LOTW -- All logs, including contest logs, have been uploaded to LOTW as of 07 March 2011.

U.S. stations -- Please remember to send a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you QSL.

DX stations -- I gladly QSL directly, via LOTW, or via the buro (I am very far behind on my buro QSLs - sorry).  Thanks!

eQSL & QRZ Log - Sorry, I don't use these services.  If you want confirmation, QSL direct or use LOTW for best results.

I received my ticket in October 1990 as N7PQP a couple weeks before the CQWW SSB contest. With a Kenwood TS530S and a small vertical antenna on a condo patio, I spent the weekend of the contest listening to all the different contesters, looking up their locations, dumbfounded at the number and variety of people on the air. To say I was hooked is to put it mildly. Within a year, I had my Extra call and I was busy contesting and active in two local amateur radio clubs.

Field Days provided a great opportunity to learn many aspects of amateur radio, and it was an awesome training ground for learning and honing contesting techniques. I had the added advantage of working Field Day next to some of the world’s now-best-known DXers and contesters, who I’m still proud to call friends and role models.

After a few years’ absence from amateur radio, I got back in the saddle with a 100-watt Kenwood TS870S, and a Mosley TA53M + 40 meter add-on dipole on a 48-foot HDBX tower in east central Phoenix, Arizona. I was fortunate to be invited to guest op at the QTH of K8IA, Bob Epstein, a seasoned and enthusiastic contester, and former Contest Coordinator for Central Arizona DX Association. My first-ever 80 meter and 160 meter contacts were made from his QTH. Little did I know, those first years of experiences at digging out and working weak-signal stations with my modest first rig and antenna would pay off on 80 and 160.

The friendship between Bob and I blossomed into romance, and we were married July 5, 2007 in Oatman, Arizona on historic Route 66. LOVE & CONTESTING -- doesn't get any better than that, now does it? Please look for us in upcoming contests under either of our calls, or as N7AT or N7AP.

In June 2009, Bob & I, along with a few of our dear friends, decided to follow a dream and create the Arizona Outlaws Contest Club. Within2 weeks we had over 100 members and were working doubletime to get everything in place. We're still a very young club, but with Bob's experience as a founder of the Mad River Radio Club, and the combined talents of our friends, we now have a website, email reflector, and a growing presence on the contest scene.

Thanks to all the hams who’ve patiently worked me, and to friends I’ve made over the years through amateur radio. I’m glad to see more YL contesters these days. And I can’t recommend a more wonderful hobby to anyone who enjoys meeting and talking to people, learning about other cultures, making lifelong friends, or learning more about emergency communications,comm technology, solar propagation,and the other myriad facets of this fascinating hobby.

Hope to see you in the next contest!

 

Good health, happy contesting & good DX!!

73/88, Sandy N7RQ (ex-N7PQP, also have operated as WA7XX, N7A, N7AT, and N7AP),

Founding Member & Secretary/Treasurer/Webmistress for the Arizona Outlaws Contest Club http://www.arizonaoutlaws.net

Founding Member& Trustee N7AP: Butt Nekked Contest Club "Keep It In The Chair!"

Plain ol' Member: ARRL, NCDXF, CADXA

Other stuff: Farley Studios/ Sandy Farley Fine Art Arizona Plein Air Painters