Bonnie KQ6XA - Founder/Webmaster/Moderator
Bonnie founded HFpack in 2000, as an international
resource forum for HF portable. She had been operating HF
Pedestrian Mobile for many years, and wanted to talk with other
pedestrian operators on the air. Before that time, it was very
difficult for HF portable operators to find each other, except once a
year on Field Day. The
early HFpack discussion forum existed first on the eGroups system,
which later became Yahoogroups. As the group started to expand, she
proposed new HFpack Calling
Frequencies dedicated to HF portable SSB operation. Once the
frequencies were established, she proposed regular on-the-ar schedules,
and the informal HFpack Net was born. Through the efforts of HF
portable enthusiasts around the world as the solar cycle was starting
to peak, operators went out to set new long distance records for
pedestrian-to-pedestrian QSOs; this became the basis for the HFpack
Hall of Fame. Bonnie says, "When I first started HFpack, I hoped there
might be 25 operators around the world interested in lightweight HF
portable operation. The first day, when 65 members joined, I knew it
was the beginning of a worldwide movement for amateur radio. Since
then, as thousands of operators have become a part of it though the
egroup and events, we have branched out into other aspects of HF
operations. I want to thank the other Moderators and the HFpack
Steering Committee who have made it possible to have such a huge and
wonderful group. We could not have made it this far without them. I
hope that all HFpackers continue to carry the spark of HF portable
enthusiasm into the future."
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Virgil K5OOR - Moderator
Virgil
was first licensed as K5OOR in 1956. He enjoys operating but not chasing DX. His favorite on-air hangout is
18157.5 kHz with his K2. His vocation
prepared him for design and packaging of electronic products. When he
joined HFpack in 2000, he realized the widespread need for a
battery-powered portable
HF linear amplifier. After developing the HFPacker-Amp, he ran up
against a
technical problem with the FCC rules temporarily preventing the sharing
of this
great project with other hams. Barry W4WB helped him with guidance in
obtaining
a letter from the FCC, which cracked open a door for QRP linear
amplifiers that had been slammed shut for 30 years. Since then, through
volunteer help from fellow HFpackers, Virgil’s HFPROJECTS has supplied
the
HFPacker-Amp project to over 600 radio amateurs worldwide. Virgil
says, “I am happy to donate my time to help lift the quality of the
HFpack
forum high. My real passion is the creation of home construction
projects for the radio amateur. I enjoy helping others have a
successful
building experience via the web site and email. My obsession for the
hobby is what keeps me motivated. Over the years, I have
added a few other projects. I am currently steeped in the design and
development of a 100W amplifier to also be built as a home construction
project. I look forward to the next up period of the solar cycle. I
like CW but I’m a little rusty. I hope to put up a beam in the future.”
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Bob AB7ST - Moderator
HFpack member for 5 years, moderator
for 4 years. First licensed in 1964, Bob became a DXer as KA7RF with his first
overseas assignment in the USAF - Fukuoka, Japan. He was only one
of
two active hams with the KA7 prefix. Upon return to stateside, he
discovered how difficult DX was with modest antennas! Living in the
Seattle area, then California, the DX VHF bug hit. Bob came within 300
miles of the 2M over-land record using a single beam antenna - Los
Angeles to Arkansas. Moving to Park City, Utah, antennas were limited,
and Bob moved to CW QRP as the mode of choice. Bob has made it to
the Dayton Hamvention twice, and built many QRP radios. Now, Bob splits
his time
between QRP CW and usually more power for SSB. Current rigs of choice
include the Icom 756 Pro III, AL-80B 1000w amp for clearing
frequencies, and the main antenna is a 5 band Hexbeam. Portable
activity even includes HF Snowshoe Mobile, and using a variety of rigs
ranging from the KX1 to IC 703 and 706 with a Buddipole and other
homebrew antennas.
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Ken N0VZ - Moderator
Ken
first became interested in amateur radio as a means of emergency communications while hiking and four
wheeling in the back country of Colorado. He earned his Technician
ticket in July 2000 and realized quickly that that without HF
privileges he wouldn't be able to explore all that amateur radio has
to offer, so he upgraded to General in August 2000 and finally
upgraded to Extra in June 2001. Not
long after obtaining HF privileges, he worked Budd W3FF, who was
operating
pedestrian mobile on 15 meters... Ken was soon hooked on /PM. Here was
a way to combine enjoyment of the
outdoors with amateur radio. He soon built a homebrew Buddipole with
the
help and encouragement of Budd and obtained an SGC 2020. Since that
time Ken has used a progression of commercial HF
rigs for /PM operations including the Alinco DX-70, Icom
706, Yaesu 817, 897, 857, and the famous FT-70 manpack. Ken also
experiemented with a variety of antennas including the homebrew and
commercial Buddipole, SuperAntennas MP-1, Outbacker Perth and Ham
Sticks. While all of these setups had their pros and cons for working
/PM, none fully satisfied what Ken was looking for. Then, he obtained a
PRC-2000 from the UK and
soon realized that military HF manpacks provided a real grab and go
package. Since that time he has moved to a PRC-1099 packset, and he
would
like to give the Vertex VX-1210 a try at some point. Ken says, “I am
glad to
be able to serve the HF Pack group as co-moderator and look forward to
continuing experimentation and outdoor adventures with /PM operation.”
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John K6ERO - Moderator
John
was first licensed in March 2001, at the suggestion of a friend who
knew he was interested in
military radios to
go along with the military vehicle hobby. He really enjoys the woods
and the water, so he is most active from the trails of the Ozark
highlands, and famous among HFpackers for his HF Kayak Mobile
operations on the lakes of
Arkansas. John appreciates the important waterproof qualities of
military mapacks for kayak mobile, so he founded the MILPACK egroup.
Active
160M-2M, mostly on SSB, ALE and other digital modes, and soon to be
bike mobile. Simple wire antennas are also a particular interest. John
says, “My first DX contact as a Tech ticket holder was with a station in Venezuela on 6 M pedestrian mobile
with an old FT-690RII at 2.5 watts. That was all it took, I was hooked
on walking mobile, QRP and amateur radio in general. I proceeded to
get my General license, took on my grandad’s callsign K6ERO, and soon
discovered the HFpack group! I was delighted to find a group that is
dedicated to my type of unusual portable operations. In the past
couple of years I have bought, sold, traded, and experimented with many
different amateur, commercial, and military portable and manpack
radios, to
learn about what makes for the the most effective and fun portable/
pedestrian mobile HF set up. In the process I have met many fine hams,
and made some very good friends with similar interests.”
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Budd W3FF - Backup Moderator
First licensed at age 14 in 1954,
Budd grew up with a
ham father (W3FF senior), in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Later he moved
to California
and was a disc jockey for 10 years until he got into a real occupation. In 1990
Budd began making daily walking HF DX QSOs carrying his TS-50 and 12
volt SLA
batteries with a homebrew portable dipole. When
he put it up a web page, he became famous among so many
HF portable hams building his design for that homebrew portable dipole.
Now, Budd enjoys running an FT-857
on his mountain bike. At the home QTH, he runs a TS-850S
with a quad camouflaged in the trees on his restricted lot...
an Alpha
78A amplifier is held in reserve for when the going gets tough. Budd’s
main
interest is
modular portable antennas. Budd says, “A local ham told me about a
brand new
website called HFpack and I joined the same day. A discussion
about my
portable dipole came up on the HFpack forum and Sharyl W3VET,
named it the
Buddipole! My son Chris W6HFP and I later went commercial with it in
2002. I'm
the only backup moderator for the HFpack egroup. Early on, Bonnie
wanted to have
someone be available to take care of the group when she was away on
trips, and
I volunteered. I'm grateful to be a part of HFpack.”
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Sasi VK5SN - Moderator
Sasi was first licenced in 1987 as VU3SNM
(India) when he was 15 years old. In his years as a ham radio operator
he
has enjoyed QRP and portable operations, casual DXing, a bit of
contesting and homebrewing antennas. His
interest in portable operations has come in
handy on a few civil emergency
operations and medical emergency
communications. He has also used amateur radio for community activities
such as
International coastal clean-ups, marathons, JOTA's and car rallies. His
work as
a marine biologist has taken him all over the world to destinations
such as USA,
Bermuda, UK, New Zealand and Canada operating portable and from the
shacks of
his good old friends, making use of the reciprocal licencing agreement.
From
1999 to 2004 he was based in Singapore and held the call sign 9V1SM.
During
that time he took along and operated his portable pack from a few
remote
islands off Singapore on his work-related trips. Living on the second
floor of
an apartment with antenna restrictions did not stop him from getting on
HF as
he operated ‘stealth’ very ‘productively’ often working into Europe,
East &
West Coast of the US and South America on the other side of the globe.
In early
2005 he moved to Adelaide, South Australia from where he is currently
active
QRO and QRP, on PSK31, SSB, SSTV, RTTY, FM and a few other digital
modes. Sasi
also moderates the Icom 706 group, the Digipan group, and the VU Hams
group. Sasi
says, “ My interest in boating and radios recently got me involved with
volunteering as marine radio instructor and operational member of the
South
Australian Sea Rescue Squadron. I also enjoy SCUBA diving, underwater
photography and aeromodelling.
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Oliver KB6BA - Hall of Fame Curator
Oliver’s
early interest in ham radio focused on VHF and some satellite operating,
then turning more to HF and mobile operating after getting an Advanced
ticket
in 1978. For portable work, he started out using a modified L-pole with
two
fishing poles supporting lengths of wire and a couple of coils. He now
uses a 9ft W3FF shock cord whip with a B&W air-wound base loading
coil, an Elecraft T1 antenna coupler, and a dragging counterpoise. His
favorite hilltop portable antenna is an inverted V, using a wire on a
couple of small fishing reels and supported by two hiking staffs
attached to the Cabelas 14ft telescopic pan fishing pole.
The portable rigs are: Yaesu FT817,
Elecraft K2, or the Yaesu FT857 with Virgil's HFPacker-Amp for more
power with
the QRP rigs. He also has built up an 8Ah battery pack of Lithium
Polymer cells
which enable up to about 35W transmit power when needed. Oliver says,
“The big change for me was first becoming an avid trail hiker years
ago. This sowed the seeds for my enjoyment of outdoor operating. I
still
preferred messing with equipment and antennas more than operating,
because I found it hard to stir up QSO's on HF and getting to know
hams there on a regular basis. The breakthrough came at Pacificon in
2001 when Ken WB6MLC and I found out about HFpack. Shortly thereafter
I started taking portable gear to hilltops and more importantly, began
to develop a network of friends on the HFpack frequencies. It took a
while to try out pedestrian mobile, and my early gear was not only
heavy, but also cumbersome with many tangling cables.”
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