Eastern Time


KC0PEC
KILO CHARLIE ZERO PAPA ECHO CHARLIE



Today's Date

     Howdy! KCØPEC here, but my friends call me Ken. I would like to welcome you to my amateur radio webpage. I am new to ham, having received my license in February of 2003.

     I'll start with a little background. My first experience with radio was as a small child, living in the suburbs of New York City. I still vividly remember sitting on my dad's lap, listening to area fire and police departments. Since a very young age, I have been a scannerhead.

     I knew a few amateur radio operators as a child, and I always found it neat to listen to them work another radio station. I never really wondered why radio works the way it does back then, so I never really got into amateur radio. During my teen years, we moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, and there I got into photography. I bought a hand held scanner, and whenever I heard the city's fire department go out on what sounded like a working fire, I would drive down there and take pictures, and share them with the firefighters on their next shift. In my late teens we moved again to Camdenton, where I joined the volunteer fire department. My photography interests, while still there, were put on the back burner, and my radio work consisted of listening to the scanner, responding to calls when they were toned, and using the truck's two-way radios.

     After several years there, I got hired full time as a firefighter, and I now work as a firefighter/paramedic in the eastern suburbs of Kansas City. I'm married and have two children. I also have some free time, which I haven't had in years past. So I upgraded from my handheld scanner (and also a 16 channel mobile scanner) to a trunk tracking scanner, capable of listening to Motorola, EDACS, and LTR trunked radio systems. So now my curiosity is peaked, as I find myself wondering just how do radio technologies work? Programming a trunk tracker is easy. All you need are the freq's and the talkgroup IDs. I want to learn more.

     So, I looked into ham radio. WOW! I didn't realize there was so much out there! In addition to voice & CW, there is RTTY, Packet, PSK31, OSCAR, Earth-Moon-Earth, SSTV, and a whole host of other technologies available. It is amazing!

     My fire department is looking into mobile-data-terminals for the emergency vehicles. We are told this will help with communications. Having looked at Packet, I believe that these two are actually very similar in nature. I do plan on researching and perhaps getting into packet radio, and PSK31 also.

     As I am new to amateur radio, I am currently licensed as a Technician. However, I DO plan to upgrade to General, and most likely Extra Class. The only thing I cannot say about that now is when.

     So, what do I have in my shack? Well, my shack is quite humble. I bought a used HT, an ICOM W32A, which is a dual band 2 Meter/70 cm transceiver. It is capable of hitting the repeaters, so it is handy to have around town. I have an old Regency 256 packed away someplace... if I can find it, I intend to tune it to the 2 Meter bands for use as a mobile radio when I go weather spotting. I am, however, looking at possibly buying a newer, dual band mobile. Time will tell. For longer range communication (I don't want to say DXing, as it is not really totally using radio waves) I use EchoLink. My Node# on Echolink is 87289, so feel free to say howdy and let's have a QSO.

     I belong to the Blue Springs Amateur Radio Club in Blue Springs, MO. The BSARC is activly involved in the area's storm spotting activities, and also performs lost child patrols at area festivals. I really like this sort of community involvement. But it's not all work, there's plenty of fun, too. Every Saturday night at 2100 hrs Central Time there is the "BS Net" on the B.S.A.R.C.'s WBØVBN repeater (444.95 MHz + 107.2). Be sure to check in if you are in the Kansas City area!

     Well, thanks for stopping by! Feel free to come back any time! I do plan to update this page, putting pictures up and the like. I would like to thank the Al, K3TKJ, for setting up QSL.NET.

73!
Ken
KCØPEC
[email protected]





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since 25 Feb 2003.

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Links:

Click to see my scanner frequency page.
Click to see my scanner page.

Click to goto the CJC Fire website.
Click to see my fire department's page.

Click to goto the Camdenton Fire Department website.
Click to see my 1st fire department's page.


Click to goto Candlewood Fire Company, Brookfield CT web site.

(I grew up in Brookfield, CT. Dad was a firefighter in Brookfield.)


Click for some information on severe weather.
Click for some information on severe weather.

American Radio Relay League

DR. SMØKE'S Scanner Page!
THE source for Kansas City area Trunked Scanning information!

My friend Brian. We met in college. Then, years later, while I worked at another fire department, he talked me into applying at CJC. I applied. Then he called to remind me to test... so I did. Then I forgot about it. Got a call at work one day (after a fire) offering me a job at CJC. I joined CJC in Sept. of 1997. Thanks, Brian!
My Friend Brian's web page!

If I get any better lookin', I'll need two of me to hold in all this gorgeous!
Click to goto my homepage!



Click to request a link!


Coordinates:38° 55' 8'' N,    94° 21' 34'' W