I am Amateur Radio Operator, first licensed by the Federal Communications (FCC) in 1990 when I was 14 years old. After passing both Element 1 (Morse Code) and Element 2 (written test), I was issued the callsign KB2LWY on January 31, 1990. In 1992, I passed Element 3 (another written test) and was issued a Technician-class license, under the callsign N2QDK, which I currently use today.
On January 23, 2002, I was granted a General-class license after passing another written test, allowing me to operate on many more frequencies on HF (High Frequency).
While I currently have radios to operate 160M through 23cm, finding the room for antennas on our small city lot is difficult. I have tried to run dipole antennas run inside our attic, but our slate roof and low number of sunspots make things difficult.
I am more active on 2M APRS. I currently maintain a home weather station and backup Internet Gateway (Igate) for the New York's Capital Region, N2QDK-1. Besides providing a bi-directional gateway between the local radio frequency (RF) and the Internet, I am announcing local repeater, hamfest, meetings, and weather objects to the local RF area, with an emphasis on events for the Troy Amateur Radio Association (TARA), of which I'm a member.
In my vehicle, I have N2QDK-9. It is a temporary and special-events digipeater, along with two-way APRS tracker with messaging capabilities via a Garmin Nüvi 350. More information about my mobile APRS configuration can be found on the N2QDK-9 page.
Some other amateur radio activities in which I participate: