Watt amp. and a vertical antenna. I use a Faraday cloth for the counterpoise. This year (2025) I activated Don Edwards (US-0189) 3 time…good fun. In the future, I’m hoping to activate with the zBitx as well as the ICOM705.

I’ve been enjoying all the technical changes to the hobby since my last period of activity (i.e. ~10 years ago). Using on-line loggers (I’m using WRL, World Radio League) is awesome with all the information and features they provide. SDR radios are amazing…loving the waterfalls! FT8, though not terribly exciting, is fun nonetheless. Amateur radio is a wonderful inclusive hobby. I’m having much fun during my current cycle of activity.