I have been continuously on the air since 1963 when I was licensed as WN9KNP. I spent many years with the callsign WA9KNP, and, when the FCC announced the vanity callsign program, having held an Amateur Extra license for some years, I was able to request and obtained my current callsign. W9FX is a whole lot easier to send on CW at QRQ/DX pileup speeds than my old callsign, and, much faster to transmit, phonetically, on fone.

My ham radio interests have, since my earliest days, been varied.  Those interests have included RTTY, satellite operations, FM repeaters,  the pre-Internet days of packet radio, EME, meteor scatter, DXing, HF, VHF and UHF contesting (including roving), etc., but, I have always had a deep interest in amateur radio emergency communications. I've served at local, state, and national levels in varous EMCOMM-related posts.

I currently serve as the ARRL's Illinois ARES Section Emergency Coordinator, as the Illinois Emergency Management Agency's State RACES Officer and Army MARS Agency Liaison. Recently, I was appointed to be the ARRL's Central Division representative to the Emergency Communications Advisory Committee (ECAC). In addition, I am a member of the Hurricane Watch Net (since 1995) and am the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hurricane Watch Net, Inc. Since 1995, I have been the National Training Officer for SATERN.

I am a member of the Society of Midwest Contesters (SMC), CWOPS and the OOTC and spend the vast majority of my on-the-air time behind a paddle with cans (headphones) firmly clamped around my ears.  I am one of the charter members of the Southern Illinois Long Wire Association, a member of Army MARS and a former member of Navy Marine Corps MARS.

My station is currently set up for HF, 6 and 2 meter operation. On HF, I use variety of wires plus a Butternut HF2V for 160/80/40 meters and a 2 ele multiband quad antenna at 72' for 20 thru 10 meters, including the WARC bands. On 6 meters, 2 quad elements, also at 72' are built inside the HF quad frame, and, on 2 meters, 17 elements on a 3.2 wavelength boom mounted above the quad. I can run up to 1.3KW on the HF bands, 100W on 6 and, using a homebrew 8877 amp, 1.5KW on 2 meters.

I will respond to paper QSL cards and requests for same but with postage rates these days, I do prefer LoTW.