Thanks for checking out W8AQ. I hope you enjoy ham radio as much as I do after returning following a three decade QRT stint. It's great to be back!

I primarily enjoy CW activity.on 30, 20, 40and 15 meters, in that order. I'm a proud member of FISTS (10716) and SKCC (352). I also enjoy mobile HF. Actually, I find myself working it more and more. Lunch time is becoming one of my favorite operating times as I work on my WASL (Worked All States at Lunch) award (hi hi). And of course, I keep up with what's happening around Montgomery and Harris counties through VHF and UHF repeaters.

Maybe most of all these days is my enjoyment of working QRP. After experimenting with QRP by dropping the power down to 5 watts from my two Yaesu's, an FT-897 and FT-857, I became hooked. While sitting out near Galveston Bay on the Texas City Dike, I was able to work from Maine and Virginia to Washington state and California. Even up to Michigan and Minnesota. And all with 5 watts.

That was the hook.

I bought a Yaesu FT-817 and have spent many hours working from 2 to 5 watts, normally on battery power and loving every minute.

Having been licensed originally way back in 1967, I'm also a vintage boat anchor fan and have refurbished a station just as it was in my old Novice days as WN8ZNO in Manchester, Ohio. That being a Heathkit DX-35 xmtr and Knight Kit R-55A rcvr running to an inverted vee antenna. Cheap and tough to use but the coolest gear in the world to a young techie of that era!

I still remember getting those rigs. The DX-35 came as a result of a relationship with my elmer and head of our electronics-based 4-H club, Paul Segi. It was one he found around town.

But the R-55A was something else. I had spent years looking through both the Heathkit and Knight Kit catalogs of the early and mid 60s. And to a young kid with little money available, the chance to order and build the R-55A was a treasure. I waited anxiously for the mailman to deliver the huge box that the collection of electronic components arrived in. And when it finally did show up, I spent many evenings after school and on weekends working through melting solder and the resulting smoke and smells.

Eventually, I got it finished, connected it to a long wire antenna, turned it on and nearly cried when its speaker came to life with the sound of Radio Moscow. A turn of the bandspread and a switch of the BFO found me on 40 meters and hearing WN9WIK out of North Manchester, Indiana sending at probably 8 words per minute.slow enough for me to understand. It was a moment in time I remember still.

Every contact was a new friend. All so magical that I could communicate with someone hundreds or thousands of miles away with simple equipment and Morse code. And then exchanging colorful QSL cards afterward. What a thrill.

In fact, I have gone back to the original design of my 1967 WN8ZNO QSL card, as printed by the QSL Shop way back in the 60s. Yeah, it's certainly a throwback. There's a PDF below that shows you what it's like. And I'll bet it's VERY familiar to those of you who got that package of cards in the mail just after.or even before.you received the license from the FCC!

My boat anchor collection also includes an old Knight Kit R-100 rcvr. What a sound! I still much prefer the warmth of tubes.not to mention that unique smell. Takes me back to those wonderful days as a kid. Days when I listened to the world on an old scavenged Zenith Trans-Oceanic that somehow never quite succeeded in electrocuting me (in spite of numerous attempts!). Of course, with no case and dozens of exposed bare wires I guess I had it coming.

In those days, I proudly sported on my bedroom wall my framed WPE8HVR certificate SWL call sign, received after weeks of waiting following my application to "Popular Electronics" magazine. I was so happy to get that 8 1/2 by 11 piece of paper that meant absolutely nothing. But I was sure that Radio Peking, HCJB and the BBC surely thought better of me for including it with every SWL QSL request.

Before that, I listened to the very early days of CB on an old Lafayette model built in the 50s that to this day looks to me to be the twin of the old Heathkit CB-1. Dad originally "borrowed" the call sign of 19A8613 (we were unit 19 of a friend's license, as I remember) before getting licensed as KHJ7152. Mom later got the CB call sign of KLM4429. But that was well before the CB heyday of the 70's and all that was to follow.

But back to my collection of rigs.err, radios.

More up-to-date is a good collection of Yaesu equipment.FT-897 in the shack, FT-857 in the truck, FT-817ND for portable work along Galveston Bay (love that salt water and its effect on radio waves), FT-7800 in the car, FT-8800 also in the truck and FT-60 for handheld portable work. I use Yaesu ATAS 100 and ATAS 120 antennas while mobile and they work great! The gear is rounded out by an Icom IC-T7H that is among the easiest handhelds I've ever owned.

As with all hams, my collection of gear sort sort of evolves. I pick up things, play with them and sell them on eBay quite often. Makes a nice way to check out new (and old) toys. My newest purchase is a vintage old Heathkit HW-8 QRP transceiver from the 1970s. Expanding my fascination with QRP and combining it with my love for boatanchors, I look forward to rebuilding the little 2 watter and using it both in the shack and out portable.

Well, I need to QRT for now. Hope to CUAGN soon.

If I don't catch you on the air, check out my website at http://www.w8aq.com. Check out my blog at  http://jack-w8aq.blogspot.com. Or learn about my career in broadcasting by visiting me at http://www.nealtv.com.

73 till then! Jack-W8AQ