PA0ABM, The Family

I am born in 1944, at the end of WW II in a place, called HEERLEN, a minerstown in the sout-eastern part of the Netherlands. Here I lived for 23 years. When I became a teenager, I got involved in our nice hobby, HAMRADIO. That time I was learning to become an electronic engeneer. One of the teachers noticed my big interest in all what was called radio. He introduced me to another student on the technical high-school. That student became one of my best friends. His call PA0INA

Then I got involved in an affair with the sister of PA0INA. That affair still going one. His sister became my XYL Annie We are married now for more than 30 years. Her full christian names are: Anna-Barbara-Maria. ABM. So now you know why I am signing PA0ABM.

We got 2 kids, a girl Martie, born in 1967, and a son Ruud, born in 1969. We lost our daugther, very suddenly, on may 3, 1994. A big photo of her is hanging on the wall in my shack. She was more like me, while our son is more like his mother. In 1995 I decided to look for my daughter, somewhere in the big sky. I jumped out of a plane above the province of Zeeland. But I did not find her in the sky.

After some years living together with his girl-friend Natascha. Natascha and Ruud got married in may 1996. The bigest wish of PA0ABM, to become a grandfather did become reality on November 4, 1996 at 15.38 Utc. I was on the bands that day, when i became "OPA" (dutch for grandfather.). Look at the picture of Joshua and his parents. The hams's I told about this happy delivery where W7EXR in Seatlle/Washington, and Bogdan 5N3CPR, down there in Nigeria. Back in 1969 Slava, UY5AP was the first ham who heard that Ruud was born. I QSOed him on the same day that Ruud was born (May 7,1969).

We where on a ham-seeing-trip in Trier, Germany, when we got a phonecall that our second grandchild, a girl Myrthe was born. The day: Whitsun, May 31,1998. The Time: 06.44 UTC. I did not make QSOs that day, because i was too busy holding little Myrthe in my hands..

Besides HAM-radio, I love the beauty of this world, from the top of the highest mountain, to the deep of the ocean, including the deserts.. I love science fiction, and I am crazy about the Mid West of the USA. I was lucky to visit most of the W7 states, back in 1982. In august 1998 my brother Martin and I did visit the western states of the USA again. Our 1998-Adventure did take 25 days.

I am also hiking on a regular base, mostly in the area where we live. An a couple of times I hike back home from my QRL, which is about 16 miles from our home. During this hikes, I have allwayd my photo-gear with me. I do make a lot of pictures, some of them you can find on my home page.

I got my licence back in 1964. I started with a mixture of CW and SSB QSOs. As I got more experienced in CW, the SSB part became smaller and smaller. Nowaday, you can find me very seldom on SSB. I am now devoted to CW. I never use more than 100 Watts. You can call me "a little pistol" on radio
Because my property is not so very big, I am not Dx-ing on the lower HF bands 80 and 160 m. But you can find me sometimes also on 160 and 80 meters when there is a big contest going on such as the PACC and CQWW contest.

What do I do for living? Well, I am working as system engeneer on a chemical plant, located on the shoreline of the river Schelde. There i did start working back in 1967, controlling the electronic security-equipment of the chemical plant. I did develop all kinds of security equipment.
On this moment I am (partly) responsible for all kind of network activities on the plant area. This job will keep me busy for the coming years.
I did also build all kind of Software, to controll the chemical process. I did even build my own logging and contesting software.

PA0ABM, Wino Paas

A man should keep his friendship in constant repair