Biography

My Ham History: AE6RS was my call from October 21, 2006 to November 15, 2012. My first call, WD6ERY, was in use from my novice days in 1975 as a 11 year old, General class at 12 yrs old, and Extra class in 2006. N6NH was first used by a ham who is now N7IP. AE6RS was was first used by another ham who is now WA6MP. Such is life with "Vanity" call signs!

Favorite ham activities include working DX on CW and SSB on HF bands at home and in the mobile, and I occasionally run RTTY and PSK31. I have completed 5 Band DXCC award, and WAS. I do some QRP field operations while traveling and camping. I especially love to teach kids about our hobby.I am a member of Southern Califoria DX Club and recipient of 2009 "DX Rookie of the Year" Award, and I'm a member of Orange County Amateur Radio Club OCARC.

Emergency Communications include my ARES membership in the Hospital Disaster Support Communications System, HDSCS, that supports all the hospitals in Orange County with Amateur Radio emergency communications (www.hdscs.org). I also participate wtih San Bernardino County Emergency Communications Service, regularly receive training at the EOC, and do emergency preparation support in the Walnut Valley Unified School district and the City of Walnut

My Tech Classroom: Presently, I teach a "Technology Learning Center" at Suzanne Middle School. The Tech Lab is much more than a computer center.students participate in over 30 different technologies including Amateur Radio Communications (with Amateur Technician Class License Course offered), Electronics, Laser Communications, Robotics, CAD with a CNC milling machine, Aircraft Flight, Rocketry, Astronomy, Automotives, Movie Making, and more. Teaching is a blast! I run the lab with a very tight budget. If you are looking for a good place to donate and help kids learn about ham radio, this is the place! A US tax deductible receipt can be given through the school. Check out my classroom web page at www.cooltechlab.org

Beyond Ham Radio: I am also an Eagle Scout advisor for Boy Scout troop "737". I teach Radio Merit Badge and Technician Ham classes with the scouts and HDSCS group. I have a 501C3 non profit corporation "For The Least Ministries" that supports needy/orphaned children in various parts of the world including Russia, Kenya, Cameroon, Mexico, and India. We are also actively involved in our community church "North Hills Church" in Brea. My family and I are very involved with helping/leading teams to help out at orphanages and schools in rural areas of Baja Mexico. Life is good with God's blessings! Check our web site at www.fortheleast.org

My school ham station has an 80m Windom "inverted-vee" on the roof of our 2 story building and a VHF/UHF vertical into a Kenwood R-1000 receiver with conputer interface for student learning during class. The ham station is a Yaesu FT-100, Heathkit SB-200 amp, and antenna tuner for amateur Radio contacts using the Windom after school hours.

Donations for my tech classroom: All of our school radio equipment came from donations or student fund raising. I teach hundreds of kids each year to explore this fun technology and learn about Ham Radio & Radio Communications. Please visit my school web site www.cooltechlab.org and see what we do. I plan to continue teaching in this "classroom from heaven" for a long time!

73 and Thanks for checking in, "Rick" Soikkeli, N6NH (formerly AE6RS)

Equipment

My home station is an Icom IC-7000, an Ameritron AL-80B, antennas are an 80m Windom OCF dipole up 17m OR a 3 element tribander yagi up 10m. I also have a VHF/UHF vertical and 6m 4ele yagi. Two mobile stations are also Yaesu FT-100D and Hamsticks. QRP rig is a Yaesu FT-817ND.