N1AW Ham Radio Home Page

I have been a licensed amateur radio operator since my high school years. Here are some recent ham radio events in which I have participated:

Here I am operating on 40 meter c.w. during the 2002 ARRL Field Day (photo by Alvah Buckmore, K1TMA)...
... and here is my 15 meter location on Mt Tom that weekend (note the three solar panels waiting for the sun!).

I brought an h.f. transceiver to our cabin in New Mexico several times in 2001. On the first trip I didn't have a solar panel yet, and my antenna was a makeshift wire thrown over a very small tree. It worked, although not very well!
Here is a page with pictures of my solar powered ham radio station at the 2001 MTARA Field Day.
I enjoy Field Day a lot, but it always comes within a week of my mother's birthday, and a family visit often takes precedence on FD weekend. However, in June 2005 I found the Carroll County (MD) ARC Field Day operation camped out just down the street from my brother's house in Maryland, and that gave me a chance to participate at K3PZN for a few hours.
An amateur radio licensee is allowed to modify or build from scratch his own transmitting equipment. I used to have more time for this phase of the hobby than I have had in recent years. On New Years Day 2006 I got on the air with a homebuilt transceiver I built 30 years ago.