The 2018 Team

2010 Team         2011 Team         2012 Team   No 2013 Team     2014 Team     No 2015 Team    2016 Team      2017 Team   

Total Contacts by Band and Mode:

 Band       CW   Phone     Dig   Total       %
   80            21         31         0        52        1
   40          451       848       15   1,314      21
   30              0           0     145      145        2
   20       1,061    2,372         0   3,433      55
   17              0       265     265      530        8
   15            67       494     184      745      12
   12              0           8         0          8        0
   10              0         34         0        34        1
 Total     1,600    4,052     609   6,261    100

 Total Contacts by Continent:

 Continent   Total     %
   ---------      -----     ---
   NA          4,072     65
   EU          1,803     29
   SA             236       4
   AS               77       1
   AF               42       1
   OC               27       0

Hosts

Geoff Howard W0CG

Uli Thielke DL8OBQ

First licensed in 1963 at age 13 in Wheeling, West Virginia, as WN8KUW. College, military service, and many family moves netted other calls: WA3ILB, then WA1LHC. I selected W0CG in 1976 while living in Kansas in the Air Force. During a period living on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands in 2000, I was assigned KP2F. I retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserve as a Colonel (Civil Engineering) in 2002, and from my "day job" in 2004 as Professor of Information Systems, Graduate School of Management, Kent State University. I also spent about 15 years in industry and government as an EE and systems analyst, with employers including the FAA, Allegheny Ludlum Steel, the RCA Aerospace Systems Division, and an administrative position at Youngstown State University. I hold the callsign PJ2DX, am a legal resident of Curacao, and spend as much time as possible living in down there in the tropics, where it is 85 degrees and sunny 365 days a year.

Uli was first licensed 1984. He's a software engineer and travels around the world for his job and hobby. In Germany he has build the contest station DA2C together with his friend DK3DM. Uli has been to 3D2, 9M6, CT3, EX, J3, J7, OJ0, T2, V2, ZA mostly for contests. He is member of the CCC since 2013 and had visit PJ2T 6 times.

2018 Team Leaders

Jim Storms AB8YK

Ron Doyle N8VAR - Co-Team Lead

Jim is a retired IT professional and is a member of Dayton Amateur Radio Association, the Huber Height Amateur Radio Club VE team and 2014-2015 President of Southwest Ohio DX Association (SWODXA). Jim is a frequent member of the TI5N CQWW contest team and supports the YXDA website. He enjoys contesting, participating in field Day, Ohio QSO Party, CQWW WPX along with other QSO contests, assisting in public service events and DX’ing.  Jim has been co-leader on most of the Youth DX Adventures and leader of last year's trip. Jim also participates in Boy Scout activities including the Radio Merit Badge.  He was also a member of the 2010 BSA National Jamboree K2BSA team.

Ron is a retired Database Guru and a member of Dayton Amateur Radio Association and the Huber Heights Amateur Radio Club VE team.  He has served for many years as the Committee Chair of BSA Troop 390 in Huber Heights.  During his BSA time Ron has been a radio merit badge counselor.  This year he is on the K2BSA staff for the National Jamboree.

2018 Team

Dhruv Rebba, KC9ZJX	Hari Rebba, VU2SPZ
I received a Ham Radio Technician license when I was 9 years old. At 10, I passed my General Class Amateur Radio license. I was in the ‘Limca Book of Records’ twice for being the youngest Ham Radio to have gotten a license. In October 2017, I was the Lead Control Operator for an ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) contact that I initiated, where students from my school, Chiddix Junior High School, got the once in a lifetime opportunity to talk to Astronaut Joe Acaba on the International Space Station. CJHS ARISS and Click here. It was a great opportunity for the school, as they held a plethora of space related educational activities, and space enthusiasm in the school and community reached an all-time high, out of what I saw. That was pretty incredible. I was perplexed on how much enthusiasm I helped create for space. With Ham Radio, I did A LOT of community service for marathons, bike-rides, and many local events for the community. In 2016 and 2017, I got the ‘Young Achievers Award’ for 2016 & 2017 from the Radio Club of America for presenting at the Dayton International “Hamvention”, in Dayton, Ohio. With everything that I learn and do, I always try to figure out how to use it for the betterment of others. I engage in a lot of community services locally. I use Ham Radio to provide communication for community events like marathons, bike rides, and Hop on for Hope big events. I hold Ham Radio awareness programs every time I go to visit India, in order to promote the enthusiasm for technology, and to include more people into the vast fields of study that Ham Radio has. I got the ‘YICU Award’, which is an award that recognizes leadership and involvement for teens who have made a recognizable mark on their community. I also received a proclamation from the City Council of Bloomington and Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner, recognizing my community services.	HAM Radio general class operator  over 25 years and I was involved in many natural disasters, like floods and earthquakes, in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and helped respective state governments’.  * Volunteered for May 1990 Machilipatnan cyclone in AP.  * Net controller for  1994 Cuddapah district floods in Andhra Pradesh.   * Volunteer for November 1996 Kakinaada cyclones AP. * I worked 35 days in 1993 Lathur earthquake 6.3 magnitude,  as a net controller. I was liaison between Indian Govt., Maharastra state Govt. and  Red Cross like organizations.  * Was net control operator for 1991 Godavari River Puskaraalu and 1992 Krishna River Puskaraalu.    AP was most impacted state with floods. During Godavari floods (Rajahmundry)  I was working with state officials and NIAR director Mr. Suri, VU2MY, I was suggested and submitted proposal to AP government to improve Ham Radio activities in all 9 coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh.  AP Govt. allocated special budget to buy Ham Radio equipment. NIAR trained districts government officials to get Ham Radio licenses and install all equipment at district headquarters. It was huge success, still they are using Ham Radio services for emergency communications. * Community leader: Now actively involved as a volunteer and serving the McLean county community thru CIRC (Central Illinois Radio Club) and TAB ( Telugu Association of Bloomington).   * 4-H leader: Mentor for First Lego League (FLL) Robotics team and First Robotics Competitions (FRC) team MetalCow. I’m in judging panel for FLL Regionals and FLL State Competitions and also judging panel in Illinois State 4-H Robotics competition.
Mason Matrazzo, KM4SII	Brett Matrazzo
Mason, KM4SII is 15 years old and has been a ham since the age of 13. He is an active DX chaser with 183 DXCCs worked and over 10,000 QSOs in his log on many bands. He enjoys operating all modes and especially enjoys running pileups; the bigger the better! He has participated in many contests from his own station as well as from his local club station (W4NC) and remote club station (W5FMH/KJ5Y). Mason hopes to one day be part of a large-scale DXpedition to a rare DX entity. He was able to operate a short amount of time from Iceland in 2017 as TF/KM4SII and he will be presenting on that activity at Hamvention, 2018. Besides DX and contesting, one of Mason’s favorite aspects of the hobby is the friends that he has made around the world, especially with other youth. In addition to ham radio, Mason enjoys geography, swimming, and hiking
David Samu, VE7DZO	Stefan Samu, VE7KY
David, age 14, is an avid CW contester and DXer. Most active in CW, David is often found in major contests and pileups trying to work a rare DX entity. Licensed in December 2017, he has already managed to work over 130 DXCC entities and has logged over 1,700 QSOs. David was encouraged to pursue the amateur radio hobby by his dad, VE7KY, and many local hams. Collecting QSL cards from all over the world is another aspect of amateur radio that David greatly enjoys. His future plans and goals for amateur radio include contesting, DXpeditions, participating in the WTRC as well as youth licensing. Some of his other hobbies include dirt biking, outdoor adventures and electronic projects.	Stefan was first licensed as YO6OBH at the age of 16. He soon started experimenting with antennas, making QSOs with distant stations and collecting awards. He was fortunate to operate some of the big contest stations, such as VE7SV and W5KFT. He received his current callsign (VE7KY) after moving to British Columbia, Canada and enjoys the thrill of HF contesting, DXing and DXpeditioning. Amateur radio has been a life-long passion which led him to a career in language translation and localization. Stefan is member of the British Columbia DX Club. When he is not on the radio, he spends time in the wide-open, untamed mountains of British Columbia.
Violetta Latham, KM4ATT	Shannon Latham, KA8JRQ
Hello, my name is Violetta Latham, KM4ATT. My dad introduced me to the hobby at age 9 and within the next year I had achieved my Extra license. I love DX'ing, contesting, and hands-on science. I am extremely happy to be a part of this year's team and I look forward to working you! As you can see in the above picture I recently had the opportunity to visit the grave of Hiram Percy Maxim. I have had the opportunity to be a guest op at W3LPL and K3LR. Attended Contest University 2018. Got an honorable mention at local science fair for a project I did on NVIS antennas. Recruited a Boy Scout who got his Tech at JOTA 2017. I also enjoy community service projects where I can lend a hand and introduce ham radio.	Greetings!  This is Me, KA8JRQ, sitting at the family's ham shack.  Yes, I said "family", since there are 8 licensed hams in our home: my wife Rachel (KM4ATS) and I, along with six children, aged 8-16.  No, I am not Amish although I look like it; we're Mennonites (same great taste, less filling).  I was first licensed as KA8JRQ in 1980 when I was 13.  I climbed up through the license classes during my teens but let my license go several years ago.   Relicensed in 2014, I got my old Novice callsign back during a fit of nostalgia.  My amateur radio interests are, well, hmm, I'm not sure.  I'd like to call myself a DX'er but I'm too lazy to get up late at night to work the rare ones.  Besides, my 13 year-old extra class daughter already has more countries than I have (my 11 year-old extra class daughter likely does too)!  I'd like to call myself a CW guy but I can't seem to break above 22-23 wpm. mostly comfortable at about 13wpm or so.  And I can't be a contester because my ADHD refuses to allow me to sit still in front of the rig for 48 hours. Most of my activities includes participating in our local club meetings and public service events with my ham family.  I also enjoy dragging home old tube boatanchors from hamfests and trying to make them work.  Our station currently consists of a Kenwood TS-2000 and an Ameritron AL-80B as the afterburner.  Antennas include a 160 meter end-fed Zepp at 50'. I look forward to working you on the air and I love collecting paper QSLs!