W1JEQ

Matthew Chamber

This is  Matthew Chamber, W1JEQ, from Newark, Missouri. Matthew was first licensed in 2003 as KCØQEV. He joined ARMS in 2009 and is now the proud holder of an Amateur Extra Class license.

Matthew says he originally got licensed simply out of curiosity but quickly found that his favorite facet of ham radio was emergency communications. God happened to make his second-ever Ham Radio contact with a man who changed that. Dave Kreuger, ABØDK, led him to the Lord and, to quote Matthew, "My life's never been the same."

Now there's a great Ham Radio story!

The W1JEQ station includes an Icom IC-725 HF transceiver which outputs into a Vectronics mobile tuner and a 20-meter Hamstick on the fire escape of the college dorm where he lives. He also has a Yaesu FT-1500 2-meter transceiver. His antenna is a 2-meter, half-wave mag mount.

Because of school responsibilities, Matthew isn't able to get on the air a lot now, but he does enjoy DX'ing and some contesting. But, most of all, he enjoys rag chewing with his Christian brothers--finding out how God is moving in their lives. He somewhat humorously shares that last year he made the least number of contacts possible at field day by not making any actual field day contacts. Nevertheless, he still sent a message to the section manager, so his award was highest score with zero contacts.

Matthew is a student at Heartland Christian College and also work part time at Heartland Creamery loading trucks to head out to stores. He also volunteers time working on their 2-way (UHF) radio system for the ministry and farm. He is a sound engineer on his church's worship team and is learning how to play the bass as time permits. He is also on the camera crew for his church's TV show (www.hland.tv).

Matthew adds these words. "I hope to get a chance to meet many of you on the air when I can actually hear you. I have tuned in and tried to check in, but so far I haven't actually heard the net even though I am on the right frequency at the right time, but with the wrong propagation."

20 October 2022