Biography

Hello my radio friends from all over the world.

My name is Stefan and I was born 1984 in south-west Germany in a small town near Heidelberg.
I lived there for over 30 years and got infected with the HF-virus by the age of 14.
I started with CB-Radio, as a lot of other HAM radio operators did before I guess, and got my "small" Class-E license in 2006 where the Shortwave was released also for the entry level.

As mentioned before I started with CB-Radio in 1998 and already contacted a lot of stations around
the world because the solar maximums were very strong back in the days and it was possible to contact Asia, Pacific, NA and SA with a "rusty nail" and that fascinated me.

2006 I got my HAM license because the shortwave was accessible since 2005 also for the "small HAM" here in Germany and shortwave DX`ing is what I like.

From approx. 2008 - 2014 I was also active on 80m and 15m with a 2x20m Double Zepp mounted about 15m above the ground, but I was getting very much noise from the neighbourhood and I was also a young man with a lot of different hobbies and therefore the operation on the HAM bands dropped off very much.

these were the years where I was not much active, my SG-230 antenna tuner broke and I took down the multiband antenna. I still have it but I have not much space in my new QTH.

New QTH:
I moved to northern Germany at the end of 2016 and live now in a small town near the city of Bremen close to the Motorway (Autobahn) A1 Hamburg Bremen.
I am married, have 2 beautiful kids and back on the air since the summer of 2019.

currently I am only active on 10m, 11m (old love) and 15m but I plan to build antennas for 6m during the summer month and 80m mainly for the "dark days" during the winter time.
I also want to upgrade my license to Class A, hopefully until the next summer, to be allowed to operate also on the very interesting 20m and 40m bands.

because I have not much time at the moment to be on air (SSB) I am mostly active in FT8 (10m & 15m) because I can operate remotely by accessing the computer in my shack. All QSO's are done manually, no auto mode!
I also plan to set up my station for working fully remote, also in SSB, but that takes time and money, but everyting that should become good will take its time.

Verticals and/or EFHW Multiband or Quad Antennas for the near future are the plans when getting a fiberglas mast.
Also a temporary setup for 80m operation is in planning because the lack of space.

FT8DMC # 17311

QSL via: LotW, eQSL.cc, QRZ.com, ClubLog, HRDLOG.net and E-Mail.
I don't have any printed QSL cards yet, therefore the confirmation is only possible on the electronical way.

On the Photo below you can see my vertical GP for 10m and right under the feedpoint the homemade 1/2 Lambda monoband Dipole for 15m as Inverted-V.
My shack is right behind the big skylight under the roof :)

To be continued..

If you want you can also add me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DO9KW

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

my current working conditions:

Transceiver: Icom IC-7300 (160-4m)

Output: 100W (running FT8 with maximum of 50W carrier)

Microphone: Icom SM-30 Desk Microphone

Antennas: Grazioli FE-10V 5/8 Lambda GP (10/11m) on a 12m Aluminium telescopic mast,
Homemade 1/2 Lambda Inverted-V monoband Dipole for 15m mounted below the GP on that mast (direction E-W).