Greetings Station, and welcome to my QRZ.COM profile page!

Thanks for surfing in--whether you are coming from the QRZ forums--or an active or recent QSO. Here you will find a lot of info, and I have tried to lay it out in a way that answers the important things first--and goes into details further.

My radio world has changed several times over the past years. Due to a move to New York, the shack is slowly being reconstructed. When complete, it should resemble the former QTH:

MAIN STATION GEAR Icom IC-751A transceiver 1960 Johnson Viking Valiant Transmitter 1957 National NC-300 Receiver Icom IC-2200H 2M rig for repeater work Icom IC-T8A for 70cm and mobile Heathkit SB-200 amp fully upgraded Dentron MT-3000A tuner Johnson Matchbox MFJ 'Giant' SWR/Peak Wattmeter Diamond X200A 2M/70CM Vertical @ 40' 134' Doublet @ 50' (N/S axis)
	ACCESSORIES & SOFTWARE Shure SM58 dynamic mic on boom Shure SM10A dynamic mic on Audiophase MD-04 headset Astatic D-104 (1972) on bare T-UP9 base Astatic 636L dynamic handheld mic Samson C-Valve preamp with X10 attenuation feed Rigblaster Plus mode interface Vibroplex Iambic Standard key J-38 clone straight key Ham Radio Deluxe v5 Suite

The operating position shown does not currently exist--as we have just moved from Tennessee to New York and everything is still being laid out and set up. It will likely be sometime in November before the station is back on the air. Lots to do in the new space--but I have to add electrical drops and antenna feedthroughs to the area. Located in the basement of the new house, the shack will share space with my darkroom--which I have been without for over two years now. Lots of great fun to be had on cold winter nights this year! More photos as the project moves along.

The truth be told, something I enjoy even more than going on the air is working with the circuitry of my equipment--and doing repair/restoration of older vacuum tube gear. Quite a bit of the peripheral stuff for the rig has been home brewed and this is quite fun. Making such things reminds me of when I was first getting started in the late 1960s and modifying various WWII surplus gear. Unfortunately, when we moved from Kentucky to Tennessee in 2008 I was forced to shrink my "empire" down to a small spare room and place many things in storage. This is how the bench has been organized now--except for the mess and changes to the rig setup as detailed above:

BENCH GEAR RCA WV-98C Senior VoltOhmyst VTVM Tektronix 465B scope B&K 283 DMM B&K 2050 RF generator HP 202C audio generator Wavetek 112 VCG/waveform generator Elenco F-1225 frequency counter Eico 667 dynamic tube tester Heathkit IB-2 impedance bridge Heathkit SP-17A "boatanchor" power supply Staco "Adjust-A-Volt" variac Parts, parts, and more equipment in storage!

IMPORTANT BAND & QSL INFORMATION--The majority of my operation is on the 40M and 20M bands, and is usually PSK31, SSB Phone, analog SSTV, RTTY, and CW--in that order. QSL via eQSL.CC and HRDLog.net is immediate at the end of the QSO. LoTW is uploaded monthly, as is my QRZ Logbook. I do not mail out very many domestic cards--but always respond. DX cards are only sent in reply to a card that has been received. Paper QSL cards are only mailed out every 4-6 months, on the average.

BRIEF BIO

My journey into amateur radio began very early in life with an interest in all things technical or scientific. About 1963, I began to listen to DX BCB as a small child, and quickly discovered that by removing the back of the little transistor radio and adjusting the trimmer pads with my fingernail that some things could be heard that were outside the regular AM BCB. A year or two later a family member took notice of all this and presented me with a used Zenith TransOceanic B600 shortwave receiver. The 1960s were golden years for SWL--and I spent quite a bit of time listening to a peculiar sort of radio in the 80 Meter band.

In 1968, our county library received a copy of the ARRL Handbook. I doubt that anyone else had an opportunity to check it out for the rest of the year! Soon afterward I was buying all sorts of surplus WWII gear--mostly ARC-5 command sets and other equipment, and with the printed help of Wayne Greene and others was busily modifying and converting this stuff to civilian purposes! Shifting into the early 1970s, I had moved along rebuilding both a Hammarlund HQ-129X and a Collins 32V-3. The first was given to me DOA, and the Collins was a whole $25 sans the cabinet! Unfortunately, life came along and diverted me from pursuing amateur radio and getting my ticket.

Over the following years I kept along with electronics--working in a succession of television and communications shops and later running my own. I finally sold my sales and service shop in 1983 as the future was clear. At that time there were 9 shops in my town--2 years later there were two. Mixed in those times and afterwards were tours of work in construction, cabinet making, photography, and a 4 year stint as a planetarium specialist in Bradenton, Florida. Later I worked in nursing and behavioral health for some years and as a "late bloomer" restarted my college journey in 1994.

A move from Florida led us to Kentucky for my graduate work, and a short career at the University of Kentucky as faculty and assistant director of a research center there. Since then, I have worked as both a government employee and consultant in the areas of community and economic development and cultural resource management. I am currently the Coordinator for the NY-501 Regional Continuum of Care (Elmira/Steuben, Allegany, Livingston, Chemung & Schuyler Counties) in the Finger Lakes region of the Southern Tier of New York.  My work is essentially monitoring and providing technical assistance to non-profit and governmental agencies which provide services to prevent or alleviate homelessness in the region.

It was a second move we made in Kentucky that brought my amateur radio interest full circle. For the first time, I had a house and yard that was amenable to amateur radio. In February of 2007 I walked into a testing session at the Big South Fork Amateur Radio Club--and aced both the Technician and General Class exams. In February of 2010, I walked "cold turkey" into a testing session held by the Radio Amateur Club of Knoxville [RACK] and left 20 minutes later with my Amateur Extra Class CSCE, missing two questions! One of the great joys of working administration at QRZ.COM is the requirement of reading hundreds of threads per week--and doing independent study and research on the questions and answers found there.

My other hobby is film based photography--mostly black and white medium format. I do my own developing and printing, which is the best part of the whole thing. In the past couple years I have added digital to the mix, and am learning the nuances of Photoshop. Some time is spent blogging in various sites, some my own and those of others.

I currently live in Bath, New York with my wife Donna, daughter Tara, and grandson Anthony. Donna serves as a Senior Associate with the National Center on Family Homelessness out of Boston, MA--helping to develop and shape the national policy and practice to reduce homelessness. We are both 'virtual' workers, operating out of home offices and traveling as need arises. Tara just completed her doctorate at the University of Tennessee in clinical counseling education. She directs a three county domestic violence program and shelter operated by Arbor Housing & Development. Anthony simply enjoys life and 1st grade--plus his time with grandpa!

Since the move, I have also joined two local amateur radio groups:

Corning Amateur Radio Association [CARA]

Keuka Lake Amateur Radio Association [KLARA]

Other organizations:

ARRL

SKCC #4473

This page is always being updated! In the meantime, here is a photo of my grandson Anthony at the old station in Kentucky. He was four when this picture was taken! Perhaps there is hope for the future of our hobby after all!

For more information, visit my website at http://www.ae1pt.com

73 de Patrick, AE1PT

http://ae1pt.com

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"Remember to do the best you can under the circumstances."   Ralph Baker, AA2CJ  (SK)