NC K-0416 #3 Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge

Amateur Radio
N4MQU

3 CW

49 Phone

IC-706MKG HF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver

LDG AT-200 PRO II Antenna Tuner

MFJ-1984HP, ENDFED 1/2 Wave 40-10M

Blue Micro Morse Code Key W/ Aluminum Base

Great day for an activation. Started out cloudy and cold but ended up sunny. This is the third activation for me. Had two sets of visitors approach me. I got to tell them about amateur radio and gave them my card. As you are setting up just be aware of your obstacles. If I get too carried away I could slip into the ditches around the area. The antennas location doesn’t look like a dream antenna but I enjoyed the signals. This is in North Carolina. Thanks for the hunters and p2p.

Visitors Kathy and Jummy Hooks

NC K-6934 #20 Pee Dee River State Game Land

Amateur Radio

23 Phone

CW Morse Blue Micro Morse Code Key W/ Aluminum Base

Bioenno Power 28 Watt Foldable Solar Panel

Bioenno Power 12V/24V 30A Solar Charge Controller

MFJ-1984HP, ENDFED 1/2 Wave 40-10

IC-706MKG HF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver

LDG AT-200 PRO II Antenna Tuner

K-6934 23 contacts

My first activation of this park was 11/29/2022. This was just after moving to Rockingham, NC I got enough activations for the kilo award yesterday. I believe this was the soonest kilo award for my number of activations for this park. Anyhow I just decided to go after the repeat offender award this year. Happy new year! Thanks for the p2p and hunters.

NC K-6947 #33 Sandhills State Game Land

Amateur Radio, K-6947, Portable, POTA

12/30/2023

1 CW

15 Phone

IC-706MKG HF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver

LDG AT-200 PRO II Antenna Tuner

MFJ-1984HP, ENDFED 1/2 Wave 40-10M

Blue Micro Morse Code Key W/ Aluminum Base

Bioenno Power 12V 20Ah 240 Watt-hours Lithium Iron

Bioenno Power 28 Watt Foldable Solar Panel

Bioenno Power 12V/24V 30A Solar Charge Control

This was park 2 of three parks today.

K-6947 Contacts

N4MQU

Amateur Radio

N4mqu at the shack

N4MQU Mark Gibson VFN #72 BH #19 sitting in front of his ham radio in his office.

Welcome to my amateur radio page.  I have been licensed since 1980.  How did I get started in amateur radio? I was at a star party in the middle of nowhere (near Tidewater, VA) so I could view some astronomical objects away from city lights. I was about 25 years old at that time and a friend needed to call home. This was before cell phones so my friend Don Wright used his amateur radio to allow my friend to call home. Shortly after that event I started studying for my license. Speaking of ham radio, are you currently licensed or do you need to upgrade? For free? Be sure to navigate to my Five County Ham Radio Enthusiasts club page. A lot of information on how to study and resources you can use for this new adventure you are about to take. The FCC allows Volunteer Examiner Clubs to charge a fee to help offset the cost of processing the exam. I never felt right about charging. I had noticed a couple of years ago one of the biggest Hamfest does not charge. I started checking and found out the Laurel VEC did not charge. I found out who to contact and after getting information I signed up. It turned out I started the first free team in North Carolina. We have so far administered 80 exams saving our applicants $1200. There now have 7 free teams in North Carolina.

A few notes about my amateur radio activities. I am an active member of the Virginia Fone Net. They have been in service since 1934. I call the net every Wednesday at 4:00 PM ET on the frequency of 3.947MHZ. I enjoy calling the net and I like to say it helped me recover from my shyness stage of many years. As you join the VFN you get a number assigned to you.  My number is #72.  We limit our membership to 150 members but do award lifetime membership periodically.  The picture on top of this article is of me in the hamshack.  You will see that I am wearing a Bandhoppers shirt.  Bandhoppers is a group founded in 2018. According to their about page “We believe that social media can add to the ham radio experience. It is a place where we can mentor new hams, share information, and plan activities.  I won the shirt In a lottery on one of the cofounders (Todd Lee N4USS) birthday.

I hope you enjoy my website.