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WD9GET Keith E. Brandt Alvin, TX QCWA # 37584 |
I'm back in Star City! Watch for RA/WD9GET on DX spotting sites for HF operation, as well as daily on DSTAR REF030C.
--> First HF operation for this trip tentatively scheduled for shortly after noon UTC on 26 January 2018.
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I have the privilege to periodically be guest operator at RT3F, the club station of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Star City, 35 km NE of Moscow, Russia, operating as RA/WD9GET.
Thanks to Ed, NT2X, A special QSL is available by mail. Please send your QSL card to my address listed here (SASE appreciated).
Previous Russian operating periods:
March - April 2017 (Contacts have been loaded to eQSL.cc and LoTW)
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I'm a Flight Surgeon at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, supporting International Space Station missions, crew training, and future mission development.
I retired from the US Air Force as a Colonel (Flight Surgeon) in 2016 after more than 28 years of service.
My Ham Radio interests include: SKYWARN, ARES, NTS (Digital Relay Station), digital modes, satellites
USAF MARS station AFT6KB (former AFA1DK from the late 80s)
Station:
Kenwood TS-2000
RadioWavz Saturn 5-160 160 - 10 m fan dipole via an LDG Z100 tuner.
Tigertronics Signalink USB interface for digital modes.
AEA PK-232MBX (PACTOR 1) for digital traffic handling.
Dell Inspiron 15-3558 laptop for rig control and digital modes. Software includes Ham Radio Deluxe, FLDIGI, Airmail, RMS Express, UI-View32, and whatever else I'm playing with this week.
D-STAR: Kenwood TH-D74a, Icom D-5100, Icom D-51a+, DVMega, DVDongle (usually monitoring REF030C).
DMR: Tytera MD-380 running MD380tools firmware
First licensed in 1977 in Indiana
Past President of Purdue Amateur Radio Club W9YB
Current member of Brazoria County ARES and Johnson Space Center Amateur Radio Club W5RRR
Lt Colonel in Civil Air Patrol
QCWA Member #37584
Other hobbies: Amateur Astronomy, Medieval History (especially Science and Medicine), Scuba Diving, Weather, Space Weather.
Professional Societies: Aerospace Medical Association (Fellow), Society of NASA Flight Surgeons (Past President), American Socitey of Aerospace Medicine Specialists, Space Medicine Association, Wilderness Medical Society (Fellow), Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, American Academy of Family Physicians (Fellow).
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I reached a milestone in 2017: 40 years as a licensed Ham. I took my Novice written test during Field Day in 1977. The club was operating from the Chrysler High School football stadium in New Castle, IN. I had to sneak out of a summer program I was in so I could take my test (I wasn't supposed to leave campus). I pulled my license out of the mailbox as I returned home on Aug 5 (though ads for QSL cards had arrived the previous week with my callsign on it - if only I'd been home to see it). By the time the following August arrived, I had upgraded through Technician and General and received my Advanced just 2 weeks before starting at Purdue. This was back when testing sessions were run by the FCC and were only offered at my closest Regional office in Indianapolis once a quarter. It then took me 7 years to get to extra - the 20 wpm code was quite a hurdle, but I got it (barely) on my first attempt, and then passing the written a month later in August 1985. I've renewed my license for another 10 years to get me to my 50th anniversary.
January 24, 2018