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Club Officers
It was in the late 1980s and early 1990s that I developed a love for QRP operation and CW while living in Schuylkill County, Pa. I operated almost strictly QRP CW (although I did operate some QRP SSB using a Ten Tec Argonaut 509), until a house fire in 1993 destroyed all my amateur radio equipment with the sole exception of an HW-7.Tom Mitchell, WY3H (ex-KB3LFC) NAQCC Founder and President  From 1993 to 2004, I went into a hiatus as far as radio activities were concerned. My Advanced-class license, KC3YD, expired in 2000 and I didn't bother to renew it. However, in 2004, I again got "the bug" for radio and in May obtained a Technician-class ticket with my new call, KB3LFC. In June I passed the General-class exam and retained the same call. 
At that time, thanks to the donation of a wonderful HW-9, I got back on the air, (also with the temporary loan of a homebrew tuner). Thanks to help from my devoted XYL, JoAnne, a 225-foot random wire antenna was strung up and soon the sounds of CW penetrated the air waves. I'm presently 60 years old (2004) and due to some bad knees and a bad hip, cannot do a lot of climbing, and that's where JoAnne's willing and selfless help became invaluable.My station consists of a modified HW-9, homebrew tuner and surplus Russian straight key. Antenna is a random wire approximately 225 feet in length. The beauty of QRP stations lies in their simplicity and low cost. Let me say that I am not by any means a top notch CW operator. The fact is, compared to most CW ops, I am painfully slow. However, that does not keep me from enjoying one of the hobbies I enjoy the most. While on the air I never met a CW op who didn't extend the courtesy of heeding my request to PSE QRS. In September, 2004, with the help and encouragement of my friend (and mentor) John Shannon, K3WWP, I decided to form the North American QRP CW Club. The club's aim and purpose is to promote QRP and CW operation - and simply experience the thrill of such operation. John Shannon, K3WWP
NAQCC Vice-President 
I was born on May 24, 1945 and was first licensed as KN3WWP in April of 1963. I upgraded to General in the fall of 1963, and to Extra when incentive licensing came along in 1968.From 1963 to 1973 I spent most of my hamming in county hunting, contesting, and rag chewing. In 1966 I co-founded the CW County Hunters Net. I started work at WPIT in Pittsburgh in 1969, and continued working there until 1993. That cut down on my hamming, keeping me off the air entirely for several years. I was able to get in some hamming from 1981 to 1983. I continued my county hunting, rag chewing, and contesting. It was during that time the 30 meter band first became available to amateurs. It quickly became one of my favorites and remains so today. 
In the early part of 1993, WPIT was sold, and all the employees were released. I decided to semi-retire. About that time, my friend Eric (who is now KB3BFQ) wanted to know all about ham radio, and we put my station back together and I got on the air again. The station is pictured here. Left to right on the shelf are my homebrew antenna tuner with built in homebrew power/SWR meter, homebrew xmtr with a 6Y6 final amp, IC-71A receiver, much modified old Lafayette VFO, and VFO power supply. On the desk are my homebrew keyer and paddle. In 1999 I bought a Kenwood TS-570D to make operating contests and DX easier, since with my homebrew setup I had to change as many as 12 or more controls to switch bands. I have been very active since 1993 with both setups. I've made at least one QRP QSO each day starting August 5, 1994 when Eric suggested I see how many consecutive days I could make a QSO using QRP. My total number of QSO's is over 40,000 (all CW with QRP and simple wire antennas) from 200+ DX entities, all 50 states, all continents (inc. Antarctica), and 36 of 40 CQ zones since I returned to the air in 1993. That's over 60,000 QSO's since 1963 (all CW except for 3 SSB and 2 AM QSO's in 1969.)I was delighted when Tom wanted to write an article about my ham radio activities in the local paper. I had no idea then he was also a ham. We became good friends and I was delighted to get involved with the NAQCC since it promotes the three things I like about ham radio - CW, QRP, and simple wire antennas. I've got my own web site with much info on CW and QRP at http://home.windstream.net/johnshan/. I invite you to visit me there sometime.
Dave Raycroft, VA3RJ/VE3JDR
Biography forthcoming.NAQCC Publicity Officer 
Paul Neuman, KD2MX
Right now the shack consists of something old and something new. On the right, an old National SW-54 that I picked up recently on Ebay. This was the receiver that kept me up late nights as a kid and served as my intro to ham radio. I saw it on Ebay and had to get it. It's nice to have something with tubes in it! And on the left, the amazing shack-in-a-box, my FT-897. For an antenna, I use a long (300 ft or so) piece of #24 hookup wire. It runs out the window from my second floor shack and then around the yard in about a three quarter loop. It zigs and zags, goes high and low. Amazingly it works pretty nicely on all bands from 160m-10m with the help of the excellent AT-897 tuner. It even loads sometimes on 6M. I can't even guess what the radiation pattern is like. I have attic loops for 6M, 2M, and 432 but sadly there's not much activity there except for contest time.NAQCC Recruitment Officer & Member News Editor 
Now back to the beginning. I received my Technician license in 1968 when I was in eighth grade and was assigned WB2HEO. I really enjoyed 2 meters back in those days and had lots of fun with my old Clegg 22er. Worked 6 & 2 meters but missed out on the HF fun as I had bypassed the Novice ticket. I upgraded to General and then to Advanced over the next couple of years and worked mostly all SSB on HF. I never really took to CW back then. I enjoyed building Heathkits, although I made quite a mess of the first kit or two, and needed some patient Elmers to help straighten things out. I got pretty good at it and built stereos and weather equipment along with ham kits. It was a sad day when Heathkit closed down. I was a music major in college (percussion) until I figured out that I wasn't talented enough to do much more than be a teacher, which I wasn't very interested in being, so I switched to Communications. After college, I worked for a few years as a Copywriter at Prentice-Hall and then at a local newspaper. I also lost interest in ham radio during my college years and sold off my equipment and took down my antennas. I did keep a 2-meter FM rig around. This would be my sole radio for the next 25 years or so. Every few years I'd drag it out of the closet, stick a magmount on some magnetic surface in the house, and make a qso or two. With much foresight, my Dad had gotten me an ARRL life membership so I continued to receive QST, and although I often hardly glanced at it, at least I had a monthly ham radio reminder. In the early '80s, I got into computer programming and spent six years working as a COBOL programmer, mainly on DEC PDP and VAX computers. Trying to stuff a COBOL program into the PDP's limited address space was an interesting exercise, and the implementation of virtual address space on the VAX was a wonderful thing. This was back in the days when 1MB of memory was a really big deal. On a personal note, my wife and I got married in 1981 (25 years goes by in a flash) and we have two children, Rachel and Ben. Somewhere along the way I traded in my call for a 2x2 and was assigned KD2MX, not a bad CW call, but with work, a house, and two kids, I had neither the time nor resources for ham radio. I then moved into doing system administration and got hired by Digital Equipment Corp. at the peak of their glory years. It was all downhill for the company but I spent some good years there delivering performance and capacity planning services before the bottom dropped out. For the past 13 years, I've been at a small computer/storage system integration firm here in North Jersey. We sell to and help large companies implement high-end systems. My computer background has been a big help to me getting back into ham radio as there is such a perfect marriage between these two technologies. Suddenly my kids were grown and in college. Ben is now at the University of Chicago and Rachel will be there next year as a grad student after working a year in the "real world". Since I now had lots of free time, I decided it was time to get back on the air. It's now been nearly a year since I took the plunge back into ham radio, after an absence of more than 20 years, and just over six months (or 1776! QRP QSOs) since I stumbled upon the November '05 NAQCC Sprint and worked K3WWP for my first QRP contact. I've had a ton of fun since and have been just amazed at what you can do with just 5 watts..all while painlessly solving your RFI problems. When planning my return to the airwaves, I decided to go the stealthy, minimalist route and after much investigation settled on the FT-897. I had neither the inclination nor such a great yard for a tower as I would've had to sacrifice a huge tree (no way). Even getting feedline out of the shack was a problem so I thought I'd try some an around-the-eaves wire. That turned out to be a RFI disaster, especially at 100 Watts, as just about every device in the house from the doorbell to the microwave lit up. The XYL was not happy. So I moved the wire away from the house and turned down the power. Seemed like a good idea to give CW a shot too. Fortunately, being a ham is like riding a bike. You don't forget, you just get a bit rusty. I'm finally getting the hang of CW now and I find it very satisfying. As far as ham radio in the 21st century goes, I still feel like a kid in the candy shop as there are just so many areas of the hobby to play around with. I think ham radio has so much more to offer today than it did 20 or 30 years ago. I've just started putting together a KX-1, my first building project in decades, and hope to be operating QRPp from the field soon. I've dabbled a bit with PSK and want to give working the satellites a shot. I've always found propagation fascinating, both HF and VHF, and as we know, that is the key to QRP. Despite all the complaining I see and hear about the sunspot doldrums, I've worked plenty of DX on all bands. Anytime you can work the other side of the world on 5 watts is a good time. I've even managed a few 6-meter DX QRP QSOs in the last week or so. I very much enjoy contesting and working the many CW contests over the past months has really helped me improve my cw skills. I'm still blown away by the super ops like the 30+wpm guys who work the WPX and the like. I don't know that my ears will ever get that fast. I really like our sprints, more laid back and you can use a straight key and not feel like you're really holding things up. I also enjoy a good ragchew and have been chasing some awards. Never even got WAS or basic DXCC so after 35 or so years as a ham I figure it is time so I'm collecting QSLs. I still like getting real, paper QSLs. Call me old-fashioned. Besides ham radio, I love to hike and I try and get out every weekend. Despite living in densely populated North Jersey, I am fortunate to have many miles of excellent trails within 15 minutes of home. After getting lost too many times, I bought a GPS awhile back and discovered geocaching, which is basically using your GPS to find things hidden by other geocachers out in the woods. It's a lot of fun and good exercise too. Check out www.geocaching.com. I originally thought I'd backpack my FT897 along but it is a bit much to haul around. The KX1 should be much easier to take along for the afternoon. I still play some drums here and there, mostly in a local community orchestra. And I read a lot of non-fiction. I cover all topics but am especially interested in environmental and transportation issues, politics, science, and history. I'm now reading "New Jersey's Environment", which I recommend to all who think that all of NJ is like the very ugly NJ Turnpike corridor. I also walk dogs at the local animal shelter as our two cats made it very clear that they did not want a dog in "their" house. 73/72 to all and I look forward to many wonderful QRP QSOs in the years to come. Larry Makoski, W2LJ
I took my Novice test in 1978 and received my license in January 1979
and the callsign KA2DOH. My first QSO took place on January 29, 1979
with KA9CIH (whom I believe is no longer active). I studied hard and
upgraded to General in June of 1979. In 1983 I got a hankering for a
"General" class callsign; so I filed for a new one and received N2ELW.
Later that year, in October, I traveled to the FCC Office in Langhorne,
PA and took the test and passed and received my Advanced ticket. In
1992, I upgraded to Amateur Extra; and in the year 2000, I applied for
and received W2LJ under the Vanity Callsign Program.NAQCC Assistant Publicity Officer & Newsletter Emailer  I have always been interested in public service with Amateur Radio. In 1980 I participated in the communications effort during the Olympic Torch Run for the Lake Placid "Miracle on Ice" Olympics. I have served as Net Control for local traffic nets; and have held appointments as an Official Relay Station and as an Official Bulletin Station. During the 1980's I participated in the RACES program and served as a Communications Officer in the Department of Emergency Management for Middlesex County, NJ. Besides my affiliation with the various QRP organizations, I am a Past-President, past Vice-President and current member in the Piscataway Amateur Radio Club. I am also a member of the Electronic Testing Society of New Jersey; or, as it is better known, the ETS of NJ. This fine group of folks maintains the 146.940/.340 Greenbrook repeater which has a statewide reputation. I also served as Vice-President of the Raritan Bay Radio Amateurs who operate out of Sayreville, NJ. I was a Volunteer Examiner with that group; and eventually took it over, becoming the VE Liaison. Because of my efforts in running Sayreville's VE program, I was awarded, in 1998, the "Elmer of the Year" award by QCWA Marconi Chapter 138. To date, this is my proudest achievement in Amateur Radio. I still VE with a group of hams affiliated with both the ETS of NJ, the Tri-County Amateur Radio Club and the Raritan Valley Radio Club. My main interests are Morse Code, homebrewing and QRP. However, I also like to chase DX, ragchew, work Special Event stations and earn their certificates. I have earned WAS, WAC, DXCC and DXCC Millennium, all using wire antennas. My rigs are an Icom IC-751A and an Elecraft K2. Since I completed the K2, I am working for WAS again, this time strictly QRP CW. This past February, I took a nine week course and became a member of my town's CERT. This is an acronym for Community Emergency Response Team. This is a division of the President's Citizen Corp. The purpose of the CERT team is to help out by backing up local EMS, Fire and Police agencies during local and regional emergencies when they become overwhelmed and lose the ability to respond. Two other local Hams took the course along with me; and now we are getting busy trying to get more of South Plainfield's amateur radio community involved. |