Amateur Radio Information

I obtained my first amateur radio license in June 2000 by passing the written and morse code tests for both the General Class and the Advanced Class in one sitting. Subsequently, I was assigned the callsign KG4ICF by the FCC. After passing the Extra Class exam in November 2000, I applied for and obtained the vanity call WT5L. This callsign was chosen for the shorter and simpler phonetic representation and for the shorter and simpler morse code representation. Although I live in "4" territory, a similar callsign with "4" was not available at the time (and are still difficult to come by).

Contests

Since obtaining my license in 2000, I have been primarily interested in working both domestic and international contests. The table below summarizes some of the major contests sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and CQ Magazine:

Contest	Works	Mode	Month	Sponsor
RTTY Roundup	ALL	RTTY	January	ARRL
Worldwide WPX	ALL	RTTY	February	CQ
International DX	Foreign	CW	February	ARRL
International DX	Foreign	SSB	March	ARRL
Worldwide WPX	ALL	SSB	March	CQ
Worldwide WPX	ALL	CW	May	CQ
Field Day	ALL	ALL	June	ARRL
Worldwide DX	ALL	RTTY	September	CQ
Worldwide DX	ALL	SSB	October	CQ
Nov. Sweepstakes	Domestic	CW	November	ARRL
Nov. Sweepstakes	Domestic	SSB	November	ARRL
Worldwide DX	ALL	CW	November	CQ
10m Contest	ALL	CW & SSB	December	ARRL

Modes

My principal modes of operation are summarized in the following table:

Mode	Method
CW (Continuous Wave)	Morse Code
SSB (Single Sideband)	Voice
RTTY (Radio Teletype)	Digital Mode
PSK-31 (Phase Shift Keying 31 baud)	Digital Mode

Bands

Presently, I have the capability to work only the High Frequency (HF) bands which are loosely defined as any frequency between about 1.8 MHz and 30 MHz. Within this range, the Amateur bands are referred to by the approximately wavelength of the emitted signal (160 Meter, 80 Meter, 40 Meter, 30 Meter, 20 Meter, 17 Meter, 15 Meter, 12 Meter, 10 Meter). Right now, I have the capability to work stations on all HF bands except for 160 meters. Below is the band/frequency relationship:

Band	CW, RTTY, Data	CW, Phone, Image
80m	3500 kHz - 3600 kHz	3600 kHz - 4000 kHz
40m	7000 kHz - 7125 kHz	7125 kHz - 7300 kHz
30m	10100 kHz - 10150 kHz	None
20m	14000 kHz - 14150 kHz	14150 kHz - 14350 kHz
17m	18068 kHz - 18110 kHz	18110 kHz - 18168 kHz
15m	21000 kHz - 21200 kHz	21200 kHz - 21450 kHz
12m	24890 kHz - 24930 kHz	24930 kHz - 24990 kHz
10m	28000 kHz - 28300 kHz	28300 kHz - 29700 kHz

QSO's

QSO is Morse code short-hand for a contact between two stations. The following chart shows my QSO activity for each year since I was first licensed in the middle of 2000:

Year	Callsign	QSOs Logged
2000	KG4ICF	469
2000	WT5L	374
2001	WT5L	1803
2002	WT5L	1558
2003	WT5L	1598
2004	WT5L	1514
2005	WT5L	950
2006	WT5L	827
2007	WT5L	703
2008	WT5L	467
2009	WT5L	1070
2010 (to-date)	WT5L	864
Total		12197

Logbook of the World (LOTW)

The American Radio Relay League's (ARRL) Logbook of the World system is a mechanism for electronic confirmation of QSOs. By email or internet submission of logs to the LOTW system, log entries are matched against log entries submitted by other Amateur Radio stations to generate QSL records. (QSL is Morse code short-hand for an acknowledged or confirmed contact or transmission.) The chart below shows the status of my current LOTW activity:

LoTW QSO Records	LoTW QSL Records	QSL-to-QSO Percentage
12197	4514	37.01%

QSL Cards

QSL cards are postcards used to confirm two-way communications in the world of Amateur Radio. Domestic QSLs transferred via the U.S. Postal Service. International QSLs can be exchanged via postal services of via the ARRL's Incoming and Outgoing QSL service. The following images are scans of my QSL cards for the KG4ICF and the WT5L callsigns:

KG4ICF QSL Card

Click Here for Full-Size KG4ICF QSL Image

WT5L QSL Card

Click Here for Full-Size WT5L QSL Image

Certificates and Awards

Various certificates and awards are available for the Amateur Radio operator. These documents may recognize performance during a contest (award) or may be applied for in recognition of achievement both inside and outside of the contest environment (certificate). The following images are scans of various certificates and awards that I've collected over the course of my Amateur Radio operations:

DXCC Mixed Certificate