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AL7A - North Pole

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    AL7A - North Pole

    Jeffrey Deaner, AL7A ex KD6WDX, N6JVD, KL7JVD is active from North Pole, Alaska.
    He is working on HF Bands.
    QSL via LOTW, eQSL.
    QTH Locator - BP64is.
    Information from his QRZ page:
    I am currently in North Pole, Alaska. I have a bare bones station until I can find a house but I am running my Elecraft K3 barefoot into a G5RV. If I am working you in a contest, please bare with me. I appreciate the contact.

    Figured it was time to put something in here.

    As a young kid, when spending time at my grandparents, I would spend hours in front of my grandpa's, Frank Wakeland W7KTQ SK, radio and spin the knob for hours. I was always fascinated with radio. First licensed as KD6WDX in Northern California in May 1992 with help from my elmer/neighbor Jack Drake N6NHV SK. Had lots of family friends active in ham radio and finally did it. Was active with the local Shasta Cascade Amateur Radio Society (SCARS) which is now defunct. That was in the time of packet and I had a lot of fun. First radio was a Kenwood TR-2400 handheld which my mom said she would buy for me when I got my license. Then I bought my elmers Alinco DJ-160 and it went everywhere with me.

    Moved with my family to eastern Montana the summer of 1994 where I got my first real job, farming, and bought an Alinco DR-592T dualband mobile. Was active there in the local club, Lower Yellowstone Amateur Radio Club, also defunct. It was then that I got to experience my first field day and had so much fun on HF. It was my first real experience in operating on HF.

    A year after high school, moved to northern Minnesota and was, again, active with the local club. A year into my job moved me further north in Minnesota around the peak of sunspot cycle and got word from a ham friend that I could get on 6 meters. Bought a Yaesu FT-847 and built a halo antenna and 6 meters was alive! Changed my call to N0JVD during that time of the late 90's, early 2000's and had more fun on the radio than I had in a while.

    Kinda got away from radio for a bit until I moved back to my hometown of Juneau, AK at company expense in July 2007. Wasn't active for several more years until the local club president, Pat Moore AL7L SK, called and wanted to know if I was interested in upgrading. The Juneau Amateur Radio Club was hosting a class for the general license to of which I passed and changed my call to KL7JVD. A year later I passed my extra.

    Pat Moore AL7L SK, also introduced me to the world of contesting and bug has bitten me hard. I'm mostly active in SSB and RTTY contests as I am not comfortable enough with my CW to participate in those yet.

    My little pistol of a station consists of an Elecraft K3 with a P3, upgraded by me to a K3S and loaded with filters, KAT500/KPA500 combo running into a two element SteppIR at 40' controlled with a Green Heron rotator controller. Also have dedicated dipole for 80 meters and 60 meters, fan dipole for 80, 40, 20, 10 and a GAP Titan vertical. Above the SteppIR is 6 meter yagi at about 45' for when the sunspot cycle comes back around. Thanks to Bob N6TV, my station is completely automated when running contests.

    I've played with satellites a little in the past and recently have had a resurgence into it. Have an Icom IC-9700 controlled with the CSN SAT controller running into eggbeaters for now and hope to someday upgrade the antennas to something a little more directional.

    May of 2020 I changed my call to AL7A as it was always a life goal to have a 2x1 or 1x2 call since I learned about ham radio. I have a UHF repeater on 443.450, 103.5 tone if you ever come to Juneau and also host an APRS iGate with a digipeater at my repeater site and an Echolink node into our club repeater system.

    Mobile I run a commercial Kenwood TK-7180, Yaesu FTM-300 and a Yaesu FT-857 with a Little Tarheel II with the 60 inch whip. It's not perfect, but it works.

    Been playing with DMR and D-Star with a hotspot at home. So far I like D-Star better. Easier to program and use with my Kenwood D74.

    Hope to see you on the air!

    73's,
    Jeffrey AL7A


    AL7A North Pole, Alaska
    73 Al 4L5A
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