Biography

Please visit my QRZ.COM Home page located at: https://www.qrz.com/db/ky4rod

Hello, my name is Rod, I am an Amateur Extra class operator and an ARRL Accredited Volunteer Examiner. I live in Florence, Kentucky which is located about 12 miles south of Cincinnati, OH in Northern Kentucky (Grid Square EM78px). I am retired, I love the outdoors and I enjoy staying active. My current hobbies include amateur radio, genealogy, traveling, hiking, photography, bicycling, camping, fishing and canoeing. When traveling, one of my favorite activities is to visit and photograph national parks, covered bridges, lighthouses and other historic sites.

I have been interested in radio and have been a dedicated shortwave listener for the past 50 years. My interest in radio dates back to the early 1970s when I was involved in CB radio and I also spent a lot of time shortwave listening to the Voice of America, BBC World Service and amateur radio on my Hammarlund HQ-160 shortwave receiver. Since those early years, I always had a desire to be an amateur operator, but I never got around to it with my job, traveling and raising a family until just before retirement.

I have had a successful, long professional career working in the fields of Bio-Medical Electronics, FM Radio Broadcast Engineering and later IT Engineering. After a working career spanning 40 years, I took an early retirement package in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Just prior to retirement I received my amateur radio license. Now that I am retired, I am able now to sit back, enjoy life to the fullest & have more time to devote to amateur radio and my other hobbies.

While in college at Purdue, I was lucky enough to get a broadcast engineering internship with a major Chicago FM radio station (WFYR). While I was employed at the station, my supervisor (the station's Chief Eng) Warren Shulz (WA9GXZ - now a SK) was very supportive, patient and always encouraged me to pursue my general radio-telephone operator (GROL) and ham radio licenses. I consider WA9GXZ as my first "elmer", he always had faith in my abilities, without his encouragement and support, I would not be where I am today. Warren truly had a lasting, positive impact on my life. I obtained my GROL license during my internship with the radio station, but I never got around to getting my amateur radio license at that time. I finished my college education, after which I planned to return to the radio station as a FM Broadcast Engineer, but that never happened due to the station being sold and most of the staff and management being replaced by the new owners. Warren went on to bigger and better things, becoming the Chief Engineer for WLS - AM & FM Radio in Chicago. I kept in touch with WA9GXZ from time to time over the years, each time we communicated, he always asked if I ever got my amateur license. Regrettably each time, I had to tell him each time "no, I hadn't had the time", due to my constant traveling job responsibilities and raising a family. Each time, Warren continued to encouraged me to get my license, he always said that it's never too late and to just make time for it. Warren (WA9GXZ) became a silent key in late Dec 2018, at that point I decided that I had put off getting my license long enough, I was committed myself to getting my license, I felt that I owed it to Warren's memory to get my license for all the encouragement and knowledge he passed onto me. Within the next year, with some additional encouragement from my long time friend Marshall - KK4OHF, I passed my Technician exam in early Dec 2019 and was licensed as KO4AKL. I applied for my vanity call KY4ROD shortly afterwards. In April 2022, I passed my General exam. In late Oct 2023, I passed my Amateur Extra. I received my ARRL Volunteer Examiner Accreditation in Jan 2024.

In the early 1980s after college, I was hired into an IT Engineering position with a major US airline. In my IT job, I worked in a variety of areas including: telephone systems, wired and wireless LAN & WAN networks, Servers, PCs, wireless devices, UPS power systems and some radio. I moved around a lot in the job working in multiple locations coast to coast across North America, living in Atlanta GA, Washington DC and I finally ended up in Cincinnati OH. I worked in IT for over 37 years, retiring early in July 2020.

Upon moving to Cincinnati in the late 1980s, I found out that the Voice of America had a relay station here in Bethany OH (now known as West Chester, OH), just North of Cincinnati. With the VOA station being close by, this renewed my interest in shortwave and ham radio along with the long time encouragement of WA9GXZ. The VOA Bethany Relay Station was decommissioned in late 1994. Today the VOA radio towers are all gone at the site, but the building still remains. The VOA Building now houses the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting. There is a lot of broadcast history there and radio history in general, as well as information on the role that Voice of America played during World War II and the Cold War Era. The museum is definitely worth visiting, if you are ever in Cincinnati.

Information on the VOA Museum and its hours can be found at:
http://voamuseum.org

The history of the VOA Bethany Station can be found at:
http://www.voamuseum.org/about-us/bethany-relay-station-history/

Virtual tours of the VOA Museum can be accessed at:
http://www.voamuseum.org/museum/virtual-tours/

I am currently a member of the ARRL, the West Chester Amateur Radio Association (WC8VOA) & the Northern KY Amateur Radio Club (K4CO).

I currently operate on HF, 2m and 70cm. I enjoy working analog, digital data modes including: FT4, FT8, SSTV and digital voice modes: D-Star, System Fusion, Wires-X & DMR. I enjoy having QSOs and participating in nets over Digital Hotspots, local VHF/UHF Repeaters, as well as making HF DX contacts. I still enjoy just tuning in the world and listening to shortwave broadcasts. I really enjoy Parks on the Air (POTA), it gives me a chance to be involved with two of my favorite things... Ham radio and enjoying the outdoors. For more details on POTA, visit the Parks on the Air website (https://ParksOnTheAir.com) and the POTA.app (https://pota.app).


I am a member of the following groups:

* Member of the ARRL
* Certified ARRL Volunteer Examiner
* Member of the West Chester Amateur Radio Association (https://wc8voa.org)
* Member of the Northern Kentucky Amateur Radio Club (https://k4co.org)
* N. Ky Repeater Group 146.79 League of Extraordinary Hams Facebook Group
* Member of the FT8 Digital Mode Club #19586 (https://www.ft8dmc.eu/)
* Member of the FT4 Digital Mode Club #01760 (https://www.ft4dmc.com/)

I Log via QRZ, QRZCQ, LOTW, ClubLog and POTA.  Direct Paper QSL Cards sent upon request upon receipt of contact's QSL Card and SASE.  Send QSLs to address listed on the top of my QRZ Homepage.  No QSLs via BUROs or via E-QSL.

73! Stay "Radio-Active" & have good times, but more importantly... stay safe and healthy! I look forward to making contacts with you on the air!

De KY4ROD

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

My shack consists of:

* Base HF: Icom IC-7300 with LDG AT-200 Pro2 Tuner
* Base VHF/UHF: Icom ID-4100A, Yaesu FTM-300DR
* Alinco DM-330MV / DM-30T Power Supplies
* SharkRF OpenSPOT3 & OpenSpot4 Pro Cross-mode Capable Hotspots
* Yaesu Wires-X PDN Node
* Hammarlund HQ-160 and SDRPlay RSPDX Receivers
* Uniden Bearcat SDS-100 Scanner
* Comet GP-3, Comet DS-150 Discone & Chameleon Emcomm3 Base EFHW Antennas
Elk 2m/70cm Log Periodic, N9TAX Labs 2m/70cm SlimJim & Wolf River Coil SB-1000 antennas
for portable ops.
* Mobile: Icom ID-4100A w/Comet SBB-224 TriBand Antenna
* Handhelds: Icom ID-52A, Icom ID-51A, Yaesu FT-3DR, Yaesu VX-6R
* POTA Go Kit: Icom IC-705, Icom IC-7300, BHI NES Mk4 DSP Ext Speaker, Icom ID-4100A, Yaesu
and Icom Handhelds (listed above), 2 battery boxes with Bioenno 9 Ah, 15 Ah & 20 Ah
batteries & chargers,Jackery Explorer 300 Solar Generator, Alinco DM-30T Power Supply,
Android Tablet & HP 15-DW3363 Win11 Laptop, VK-172 GPS Dongle for Location/GridSq and GPS
Time Sync.

Misc Shack Equipment:
* CW Morse Camelback CW Key & Scout CPO
* Icom SM-30 Desk Microphones (Icom ID-4100A & Icom IC-7300)
* BHI NES10-2 MK4 DSP Speaker (IC-7300 &IC-705)
* Shark RF OpenSPOT3 Hotspot
* SDRPlay RSPdx SDR Receiver
* Hammarlund HQ-160 1950s Vintage Shortwave Receiver
* Sangean ATS-909 Portable Shortwave Receiver
* MFJ874 SWR/Watt Meter / MFJ260C Dummy Load
* RigExpert AA-55BT Zoom, RigExpert Stick Pro Analyzers

My Antennas include:
* Comet GP-3 ground plane antenna for VHF/UHF (2m and 70 cm).
* Comet DS-150 discone antenna for general listening with my SDRPlay RSPdx and my SDS-100
scanner and as a backup for my VHF/UHF handhelds.
* Palomar Engineers Bullet 9U-500 9:1 71' EFRW Antenna (6m-160m)
* LNR Precision End-Fed antenna HF listening on my SDR RSPdx and my HQ-160.
* Elk Antennas 2m/70cm Log Periodic Beam for Satellite QSOs, ISS SSTV and Portable VHF/ UHF
Ops
* Homemade 49:1 40-2-15-10m EFHW, N9TAX Labs 2m/70cm Slim Jim & Wolf River Coil SB-1000
antennas for portable ops.
* Comet SBB-224 antenna for my mobile operation.
* Diamond SRH-320A / SRH-770S / ​Signal Stuff Super Elastic Signal Stick HT antennas.