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| Willow ptarmigan, the Alaska state bird. |
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Operators |
The KL5O special event station will have numerous
operators at ham radio stations across Alaska. Here is a
list of the operators: |
AL9A
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First
licensed in 1978 as a novice in Illinois with the call
KA9ADP I also held the call as a General class. In 1982
I upgraded to Advanced and became KC9UM, which I also
held as an Extra until moving to Alaska in 2003 after
retiring from Caterpillar Inc. after 30 years. At that
time I obtained the vanity call AL9A; the 9 as homage to
my Midwest roots, the ALA from the first three letters
of my new state.AL9A is located in the
Matanuska-Susitna Valley about 20 miles (34 km) NE of
Anchorage by air, but 42 (70 km) driving miles via the
Glenn Highway, which runs parallel to Kink Arm. The
Valley is approximately the size of the state of West
Virginia and is home to around 70,000 residents. More or
less a triangular shaped valley, it is bounded by three
mountain ranges; the Chugach Mountains to the south, the
Talkeetnas to the east running northwest, and the Alaska
Range to the west, running northeast. The Alaska Range
is home to Mt. McKinley, also known as Denali, the
tallest mountain in North America. My QTH consists of
two acres with lake frontage on Finger Lake and
excellent views of the Chugach Mountains 11 miles (19
km) directly south of my back door.
The station setup is an Icom 756PRO, an Icom PW-1
solid state amp, a microHAM microKEYER II and a Nye
Viking MB-V antenna tuner. The antenna farm consists of
a Tri-Ex motorized crank up tower supporting a Hy-Gain
TH-11 at 70 feet (21 meters) which includes the WARC
bands, a Force 12 EF-240S 2 element linear loaded "shorty
forty" 40M monobander at 79 feet (24 meters), a
Cushcraft A627013S with three elements for 6M and
interlaced vertical elements for 2M and 70CM and a
Diamond vertical for 2M and 70CM.
Nearby trees support a full size Carolina Windom 160
and I am currently in the midst of installing a Hy-Gain
AV-6160, a 43 foot (13 meters) all band ground mounted
vertical, which will be used primarily on 160M and 80M
and as a back up for the Windom in case our high
velocity valley winds bring the wire and/or the
supporting trees down this winter. Computer interfacing
for HF is via the microKEYER II to a Dell Inspiron 1720
laptop running the much maligned and hated Vista, but it
works for me!
Until recently I have been primarily a SSB operator,
but two small grandchildren now living with us have
motivated me to improve my CW skills and, as of this
September's CQWW RTTY DX contest, to add RTTY to my
operating modes. These quieter modes are much more
pleasing to the XYL when it's bedtime for the
youngsters!"
I am also sending a couple of photos as reduced size
pics rather than attaching the full sized ones to this
email. Hope this is what you need for the web page. As
for the special event operation I would be willing to
try any band, including 17M and or 12M if there is
propagation, on SSB, CW or RTTY. Not really a good rag
chewer on CW, but can pass out the basic RST/QTH/Special
Event info. I can be flexible on operating hours, but it
would help to know ahead of time for family scheduling.
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KL8DX
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KL8DX is located in the heart
of the Denali Borough, 4th Judicial
District and enjoys CW & digital modes the
most. Phil has been a casual operator for over 20
years and has been active from Alaska for the last 6
years. Originally from Northern Ohio, Phil had
operated from Ohio until moving to Alaska. Phil also
operated twice from Keflavik, Iceland while visiting
family. Phil works for the National Park Service at
Denali National Park and enjoys not only promoting
the beauty of Denali but also enjoys giving out
contacts to those who need Alaska. More information
about Phil KL8DX and Suann KL8SU, along with their
station can be found by checking out the following
links
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AL1G
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The home station of Corliss,
AL1G, located on the west side of Anchorage was
built by her late husband Frank, KL7FH and son
Chris, KL9A. Originally there was one tower at
50' in the back yard with a TH7, along with 40
and 80 meter inverted vees. When Corliss moved
in, she brought along her own tower and TH3
which Frank put up in the front yard, also at
50'. Frank then later connected the antennas
via a six pack antenna switch for easy changes
between the TH7 and TH3 as well as the 30, 40
and 80 meter antennas.
Her rig is a FT1000MP Mark 5 and a drake L7 amp.
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AL2F
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Current Station - FT-857d, MFJ-969 tuner, WinKeyer
USB, Kent Twin Paddle Key, SB200
Logging
software XP N1MM Logger, MMTTY or Wintest
Current
Antennas; Hustler 4BTV up 15ft with elevated radials, 20m
sloper pointed North, Top Loaded 80m Vertical
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KL7RA
Tree, N6TR, StewPerry DXC boss and author of TRLog with
Ken, K5KA, the ARRL SS boss build radio towers @ the new
KL7RA contest station near Nikiski, Alaska. Meantime Rich,
KL7RA slugs down a cold one to relieve the pain from all the
dropped nuts from above. Not in the picture is Lucy the dog
on bear patrol.
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KL7RA is located on the Kenai peninsula near
the village of Nikiski on a hilltop ridge overlooking the
Cook inlet. The original "North Pole Contest Group" multi-op
team started in 1979 near Fairbanks, Alaska and have been in
all major contests since then often in the Multi-Op category
seven times a year.After a year of
searching for excellent radio contesting property and as far
away as possible from the aurora that caused so much
disruption to our contest activities the present site was
settled on and the old station in Two Rivers Alaska was
dismantled in 2003.
http://www.qsl.net/dj7ik/images/kl7ra/kl7ra.htm
Construction started in 2004 with a new
building, underground power and road. Seven towers followed
and the station is about 80% back to normal. The station's
current profile can be found on Pete, N4ZR's data base.
http://www.conteststations.com/
KL7RA and crew is excited with the new
location's performance so far and hope to be in all contests
for this cycle's peak. (if there is one??)
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AL7IF
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Wigi has been a ham since 1978, where he was N3AGF in Silver
Spring, MD. He has long been active on HF, operating mostly
CW. In 1986 he became NB3S, and then AL7IF, when he moved to
Alaska. He has been very active in contesting for most of
his ham radio career.Wigi blogs on
a number of non-ham radio topics:
Washington Nationals
Baseball,
Travel in
Alaska, and this and that.
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N1TX/KL7
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Larry N1TX received his novice ticket KA3HIY in 1981. Fully
90% of his operating has been on CW from day one, but he
enjoys contesting is all modes. He has also enjoyed being DX
and has operated as G0CQW, C56/N1TX, 9H3FS, and FP/NA5E. He
moved to Alaska in 1998 and now hosts the Two Rivers Contest
Club station KL2R at the former location of KL7RA about 20
miles east of Fairbanks. Larry and his wife Connie KL1BE are
also photographers and operate Light Trekker Studios.
KL2R is
designed to be a cozy single-operator, multi-single, and
multi-two contest shack configurable to suit the needs and
interests of the club members. It's a place where members
can learn and experiment. Besides N1TX, currently active
members include KL1JP, NL7Y, N6PU, W6HF, and KL1WE.
The main
station features a Yaesu FT-950, Win-Test and N1MM contest
software, and a Microkeyer digital interface for all modes.
Antennas are always changing, but mainstays include two
Force 12 C3 tri-banders, one at 55 feet fixed on North
America and another at 85 feet fixed on Europe. The station
also uses a Radio Works Super Loop 80 at 75 feet for 80-30m
and a Force 12 EF-140 40m dipole at 100 feet. Please visit
http://www.akradio.net and
http://kl2r.blogspot.com for more complete information
about the station.
Despite
persistent poor propagation conditions and lack of a
high-power amplifier in the stable, KL2R has won numerous
certificates and awards in the past several years. KL2R
received the Northwest Division plaque for multi-single
category in the 2008 CW ARRL Sweepstakes contest with N1TX
and KL7AJ operating.
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N5XZ
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Allen was first licensed in Houston, Texas in
1970 as WN5BIR at the age of 13. He held that call for just
about a year, achieving WAS, WAC and almost DXCC. His 2
nd
ever QSO was DX (Mexico) which started him early with the DX
bug. He even got his picture in QST (September 1973 issue,
page 13). He upgraded directly to Advanced in 1971. In
addition to the DX bug, Allen got the contesting bug also
and has participated in many contests, both phone and CW. In
1993, he finally upgraded to Amateur Extra and obtained the
vanity call N5XZ. CW is his preferred mode but he is equally
comfortable on SSB.
His current home station
in Richmond, Texas is a Kenwood TS-950SD, Yaesu FT-1000MP,
Alpha 78 Linear Amplifier and a 4-element SteppIR with the
30/40 meter trombone element and 6 meter parasitic elements
at 75 feet. 80 and 160 meter antennas are in the plans for
the future. He is on the DXCC Honor Roll with 336/349 and
waiting for those last two DXCC entities “Martti, where are
you when I need you?”
As a benefit of
international travel at times, he has operated as R3/N5XZ,
R9/N5XZ, HL/N5XZ, TT8XZ and VU/WB5BIR.
Allen now works in
Anchorage and so obtained the club call of KL5DX. He has had
the pleasure of working at the KL7AA club station as well as
AL1G, KL7DX and KL5E. He hopes he can make the rounds of
some other fine Alaskan stations while up here.
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KL7OU and WL7O |
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The station is split with 3 feed lines, 2
running into a six-pak on the 20 meter tower.
Frank, WL7O operates a Yaesu FT1000MP, with th
LA-1000-NT amp, and AT-1200 tuner, running 500
watts. As a rule he only runs 100W. Our Yaesu
FT1000D will be set up for low band DX using 2
1600ft beverage RX antennas, a 4 square for 75
M,and a 1/4 wave vertical for 160. The Yaesu
897 is for 2 meters and back-up or mobile with
FC-40 tuner and can run an SGC-500 amp with one
of our larger tuners. We also have a 160 W 2 M
amp in line. The Yaesu 857 is the mobile rig in
the truck.
Debbie, KL7OU
operates an ICOM 756PRO, with a LDG 1000
auto-tuner and Ameritron AL-80B amplifier,
running 1000 watts, with a HEIL Boom mike and
foot switch. With out the amp this radio also
runs on our 12V. backup power.
Both operating
spots are interfaced to their own computer and
the 2 computers are networked.
The Antenna for
20 meters is at 90 ft on a Rohn tower with a
4-element mono band antenna. This tower also has
a 4 el 10 meter antenna and for local work 2
13B2 antennas.
40 meters is a
3 element High Gain antenna on a 132 ft. tower.
This tower will also sport the 75M 4 square this
fall.
For local HF contacts and nets we
have a 160 meter loop with a reflector that is
supported at 40 feet by 5 back-guyed spruce
poles. This NVIS antenna is the result of 4
years of experimenting with different sized
loops and has proven to be the most effective on
all local low band contacts.
Debbie, KL7OU
licensed in December of 2003 as KL1OU. She
earned her General license in Dec. 2004, and
extra class license Jan. 2006, When she
discovered KL7OU was available in 2006, she
changed my call sign to KL7OU which was much
easier to be identified as an Alaskan station.
Frank, WL7O was
licensed in Dec. of 2003 as KL1OT. He earned
his General class license in 2004, and Extra
class license in 2006. In 2006 Frank changed
his call sign to WL7O.
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KL1JP
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Dan's home station (KL1JP) is located 7 miles northeast of
Fairbanks in the Steele Creek hills. Picture my station
centered in the middle of a horse shoe – open to the south
but “challenged” to almost any other direction.
KL1JP will be operating barefoot with a Yaesu FT-2000 and
three separate antennas; a 80m horizontal loop, a Radioworks
Carolina Windom and 160 vertical.
KL1JP will be a fill-in op, working on 30m with his ear
tuned to weak signals.
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