Welcome!

My name is Paul Stoetzer. I was first licensed as KC8NGY in October 1999 at the age of 14. I upgraded to Extra in April 2000 and received the call AB8HM in June of that year. Later that year, I applied for the callsign N8HM. My station at that time consisted of a Kenwood TS-440SAT and an MFJ-1798 80m-2m vertical antenna. I worked over 150 DXCC entities with that setup, but my interest in ham radio drifted somewhat and I was mostly inactive from 2002 through 2011.

In November 2010, I moved to a studio apartment with a balcony in Washington, DC. I realized that  the balcony would be perfect for getting back on the air and purchased a Yaesu FT-817ND. I had always loved the idea of a virtually handheld sized DC-to-Daylight rig since it's introduction in 2000 and finally purchased it.

My station consists of the Yaesu FT-817ND, a SignaLink USB, and an AlexLoop Walkham Portable Magnetic Loop Antenna that works on 40m-10m. I still have the TS-440SAT, but I choose QRP both to avoid interference to neighbors and also because the AlexLoop magnetic loop is only rated for a maximum of 20W PEP on SSB (10W CW/RTTY). The challenge of working towards DXCC and WAS QRP also appealed to me. I also have a couple of wire antennas and antenna tuners as well as an Arrow handheld yagi for 2m and 70cm.

Here is a picture of the magnetic loop set up on the balcony:

My main ham radio interests are HF DXing and contesting. I have also dabbled in VHF, especially 6 meters, and satellites. With this station, I have worked 48 states (still missing Hawaii and Delaware) and 105 DXCC entities. My main modes of operation are RTTY, JT65, and PSK31. I also operate in SSB contests and a few CW contests (CQ WW and ARRL DX using computer decoding and the simple exchanges).

I upload my log to HAMLOG, QRZ.com, Club Log, eQSL.cc, and LoTW.

This blog will focus on my contesting and DXing efforts with focus on detailed after-action reports following contests.