WS8G Richard A. 'Rick' Allnutt Beavercreek, OH QCWA # 37605 Chapter 9

PODXS 070 #2597

I have been interested in amateur radio since my father began listening to the expeditions to the Antarctic in 1958. I was 5 years old, but remember the heterodyne whine and the huge multiband vertical antenna on the roof of our house.

First licensed as a general class amateur in 1982, and mainly interested in code at the time, I made many contacts with a 40 watt code only transceiver. Later, after moving to Dayton OH in 1993, I began attending Hamvention. My first Hamvention, I bought an HT and began communicating with area hams on my daily drive to work. That led to mobile 2 M rigs, HF transceivers, field day experiences, and experiments with home-built antennas. Along the way, I rose to the ranks of Amateur Extra Class when the 20 WPM Morse Code test was still required.

I remain very involved with Hamvention. I have been on the Awards Committee for many years, and am the Chair of the International Relations Committee. We, on the committee, will be greeting many international visitors to Hamvention this May.

Professionally, I have been practicing Aerospace Medicine for 30 years. I retired as a Colonel in the USAF in 2005 but continue to teach the specialty as a civilian as the Deputy Director of the Residency in Aerospace Medicine at Wright Patterson AFB. I have an active clinical practice as a Chief Flight Surgeon at the base clinic, and stay involved with flying as a private pilot in a WW2 observation aircraft (Aeronca L3). I also am building a replica WW1 fighter, a Nieuport 17, which I hope to fly in the summer of 2018.

In 2000 I was given the chance to get a further degree at the USAF AFIT graduate school. I added a Masters in Electrical Engineering to my MD and Masters in Public Health degrees. Part of the EE degree included the opportunity to patent a circularly polarized antenna for contacts on amateur radio low earth orbit satellites. My thesis involved using QRP power levels and digital communication techniques to maximize NVIS communication on the HF bands.

Favorite hobbies: Ultralight Hiking on the Appalachian Trail, flying/building airplanes, playing music.

Favorite bands: 80, 40, 20M. Favorite modes: Mostly digital using PSK31, DOMEX11 and Contestia. I recently put a portable NVIS antenna up in my front yard, outside a camper to experiment with the setup. This added to the antenna farm that has been my back yard.

Next moves are to install N1MM and get more involved with contests. NEWS: with help from the N1MM team of volunteers, I was able to get the contesting program installed and will be working the PODXS 070 Vallentine day sprint. I was able to upload a contest log for Winter Field Day... first electronic contest log I have submitted.

Best parts of ham radio: Experimenting with antennas and digital communication; helping the Hamvention Team to make Hamvention better every year.

February 16, 2018