In comparison to many other amateurs, I am relatively new to the hobby; however my passion for the hobby is equally as intense as many others who have been licensed many more years. I was initially licensed, as a Novice, in the later portion of the 60’s. And as you can assume, the license expired, thereforemy interests were directed towards other interests and hobbies. I was thenrelicensed in the early 70’s, and sincethat time, I have enjoyed every aspect of the hobby. From operating in a mobile, to operating in my fixed station, each and every contact is equally as enjoyable to receive today as my first contact from many years ago.

Located in the town of Framingham, I share the beauty of this community with a large assortment of families who add to the vast diversity of the town. Typically known as the Heart study capital of the world, Framingham is abundantly comprised of a number of medical cliques, schools, historical points of interestandamoderately sized infrastructure of social services that assist in servicing the diverse inhabitants who pride themselves on being a community of self starters and independent thinkers.

The Town of Framingham is a community located in eastern Massachusetts, 20 miles (32 km) west of Boston, mid-way between Boston and Worcester. At nearly 67,000 inhabitants, Framingham is the largest town in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the hub of the Metro west region. It is bordered by the towns Southborough and Marlborough on the west; Sherborn and Ashland on the south; Natick on the east; Wayland on the northeast; and Sudbury on the north. Framingham is 197 miles (317 km) from New York City.

From the charm of the historic buildings to the view of the state parks, every area of Framingham projects a different aspect of life.

I am lucky to enjoy a vocation as a professional in the field of Information Technology. From teaching as an adjunct professor in a number of the local Universities, to consulting in the Information Technology field, each and every aspect of my day is filled with topics of technology that are all interrelated to amateur radio.

My station is comprised oftwo ICOM 756PRO III's, and a ICOM 746PRO that is used when VHF operation is desired, each of these radiosfeeds my wire antenna, as well asthe beam that resides on top of the house. The two antennas, as different as they may be, provide a great platform for making contacts most of the time.

Mywire antenna is anoff center feed dipole [OFD], that is up approximately 65 feet. It is located in th back of the yard about forty feet away from the house, and supported by three oak trees that are about one hundred feet high.

The beam is a " C4" from Force 12. Located ten (10) feet obovethe roof line of the house, and approximately 50 feet off the ground, itsperformance is far better than I expected. Contacts into Europe, with only one hundred (100) watts,aregenerally successful, when the band conditionspermit.

Logging and rig control is providedby the Commcat logging application. This application provides for complete access to almost every aspect of logging and rig control that one would want.From tracking DX, spotting stations, contact information of the contacted station, and even placing signal strength informantion on my web page, this application does it all.

Check out http://www.wc1t.comto see my station in action, and personally see the strength of you signal as it is logged and posted onto the web.

The overall station setup may not be as spacious as I would like, however the location of the rigs allow for easy operation of any one of the two rigs.

If you would like to qsl, pease send it directly,Logbook of the World [LoTW] ,or eqsl.cc I will respond to all qsl's.

73’s

Hugh (Hugo)