NA6MB Michael C. 'Mike' Binder Poway, CA QCWA # 35947 Chapter 14

I was always interested in electronics and took apart many radios, TVs and mechanical things when I was a kid growing up in Green Bay, WI. I built a CB transceiver from Knight Kit in about 1965 and convinced my dad to get a CB license so I could use it, since I was only 13 and you had to be 18. I had a lot of fun with the CB for several years. I built a short wave receiver kit from Heath a few years later and along with my fascination with the broadcasts from Europe, I would also listen to the HAM bands. I was involved with amateur radio in Green Bay and belonged to the local club, but never got my license.

I left Green Bay to attend engineering school (what else would I study!) at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, MI. I met a few hams there, but never had time to get involved and / or get a license. When I graduated (BSEE), I moved to Chicago, IL.

I finally studied the code and got my Technician license, KA9AIG, in 1976 in Chicago, IL. At that time you had to actually go to the FCC office and sit in a room while the code was played from a tape recorder. My original intention was to get the Tech license and build model airplanes, but that plan was somehow side tracked and I ended up struggling with an old GE Progress Line (FM high band commercial radio) that somebody had converted to 2M. Antennas from the apartment were hard where I was located, but when I moved from the apartment to a house in 1979, I got a Ten-Tec Century 21 (Novice Bands CW only 75W) radio and put up a dipole. I worked a little CW, but got side tracked again in 1984 when my daughter was born and we needed to convert the shack back to a bedroom.

A move to San Diego, CA in 1986, finding the Poway Amateur Radio Society (PARS) and a very active ham where I worked sparked my interest again. Still no airplanes though! I have been a member of PARS since I have been in CA and have been Treasurer and Secretary a number of times.

When I moved to CA, I got a used 2m Yaesu FT-708R hand held (the GE radio missed the moving van from IL to CA for some reason) and a fairly reasonable CUBIC Astro 103 for HF that set me up for a while. I sold that and got an IC706 for HF+6m+2m+440MHz (2007 - sold 706 and upgraded to an IC7000). I have added a few more radios, controllers and computers since then and have upgraded to EXTRA. I now run SSB, CW, Packet, AMTOR and PSK31 on HF and FM on 2M/220/440 both from home and mobile.

I am a member of ARES and PARC as well as PARS.

Look me up on 146.730(-) PL 103.7 (PARC) or 147.03(+) PL 103.7 (ECRA) if you are around Poway or northern San Diego.

Maybe someday I'll build that plane.....

73 de Mike Binder - NA6MB

Previously: KA9AIG 1975 to 1985 and N6OHS from 1985 to 2012

February 14, 2015