Highlights
WAS ON 160YES! Alaska one night and Hawaii the next completed this ham goal for me in December 2019, which gives me 9BWAS. Here are the callsigns, modes, and bands of all the fine hams who helped me achieve this HF goal - all on dipoles with less than 100 watts.
FT4 & FT8 WAS & DX
On an early February morning in 2020 I snagged New Zealand on 160 using FT8, another weak-signal digital mode from Dr. Joe Taylor. I discovered FT8 in December of 2017 and it took me only seven weeks to collect all 50 states. I also have now over 100 countries. FT4 was designed as a contest mode but it has become another popular weak-signal mode for QSOs.
Most Wanted DX
Speaking of DX, here's a look at how many of the world's most wanted DX I have managed on my homebrew antennas here.
Click to see my QSL card
Today is
Welcome to the WB2HTO web site
I've been a ham radio operator since 1972, when my "Elmer," Roy (WA2SLO), nursed me through the Novice exam and the Morse Code test of five words per minute. Whew! Two years later my buddy Mike (WA2DLN) and I went down to Varick Street in lower Manhattan (near where the Twin Towers once stood) and passed our General Class exams. That was just about one of the best days of my life; what a feeling of accomplishment. In 1978 (the week after I passed the test for my Commercial First Class ticket which began my dozen years in broadcasting) I went back to Varick Street and passed the Advanced Class exam. I was VERY active for the next few years but then, as the schoolyard poem goes "first came love, then came marriage, then the baby carriage."In 2007, after pretty much being QRT for a number of years things settled down enough so I could get back into the hobby. And I found that while ham radio has changed in many ways - I had a ball with these digital modes - the basic idea hasn't; it still comes down to meeting great people who share a passion for communicating with RF.
Speaking of the baby carriage, my daughter Jennifer (the girl in that carriage) passed her Technician exam in February 2010 to become KB1TSU. Just six months later she passed her General and we could not have been prouder! Jen's new-found interest in the hobby inspired me to study for my Extra class ticket, which I passed in January, 2010. Jen and I later created the Worked All Kruh Award which we proudly give to any ham who works both of us in the same mode.
So take a look around - be sure to see this page of great software for the shack and the page of study materials so you can get or upgrade your license. If you have any questions, whether about the site, my station, setting up a sked, or if you need an "Elmer" then please feel free to send me an email.
www.hrdlog.net