W3ACO Richard S. 'Rich' Haendel Iowa City, IA QCWA # 35146 Chapter 123

PJ2 NEWS:

I was a member of PJ2T team in CW WW SSB, Oct 25/26 2014. Had a blast. I also worked as PJ2/W3ACO before and after contest. I made 500+QSOs. Many of you have already asked for QSL cards. I am in process of printing cards and will respond to all those who send me a QSL card, either direct or by buro. PJ2/W3ACO logs were uploaded to LOTW on 31 October..

I was first licensed in November 1957 as K2YHL. I received the W3ACO call in 1963 when I moved to Maryland. At that time, the FCC changed your call when you moved from one district to another. Now, I live in Iowa City, Iowa, about 350 Km west of Chicago.

My station at home in town is an Elecraft K2/100 with 20M, 40M dipoles and a loaded 80 M dipole. I work 40M and 80 M from my house during dark hours if propagation is good.

My country station is a room in my workshop, 20 Km West of Iowa City, grid EN41

Shop station is an Elecraft K3/10 with a modified Toyko Hy-Power HL 1.2 KFX at 600 watts. Antennas are a 3 element Steppir at 55 ft, and a 33 ft vertical for 40 Meters. I also have the vertical matched for 30 Meters. I work mostly 20M through 10 M, SSB, CW, PSK, RTTY and JT65. I just put up an 80M inverted Vee and that will be for this winter. On 6 meters, I use the Steppir and a home brew 90 watt amplifier.

I am a late blooming DXer. I started working DX in 2005. I am an active supporter of DXpeditions. I have DXCC on 10 through 40 Meters. DXCC challenge count is 1559. I have 322 confirmed, still looking for more. I hope to get on the Honor Roll before I am SK!

In 2011, I entered the CQ magazine WW marathon. I tied for 18th worldwide (tied for 6th USA) with 276 DX entities and 40 zones for a score of 316.

I QSL 100 % all foreign contacts by buro except contest QSOs. If foreign contact indicates he wants direct only, I will QSL direct with SAE if I need a new band. I include postage ONLY if contact indicates on QRZ.com that he wants postage. Otherwise I DO NOT include postage. As of Nov 10, 2012, I started using LOTW.? I upload logs to LOTW at least every week . I reply to e-qsls but do not up-load my logs to e-qsl, too many errors.

I retired from Rockwell Collins where I was an RF engineer in the Advanced Technology Group.

I am an ARRL volunteer examiner.

I'm the Secretary/Treasurer of the Eastern Iowa DX Association, www.eidxa.org

I'm a member of the Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA) Chapter 123 and a member of the Chiltern DX Club (England).

I'm a contributor to the Northern California DX Foundation (NCDXF)

Straight Key Club Member 3565.

I was past President and now Program Director of the Iowa City Amateur Radio Club, www.icarc.org

I hope to hear you on the bands and thanks for reading my bio.

73 Rich

November 9, 2014