Worked The Gambia - C5YK

While playing around on 40m, I ran across C5YK in The Gambia. I gave him a call and was able to exchange signal reports of 57.  I have a nagging feeling that he didn't copy my callsign correctly, so it may never get confirmed.  According to the C5YK QRZ page, Andre is "The only resident licensed operator here in The Gambia"!

At over 4,380+ miles away, The Gambia, officially the Republic of the Gambia, is a country in West Africa that is almost entirely surrounded by Senegal with the exception of its western coastline along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the smallest country within mainland Africa.  It is situated on either side of the Gambia River, the nation's namesake, which flows through the center of the Gambia and empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

73 and good DX de KG4LST sk

Worked the Set of Last Man Standing - KA6LMS

In the TV show Last Man Standing, the main character Mike Baxter (played by Tim Allen) is a ham radio operator.  There is a functional radio station on the set that the cast and crew operate on their breaks as KA6LMS.

Tim Allen in front of the KA6LMS radio station on the set of Last Man Standing

I had seen the KA6LMS callsign a few times before on my DX cluster, but had never been able to work the station.  This time, I saw them spotted on the CW portion of the 40m band.  Since I don't know CW (yet), I just continued talking on VHF to some friends.  After a while of discussing how cool it would be to work the KA6LMS station and/or talk to Tim Allen (who is a licensed ham), I saw them spotted on the voice portion of 40m!

I quickly tuned my FTDX1200 over to 7.247.5MHz LSB and started to listen.  Sure enough, I heard a female voice say "QRZ, this is KA6LMS Studio City California".  I gave a call a few times and she picked me up!  I'm sad to say that I don't know who the operator was (it was definitely not Tim Allen), but none the less it was really cool to work the KA6LMS station on the set of Last Man Standing!

73 de KG4LST sk

Serving as Activities Manager of an Amateur Radio Club

I'm not the most social person.  Even though I talk to many people around the world via ham radio, I consider myself a little bit of a loner with my radio hobby.  I have worked some contests, learned new modes, and much more all from the comforts of my shack and usually by myself.  For this reason, I was very reluctant to join an Amateur Radio Club.  I like the idea of having a club of like-minded people and being able to learn from, help, and support each other in our endeavors.  I like things like ARRL Field Day and portable operations.  But I again, searched for the value of joining a club vs just participating in club events.

One thing to consider is that these clubs may struggle to survive.  The events like Field Day are made possible by clubs.  They use their equipment, time, money, and energy to make these things possible.  Clubs provide and maintain the repeaters we use.  Clubs help promote our hobby of Amateur Radio and provide us with networks of people and resources.

So I joined the Lanierland Amateur Radio Club.  This club as been in operation for about 60 years.  It has gotten smaller over the years and has struggled to bring in new members and find interested parties to serve in the leadership roles.  Not only did I join the club, but the members of the club nominated and elected me as the Activities Manager for 2019.  Honestly, I was surprised. I was not prepared to take an officer position, but I will do my best to serve the club.  My best friend Brandon (KN4HDZ) has been elected President.  I hope that we will be able to serve the club well and start building it back up to it's former glory.

73 de KG4LST sk

Worked Namibia - V51MA

I was pleased to make contact with V51MA in Namibia on 15m FT8.

At over 7,650+ miles away, Namibia is a country in southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean; it shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. Although it does not border Zimbabwe, less than 200 metres of the Zambezi River (essentially a small bulge in Botswana to achieve a Botswana/Zambia micro-border) separates the two countries.

73 and good DX de KG4LST sk

Worked South Shetland Island - DT8A

I've seen the DT8A Antarctic Scientific Base station in the South Shetland Islands show up on my FT8 screen several times.  Even with the 3 element yagi, I've been unable to contact the station several times on 20m.  I finally made contact with DT8A via 30m FT8!

KG4LST in Georgia to DT8A South Shetland Islands

At 6,820+ miles away from my QTH, The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about 75 miles north of the Antarctic Peninsula, with a total area of 1,424 square miles.

73 and good DX de KG4LST sk

Finally Got the QRZ 50 States Award

Since first getting into radio when I just a kid, I've always been fascinated by DX.  I still love making long distance contacts and shrinking the globe.  I realized at some point that I had made contacts with over 170 countries, every continent, and some maritime mobile (/MM) and aeronautical mobile (/AM) stations...but I had not yet gotten all 50 states confirmed. 

The biggest challenge for me was the fact that several of the states that I had worked, would not confirm the QSO on QRZ.  For example, I had worked Alabama several times on 80m phone, but those folks were just saying hello and apparently didn't log the QSO.  I had worked Kentucky several times (even a KY QSO party), but none were confirmed on QRZ.

Finally with some help of my friends, I was able to get another QSO with AL and 2 more with KY.  All were asked to confirm on QRZ and on Thanksgiving night 2018, I was granted my QRZ 50 States Award!

The award was the last one that I needed to have gotten all the awards QRZ offers.  The other special thing is that I obtained all awards within 1 year of getting on the HF bands!

Thanks to all the stations I've worked (and confirmed Hi Hi).

73 de KG4LST sk

Worked Tonga - A35EU

While sitting in the shack and learning a little about Winlink, I saw someone spot A35EU in Tonga on the DX cluster.  I had never worked Tonga and was not even sure where it was.  The spot showed the station to be on 18.104 FT8 using "fox and hound".  So I set WSJT-X up as a "hound" and manually tuned to 18.104 mHz.  Sure enough there was the Tonga DXpedition station working several stations. I was able to work them quickly and get them logged! 

Tonga is a Polynesian country and archipelago comprising 169 islands, of which 36 are inhabited. The total surface area is about 290 square miles scattered over 270,000 square miles of the southern Pacific Ocean. It is surrounded by Fiji and Wallis and Futuna (France) to the northwest, Samoa to the northeast, Niue to the east, Kermadec (part of New Zealand) to the southwest, and New Caledonia (France) and Vanuatu to the farther west.

At over 7,100 miles away, I was glad to work Tonga for the first time with 50watts on a dipole!

73 and good DX de KG4LST sk