K4TMN Thomas M. Niderost Yulee, FL QCWA # 35779

I received my novice ticket in Northern California (KB6QWJ) in April 1987. Two wonderful Hams (Ben and Art) gave me the code test. Later that year I was busy studying for my Technician class license, and soon I was on the air on 80 Meters listening to CW and on 10 Meters sideband. I made several CW contacts on 10 meters and many voice contacts all over the United States and the Pacific. My most exotic contact at that time was on 10 Meters SSB to Christmas Island.

After a while, with a busy schedule and working far from home, my amateur radio hobby languished for a few years.

I moved to Florida in 1999. I eventually met some local area Hams and got to talking to them about amateur activity in the area. They piqued my interest and I got back on the air again. With the encouragement of the many fine Hams of North-Eastern Florida and South-Eastern Georgia (Camden County Amateur Radio Society), I upgraded my license to General and finally Extra class. I was president of CCARS (Camden County Amateur Radio Society) for the 2008 year.

I am particularly interested in fox-hunting and designing automated fox-transmitters, using pic-micro based designs.

In 2009, I started to get back into CW again. My first CW contact in over 20 years was on 9-30-2009 with K2MMO! (Thanks Michael for being so patient with me.) After much practice, I worked SKN on Dec. 31, 2009. I have been working more and more with CW and now now have a Kent single paddle key. I prefer a paddle key, but I use a straight key on SKN. My code speed is very, very slowly climbing. I can read most of 10 WPM at this point and am working towards 20 WPM.

I continue to work CW and SSB. I am still trying to build my code speed and proficiency. I also work some QRP with a HB-1B QRP rig.

My rigs are:
- Kenwood TS-590S
- Yaesu FT-817 QRP Rig
- Yaesu FT-7900 Dual band 144/470 MHz
- Yaesu FT-7800 and FT-8800 VHF/UHF mobile rigs
- YouKits HB-1B 80, 40, 30, 20 meter QRP rig
- Yaesu FT-60 HT
- Baofeng UV-3R HT (3 of them)

Antennas
- GAP Titan DX
- Multiband fan wire dipole
- Maco 10 Meter 5/8 vertical
- Wire antenna for QRP

October 9, 2014