Biography

Greetings fellow radio enthusiast and thanks for checking-out my profile on QRZ. Here's a little information about myself and my station:

I was first licensed in 1991 (Technician-Plus Class Operator - barely passing the morse code requirement at that time... I didn't enjoy CW then), then upgraded to General Class in 2000, and finally acquired the Extra Class license in 2012. My first callsign was KC4VNU (issued while residing in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida) and, after upgrading to Extra Class (and having "lost my mind" by relocating to West Chicago, Illinois), I acquired the vanity callsign of NO9G -- "Number Nine Gary" or, phonetically, "Now Operating 9 Gigawatts" -- well, those are the best witty mnemoics\phoenetics I could come up with anway... I welcome better suggestions. :-)

I'm father to three beautiful children (hardly "kids" now with one graduated\married and two in college... I should start a "GoFundMe") and husband to my magnificent wife Lisa (who lovingly tolerates/supports my "hobby addiction" as she calls it). My vocation is in Information Techology (I'm a Technical Project Manager for a very large aerospace company) and my avocation is serving as a SAR\DR Mission Pilot and Director of Operations for the Civil Air Patrol (US Air Force Auxiliary). I'm a licensed Private Pilot -- with Instrument Rating, High-Performance, Complex Aircraft, Tehnically Advanced Aircaft and Glider Towing endorsements (currently working on getting my Certified Flight Instructor rating for both gliders and powered aircraft) -- we enjoy doing most of our family travels in our flying club's Piper Arrow (which I'm known to operate "aeronautical mobile" HF/VHF/UHF in from time-to-time). Aviation is my passion: So I'm also a very active Aviation Merit Badge counselor for the Boy Scouts and founder\chairman of a charitable organization called "Gift of Flight" dedicated to inspiring youth through aviation activities.

My other hobbies include: Sailing (I own and regularly sail a Hunter 34 and MacGregor 25), Running, Bicyling, Camping, Powered Paragliding (PPG), Radio Controlled Aircraft, sUAS\Drones, Near Space Ballooning, Amateur Rocketry, Computers, Programming, Electronics (especially microprocessor projects), Astronomy, Archery, Firearms, Hunting, Fishing, Bowfishing, Carpentry, Vegetable Gardening, Movies (especially action, adventure, sci-fi, and drama), Music (80s rock, country, and instrumentals), and playing guitar.

Here are some photos of my humble base station, family, and favorite hobbies:

My Logbook:

Here's a little visualization from my Station Logbook of my HF radio activities. I'm still chasing a couple of awards and you can see that I have many gaps to fill from Africa and Asia. I'll just keep trying...

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/no9g/viz/MyHamRadioLogbookAnalysis/LogbookAnalysis

Catch Me ON-THE-AIR:

HF: 160-6 Meters (Digital, Phone, and now trying CW)
LOCAL REPEATERS: 145.470 MHz KC9OEM Repeater (-600 kHz/103.5 Hz) & WB9IKJ 444.225 MHz Repeater (+5 MHz/114.8 Hz)
​DMR: Direct @ 1117363, Brandmiester Illinois Talk Group, Brandmeister Midwest Talkgroup
ECHOLINK: NO9G-L (Node #733243) - not that active on this mode much now
APRS: 144.390 MHz & HF Winklink Position Reports (http://aprs.fi/NO9G) - mainly when sailing and flying
Links & Contacts:

EMAIL: no9g@no9g.us
RADIO WEBSITE: http://no9g.us
PERSONAL WEBSITE: http://thebrownhouse.org
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/gadgetgary/
​LIVE WEATHER STATION: http://ws.thebrownhouse.org

Equipment

Radio Station Equipment:

TRANSCEIVERS:
Yaesu FT-991A All Mode HF/VHF/UHF Transceiver
Yaesu FT-847 All Mode HF/VHF/UHF Transceiver
Yaesu FT-897 All Mode HF/VHF/UHF Transceiver (frequently used on my sailboat and mobile)
uSDX+ HF Transceiver (purchased this micro QRP SDR for sailing/backpacking/camping HF operations)
Icom IC-M710 Marine HF Transceiver
TYT MD-9600 Analog & Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) VHF/UHF Transceiver
Radioddity DB25-D VHF/UHF DMR Mobile Transceiver (mounted in my sailboat)
Yaesu VX-8G VHF/UHF/APRS Handheld Transceiver
Radioditty MD-77 VHF/UHF DMR Handheld Transceiver x 2
Motorola XTS-5000 FM/P25 VHF Transceiver
Motorola Astro Saber III FM/P25 VHF Transceiver x 2
Yaesu FT-470 FM/ Dualband VHF/UHF Transceiver x 2 (my favorite 1st dualbander in the 90s)
Alinco DJ-C5T "Credit Card" Dualband VHF/UHF Transceiver (another fun novelty radio from the 90s)
Baofeng UV-5R VHF/UHF Handheld Transceiver (multiple units in every vehicle and go-kit)

RECEIVERS:
SDRplay on OpenWebRX+ Software (you can see all the digital HF stations its receiving live 24x7 at: https://tinyurl.com/NO9Gopenwebrx)
Uniden SD200 Digita Scanner
UnidenBCD436HP Digital Scanner
Uniden Home Patrol 1 (mounted in my sailboat)
Realistic PRO-2005 Analog Scanner
Realistic PRO-2026 & PRO-2056 (providing 24x7 live streaming of DuPage Airport [KDPA] at https://www.liveatc.net/search/?icao=kdpa)

ANTENNAS:
Hustler 6BTV 6-Band HF Vertical Antenna (with ground radial system)
MyAntennas EFLW-1K HF End Fed Longwire Antenna (modified 136/27' for 160-6m operation)
Homebrew 84' 80-10m Long Wire Antenna (with LDG 9:1 UnUn, LDG RF Choke, & 17' Counterpoise)
G5RV-JR 40-6m HF Inverted-V Antenna
Comet GP-3 VHF/UHF Omni Vertical Antenna
Arrow II Portable Satellite/Terrestrial Yagi Antenna

TUNERS & AMPS:
LDG AT-600ProII Autotuner
LDG AT-100ProII Autotuner
LDG AT-897 Autotuner
ATU-100 Microtuner (for portable QRP operations)
Ameritron AL-811 600W Amplifier