Hello and Welcome to my Personal Web Page!

My Name is Mike and I live south of the City of Sheboygan, Wisconsin in the Township of Wilson.  The area I live in is affectionately known as "Black River" to the local residents.  The Black River actually borders most of my yard on the south end.  In February of 2001, I was granted a Technician Class Amateur Radio License by the Federal Communications Commission under the radio Call Sign KC9BDB.  Sucks doesn't it?  Say that out loud a few times....  Not difficult to see why I applied for a Vanity Call and dumped that one is it?   So in April of 2001, I became K9DRX.  Much easier to say and easier to pick out of pile-ups when trying to work distant stations.  I have since passed the General Class written examination and am currently studying CW (Morse code) to take and hopefully pass that element of the exam by May of 2005. 

My main amateur radio interests so far have been 6-Meter DX and Contesting, Digital Modes of APRS and Packet, and VHF/UHF contesting.  I also do 2-Meter and 70-CM FM work occasionally but generally don't do much operating there except for with a few locals on 440 repeaters.  I'll try to document as best I can some aspects of the hobby that I enjoy most to hopefully promote those activities.  APRS is a GREAT aspect of the hobby that appeals to anyone that has interest in GPS technology, Maps, or just interfacing a computer with a ham radio.  Lots of fun stuff there!

What brought me to Amateur Radio was several years of practice in the Scanner hobby.  I've been into police & fire scanning since I was a  youngster and I have passed through all the generations of changes and new technology that has come along with scanning radio systems.  I currently own several scanners and monitor a wide range of things such as Police, Fire, Military, Federal Government, and Aircraft.  I dabble in various forms of computer interfacing with scanners also.  You WON'T find any thorough frequency or Talk Group lists on my web site because the last time I did that, several places copied the information word for word and sold it for profit under their own name.  I have no problems sharing but stealing is another story.  Many of my scanning friends have great lists that I will link to from my page so don't worry!  :-)

Some other interests of mine which I talk about on this site are Geocaching, Outdoor activities like camping & fishing, some of my musical interests, and a generous portion of Weather related topics.  Again, maps comes into play there so of course I'm interested!  I'm also selling a huge personal CD collection of mine at very cheap prices so please take a look at that list if you are interested.

Thanks for checking out  my site!!!!!

Mike - K9DRX