The N5WL Page

 

 

Hello, my name is Bart Lawson. I am a retired schoolteacher.  My wife (Patsy) and I live in Woodward, OK.  Woodward is a small community in NW Oklahoma, located just East of the Oklahoma panhandle. 

 

I have been interested in radio since early childhood—lying in front of a huge console Phil co radio that magically brought news and entertainment in to my boyhood home.  Later, some friends and I were playing in one of our favorite places, the town dump (remember those) and I discovered an old radio (unfortunately I have long forgot the make or model).  The wooden cabinet had splintered when it had been dumped, so I did a quick and dirty disassembly job on the radio and carried my newfound treasure several miles home.  That old bare chassied radio gave me many nights of pleasure as I dxed the AM broadcast bands.  I fixed me up a crude log in an old “Big Chief” tablet (remember those?).  I would lay in my bed at night with the old radio providing excitement, entertainment, and providing a warm nightlight glow to my room!  I can still remember the smell of that old radio as it warmed up and gave off that unmistakable aroma of warm components.  Of course, the dial string and the dial face were long gone so I developed listening patience, waiting for the stations to ID.  Some of the strong station, of course, became easy to identify by the distinctive format and sound, especially those down close to the U.S., Mexico border!

 

Well enough of that reminiscing!  I was first licensed as WN5ULC and then almost immediately as WB5ULC in 1976.  I was too busy trying to earn a living to get active at that time.  It wasn’t until 1984 that I was able to get a radio and get on the air.  By that time, my original license had lapsed, but I got under the wire and was able to apply for and receive a new license without retesting, so I became KA5NIX.  With my newly acquired Kenwood TS 530S, a Butternut vertical, and a 40-meter dipole that had been patiently waiting for me to get active (it had been part of the class work that my Elmer insisted on while studying to become a novice), I was finally on the air.  I instantly fell in love with radio again—and with cw in particular.  When I drove to Dallas, TX to try to upgrade I had worked 49 of the 50 states on cw—I was KE5RB before I was able to nab Delaware.  Without a doubt, those were the most enjoyable moments of ham radio for me, until recently.

 

I have found amateur radio to be an endlessly varied and challenging hobby. It is actually many different hobbies grouped together under one banner! Like most ham radio hobbyist, I have dabbled in many different aspects of the hobby i.e. fm repeaters, vhf weak signal, hf nets, hf dxing, hf ragchewing, public service, packet, psk31—well, you get the idea.

In recent years I have found myself becoming more and more interested in low power operation on the hf bands, working cw, and home brewing gear and building kit radios. I don’t know of any aspect of amateur radio that is as interesting or as challenging. To add to the enjoyment, we have had the advent of the Internet and it’s capability of bringing like-minded people together. The qrp-l news list is a prime example of this phenomenon. Low power enthusiasts gather, exchange ideas, chase foxii, learn from the experts, and help one another! I don’t believe it gets any better than this! Therefore, this site is dedicated to this portion of the amateur radio hobby, aka QRP!!

 

Pictures of my shack

Gear that I have built

Kit radios I have built

Operating qrp

CW