WB9MSM

Episode 223 - Denny Berg - WB9MSM Transcript

Commissioned by: Denny Berg, WB9MSM

Eric, 4Z1UG:
QSO Today Episode 223 Denny Burg WB9MSM.

This episode of QSO Today is sponsored by Icom America makers of the finest HF, VHF,and UHF transceivers for every level of amateur radio operator and by QRP labs makers of the QCX single band transceiver kit and now a new 10 Watt all band HF linear amplifier for the ham radio builder. Please support the QSO Today podcast by supporting these fine sponsors.
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Welcome to the QSO Today Podcast I'm Eric Guth, 4Z1UG, your host. Denny Berg, WB9MCM and I were supposed to have this cue a few months ago when suddenly Denny sent me a message that he was in the hospital having five stents installed around his heart. We will touch on this event as a public service message at the very beginning because of its relevance to most of you who listen to the QSO Today Podcast. However, Denny is back and in good shape and ready to talk about his ham radio journey.

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Eric, 4Z1UG:
On of the things that impressed me about my QSO with Denny was how his easy going positive and can do attitude opened doors and opportunities throughout his life that made for his happy life. This is especially important for his amateur radio operating, because it keeps him open to new ideas and technology as it is now being served up to us at light speed. . I know that you'll enjoy with episode with WB9 MSM as much as I do.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
WB9MSM, this is Eric, 4Z1UG. Are you there Denny?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Yes I am Eric, 4Z1UG, WB9MSM whiskey baker 9 mike sierra mike, Watertown, Wisconsin. Yeah you're coming in loud and clear Eric.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Yeah, thanks Denny. Thank for joining me on the QSO Today podcast. You know we were supposed to speak a couple of months ago and you canceled for medical reasons. I think those reasons are important, perhaps for the listeners to hear. Why would sharing this story be helpful to our listeners?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Why sure Eric. Well first of all Eric I had a situation here actually back in July where I went through a test at the advice of my wife and I reluctantly did this because I said hey; there's no problem with me, I'm doing fine. But I went through a coronary CT scan for calcium and my score was very, very high. It was like 2500. The gal gave me the results and she told me, she said, you better take this to your doctor right away and I did so immediately. Well what happened then Eric; are a number of things. First things first though, I went to my doctor and they set up a cardiology appointment and went to my cardiologist and I went through what they call a nuclear stress test. The nuclear stress test, more or less, revealed that I had some very serious issues in my arteries. My arteries were blocked.

Denny, WB9MSM:
The doctor, the cardiologist that is, decided that I would have to have more done to me, and they ended up doing a catheter. I had to go in for a procedure, and the procedure was going to be, initially Eric, it was gonna be exploratory to see what the injury was. Well long story short on that, they went in and right away the doctor decided that, oh man this cannot wait. They put three stents into my LAD. LAD is the left aortic descending artery. Eric that's commonly referred to in the medical world as the widow maker. It's one of the number one arteries that goes to your heart and takes oxygen and oxygenated blood. Anyway, it was 80% blocked.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
So Denny the reason that we're doing this public service or this PSA at the beginning of the QSO Today podcast, is you didn't have a history of heart disease, and you weren't feeling bad at all.

Denny, WB9MSM:
No, no I was not. As a matter of fact I'm glad you brought that up Eric. I was asymptomatic. I had no issues and as I said I reluctantly did this at my wife's request. My wife went through it and had a score of 9, I repeat 9. I had a score of 2500. So basically, yeah, that was like, can I say this, 2500 reveals when you look at the score that I got a 99% chance of having a heart attack. I repeat 99%. Well with that said my LAD artery was 80% blocked and is blocked 80% in the resting phase. When I'm exercising or doing something else, it is constricted even more. It could be 90%.

Denny, WB9MSM:
Well the doctor went in and took care of that Eric, and I was very grateful. I also had another one that was blocked, but he could not do them both at the same time. I had such a great doctor. I just feel so grateful. But the other one, they had to go into 2 weeks later because ... Eric they put a special dye into your system, and the dye can be very, very dangerous if it gets into your kidneys. So they want to flush from you. So that's why he couldn't do both of them at the same time because they could not warrant keeping that dye in there for a length of time that would take for doing the two procedures. So he decided to come in later to get the other one.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
So as we say here in Israel, thanks God for your speedy recovery, and you should only have good health and now we can talk about ham radio. Now your family does not have a history of heart disease?

Denny, WB9MSM:
No, no. My dad lived to be 92 years old, and I tell you no.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
So it's a good thing if you can have a coronary CT scan for calcium, even if you don't have a history of heart disease in your family or you are feeling okay and you're over 60.

Denny, WB9MSM:
Yeah. Exactly.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
It's probably a good idea.

Denny, WB9MSM:
It is.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Can we start at the beginning at your ham radio story Denny? When and how did it start for you?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Sure. That's wonderful Eric. Well, actually I got my novice license in 1970. I actually started getting into ham radio in 1969, but 1970 I was licensed as WN9BKW as W930 kitchen window. And I was licensed along with two other hams in the neighborhood. My Elmer was Bill Bailey WB9CYB. Three of us boys got our license at the same time, WN9DKU was David and then John was WN9DKB and myself WN9DKW. Yeah back in 1970. Coming up in 2020 it will be 50 years.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Well how about that. Well what sparked this interest?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Well the guy caddy cornered from my house put up a quad antenna. He had a quad antenna and of course my younger brother saw that and he ended up going over there, and he came back and told me the mans a ham radio operator. So one thing led to another, and a bunch of the neighborhood kids all got to meet this ham radio guy and three of us actually got into ham radio then. A number of other people didn't really pursue it, but the three of us boys did.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Now was that guy Bill?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Yeah. Bill Bailey.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
So the neighbor was Bill Bailey.

Denny, WB9MSM:
Yep. Yep. Bill Bailey.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Now did you have an interest in electronics even before this or did everything start with Bill?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Everything started with Bill and I never, ever, I still don't do any short wave listening. I was not a CB operator. I never was. I never really got into CB. I never was a short wave listener, but Bill Bailey was the ham radio guy and that's all I've been was a ham. I've never got into the other short wave or CB.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
So you and your two friends now have licenses. What happened after that? How old were you guys?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Oh yeah. We were all 15 to 16 years old. I was 16, and I think John and Dave were both 15. John is still licensed. He's still licensed, and we're very, very good friends. His call is N9EAJ . Yeah that's kind of it. We had a lot of fun in those early days. We had a lot of fun and then 1973 I got my general and in 1983 I got my expert down in Chicago. We took a train down there and took our exams in Chicago, a whole bunch of us.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Do you remember your first rig?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Oh yeah. I could never forget it. As a matter of fact, if you even go on my QRZ site you'll see it. I'm very proud of that rig. I actually had an old Hallicrafters YX140 receiver and World Radio Globe Scout DCB100. And I ran Eric, I want to say somewhere between 40 and 50 Watts. Of course, we're crystal controlled. I had an 80 meter dipole and a 40 meter dipole that were up in the trees. And the 40 worked out real well on 15CW. So I had bunch of crystals there and just had a ball playing with that. Very, very good thing.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Now being so close to Bill caddy cornered, did you ever have any problems operating at the same time that he was?

Denny, WB9MSM:
No not really. No. No. Not at all. No.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Do you remember your first contact?

Denny, WB9MSM:
No, you know I don't Eric. That's one thing I have to say I don't remember my very first contact. I have to say I don't.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Now it seems to me on 40 and 80 and I guess you're also on 15, was that where you started working your first DX.

Denny, WB9MSM:
Yeah I worked DX, but really mainly Stateside for the most part. I talked to my friends sometimes about this, but I remember working Canadian and was it was such a thrill because the Canadians a lot of times could offer an owned RCW band and there were many of times that they would come on near my frequency where my crystal was, they would be on the phone and I'd contact them via CW. And it was such a thrill to hear them give your call letters talking. Come back and say WM9DTW the Canadian would and give their call a "VE3" or whatever it might be. It's just kind of neat. That was really cool back in those days. I still remember that. So no I didn't work a lot of DX, I mainly worked Stateside and some Canadians and maybe some DX on 15 meters. I wasn't really hooked on DX at that time. Just to make a contact was neat.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Now did you develop an interest in electronics or were you just the operating side of ham radio?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Well, a lot of the operating side ... I built a Heathkit HW-12 that I was quite pleased with. Right or wrong after I got my general, I had a HW12 that I built. Kits were popular in the old days of Heathkit. No I really didn't take an interest in electronics to say ... no I didn't. I was more into the operating. When I graduated from high school, I decided to go to the Brown Institute of Broadcasting in Minneapolis. I thought that was what I was destined for is to be a broadcaster.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
So ham radio played a part in the choices that you made for your education and career because you thought you would be a broadcaster, not an electronic engineer.

Denny, WB9MSM:
Right, right. Yeah, no not an electronics engineer ; a broadcaster. I thought for sure that was my destiny. I thought this is it. I joked around for a couple years out of high school. I had different jobs, job hopping and what not. So I decided hey this is it and I'm gonna go to broadcasting school and my dad was all for it. At the time, I don't know if you're aware of it Eric, Brown Institute of Radio Broadcasting in Minneapolis was probably one of the premier schools in the United States. It was huge in broadcasting in those days. This would be in the mid 70's.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
No I wasn't aware of it actually.

Denny, WB9MSM:
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. The Brown Institute of Radio Broadcasting. Actually in December of 1975 I decided to go to school there. That was my destiny and I said hey I'm gonna be a broadcaster. Didn't turn out that way, but anyway I thought that was what I was going to do.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
So what happened?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Well it was interesting, I went to school there and I was enjoying it. I was doing well. WBIB Minneapolis, St. Paul. It was very cool. When I think about it, I think about the days that we had together there, the students. Very, very commercialized with broadcasting in those days. I have to remember that their time was money time and it really was. They really stressed how to put together commercials, and it was very, very commercialized. No doubt about it. I guess it was more commercialized than I ever really anticipated. I was thinking it was different. It certainly was not like a clock radio. It was ... hey you got to sell air time and that's really, really what we did.

Denny, WB9MSM:
We did an awful lot of making sure that we could put together commercials and I got really disenfranchised with that. I was there, oh gosh, around 3 months and I actually got some doubting on my mind that this was gonna be my career, so out of frustration I ended up dropping out of school. I was doing well. I wasn't failing or anything like that. To be honest with you, I was lost. I didn't know what to do. So I ended up joining the Navy.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
This is after Vietnam too, right? Because I think the draft was over by this point.

Denny, WB9MSM:
It was just getting over. Yeah it was just getting over. You're exactly right. So I ended up going down there to Minneapolis and one thing led to another. I talked to a recruiter and I actually got to be honest, I was probably somewhat depressed. I didn't know what I wanted, because I indicated to you earlier that I had jumped around from job to job and so here I was 21, 22 years old and I joined the Navy. I just said that's it. At 21 years old, I think, yeah I joined the Navy and back in those days, I joined the Navy, I'll never forget this, I joined the Navy, and this was in Minneapolis and I had only a few days, I repeat a few days, before I would report to boot camp.

Denny, WB9MSM:
It wasn't like hey this is a delayed enlistment, you're gonna spend 6 months and then you come in the Navy. It was a very short time. My recollection was 4 or 5 days and I was in the Navy. Again I was in Minneapolis from Watertown, Wisconsin and so I ended up going back home and told my mom and dad, hey I joined the Navy. I remember I had to go back up there and they put me on a plane along with a bunch of other guys and we shipped out to Great Lakes Naval Recruit Station. That the same place my dad went through and my uncle went through the same thing, but they went through first in earlier times during the Second World War both my dad and my uncle. They were Navy and they went through there. My dad, I don't want to say was angry at me or anything for dropping out of school, I think he just understood that you have to find yourself. I knew I'd find myself in the Navy real quick.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
So what did you do in the Navy?

Denny, WB9MSM:
I was a hospital corpsman. I was a medic more or less. I was a medic hospital corpsman and I went through training there. I went through boot camp of course in Great Lakes and I ended up going out to San Diego and they put me through the number one school in the Navy for medical. I was stationed at Balboa Naval Hospital. That if you've never seen it is quite a sight to see. That whole thing of San Diego is just amazing. But anyway, that's where I went to school. Yeah it was quite an adventure. So I ended up becoming a hospital corpsman in the Navy.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
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Eric, 4Z1UG:
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Eric, 4Z1UG:
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Eric, 4Z1UG:
And now back to our QSO.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
It's not the worst place to be stationed, right?

Denny, WB9MSM:
No I actually loved it and I'll tell you a little amateur radio story about San Diego. When I was out there, it was very intense, of course, with the training I had to go through was very intense. One weekend, I don't know how I found this out ... when I was preparing for this broadcast I was thinking to myself, I still can't remember, Coronado Island, I don't know if you're familiar with it ...

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Sure.

Denny, WB9MSM:
It's quite a place. Anyway I was told of an amateur radio operator that lived on Coronado Island. One of my commanding officers knew the guy and he said hey you should go see so and so and they gave me his address and I jumped onto a bus and went up to Coronado Island to meet the gentleman. I'll never ever forget that going to Coronado Island. The fellow was an elderly guy as I recall and I just remember talking to him and I saw pictures of all these different people. Some were famous people and one that comes to my mind was the picture of J. Edgar Hoover. I asked the gentleman, I don't remember his call was, I have to say I just don't remember anymore what this guy’s call was, but he said he and J. Edgar Hoover were pretty good friends. So I thought wow, I thought this was kind of interesting. I just spent some time with him there and looked at his radio shack and then of course I had to get back to base.

Denny, WB9MSM:
But I thought it was very, very interesting to have that opportunity. And it again you know it goes back to the old saying, amateur radio operators, I don't care where you are, they all seem to have an open door for a fellow ham. That's how this gentleman was, just a real nice guy and like I said I enjoyed my meeting him and he shared information with me and things like that about his station. I got to say that's the thing about amateur radio that makes it so much fun is it's really kind of neat.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Were you active in the Navy as an amateur radio operator?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Yes, yes, yes, I was Eric. That's a very, very interesting question you just asked me and I'll tell you something, a very interesting question. Anyway I finished up there and I graduated from the Naval School of Health Science. We started out with like 30 some students in my class we ended up graduating I think 15 or 16. It was quite a thing. People would bale out because they didn't do well in school and they'd send them right out to sea. But anyway, I was very fortunate I graduated. Well with my graduation they said you're gonna go to Hawaii which I was totally ecstatic about and they said you're going to Pearl Harbor and I said oh my gosh, I'm going to Pearl Harbor. Yes, that's where I went. I came out of Travis Air Force Base on a C130 and Hickman in Hawaii and from Hick am I went to Pearl Harbor and I was stationed in Pearl Harbor there.

Denny, WB9MSM:
I was destined, from what I understand, I was destined to go to the kiddie hall. Everything was kind of moving in that direction that I'd be there. One thing led to another, if you're in the military, you're at the military's expense of course. One thing to another, I ended up in the Marines. So I ended up over at Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Station. All that happened was, they needed me and one thing led to another and I ended up at Kaneohe Bay which turned out to be really neat, because I had an opportunity there, of course being with the Marines, but they had a MARS station there that was second to none. It was absolutely beautiful, Eric.

Denny, WB9MSM:
The story there is quite interesting in itself. I got on the base and I was stationed right with the Marines and we had a dispensary there and they put me in there doing different things, all kinds of things. I got to meet the captain of the Marine Corps for the COMS center. The COMS center is the communication center which also housed their MARS station, the military amateur radio station. I'll tell you something, that was neat. This captain took a liking to me. I think probably because I was a corpsman. I can tell you, the Marines take very good care of the corpsmen. The captain says, I'm gonna give you a key to the MARS station and I thought wow. So in other words I could operate the radio station there whenever I wanted. He made it very clear that the key was mine, but just don't be stupid, you know what I'm saying?

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Yes

Denny, WB9MSM:
I was really pleased because I'd never, ever in my wildest dreams anticipated that. And sure enough I got to go in there and operate the station. Just like I say it was all really top notch equipment. All Collins S-Lines. Back in those days Eric, they had the real radio teletypes and the guys that were in there, they were active duty Marines. They were very good to me. I'd just come up when they finished with duty and I'd say I'm gonna get on the air for awhile, no problem doc you do what you wanna do. So I'd stay up there sometimes at night until 9:00 o'clock at night. I just had a great time. I just really enjoyed that. It was just a really super great thing. So yeah I go to operate. I operated the amateur station that they had there with KH6BGS, kilo baker 6 beer, gin, and scotch. I made oodles and oodles of contacts from that location. I had so much fun.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Now this was post Vietnam War, right? So the MARS Station itself was not active?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Negative, negative. They still used it. They were still using it Eric. They were still doing phone patches and things like that, but it WAS still being used, but it was not by any means to the extent that it was during the Vietnam War. They downsized it from that standpoint, but there was still activity going there.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Did you operate as a MARS operator?

Denny, WB9MSM:
No, no I did not. Because they were kind of strict about that. I didn't have what they called a quote, quote MOS for that Eric. The military is very, very rigid with a lot of regulatory things in that you must be trained for this and this and this. Even though I was an amateur radio operator I was not trained with an MOS for doing traffic handling. So no I did not. Which was fine with me. They actually had guys that would do it and they had guys that would be at the radio were actually manning the place. They did all kinds of different things, not just Mars stuff. They were doing communication for all different kinds of things there. So it was very, very interesting, but no I was not quote a Mars operator.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
So what happened after you left the Navy?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Oh yeah. After I left the Navy, well I'll tell you what , I served 4 years in the Navy and after I left the Navy again I was looking to say what I would do. Because I only wanted to do 4 years in the Navy and I didn't want to stay in for a lifetime. I decided that I didn't want to do. So I had a younger brother, oh gosh, he's 4 years younger than me who had just graduated from the University of Wisconsin Whitewater. He got talking to me,and he said hey you should go there. I'm not really set up for college. I didn't think I'd ever want to go to college.

Denny, WB9MSM:
Well long story short on that, I ended up going to speak to a counselor there and Eric I was entitled to because I was honorably discharged and everything went fine with the Navy that the counselor at the college there, U of Whitewater, which is by the way it's about 30 miles south of Watertown. They actually had a counselor there to tell me that, you know what, you have a GI bill and was actually entitled to the true GI bill. I said what does that mean? Well you basically not gonna pay a penny for any college. Well believe it or not, Eric that really sounded great. So I ended up going to college and I graduated. I never spent a penny towards my college education, but I graduated Eric from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater with a degree in business administration with major emphasis in human resource. Back in that day they called personnel with a minor in occupational safety. It was very, very good. I had a very good college education. Four years in college and it was just outstanding and then of course I got a career when I graduated.

Denny, WB9MSM:
They had a very nice club there at the college too. I got to meet some real nice guys at our club. One of the professors there, I don't remember his call, but his name was Dr. Jim Merobedas. He was a biology teacher. I actually had him for a teacher, but he also was our guy in charge of the radio club. He was very nice man and I got to meet some really, really nice other students that were amateurs as well as employees that were amateurs. It was kind of fun. I enjoyed that.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
So, you made a career,then in human resources or personnel, is that right?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Yes, you bet it is. I graduated from college and yes I went right to work almost a short time later after I graduated. I graduated in December and ended up getting a job the following year like in what was April or March, I can't remember sometime shortly after I graduated. I went to work for that company. I was able to retire from the company after over 25 years. I was really tickled when I had that opportunity. It was a very, very good career. I ended up working for a company that was a father and two sons that founded the company and they're great people, excellent people. I still have a rapport with one of them. Very, very good man. So from that standpoint, it was a very good career.

Denny, WB9MSM:
The company they owned and then they sold it to the British and the British bought the company, and I was able to have a very, very good career with the British. I ended up going and oh they took very good care of me. I mean extremely good care of me. They sent me to England on many occasions where I went there, and I did training. I actually ended up becoming, I don't know if you're gonna know what this is, but it's six sigma black belt. I did 5 weeks training over in the UK. It was very, very nice. It was very rewarding. So I became a black belt in six sigma. Very, very tough training. I remember it was extremely difficult training. It basically pertained to quality and continuous improvement. So that was something I was really fortunate about.

Denny, WB9MSM:
Again when the British owned the company, they really took real good care of me too. I used to travel over Cadillac, Michigan all the time with our sister company over there in different locations, Barcelona, Spain, and what not. So I got a chance to travel with the company and specially when I became a six sigma black belt.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
I actually found that and it's in the show notes. Now you were an active amateur radio operator throughout this whole time and you describe on your QRZ page that you had a number of classic old rigs at least for those of us who've been around a long time they're classics. What were they and what's your favorite?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Oh yeah, I did have a number of classic radios. I had so many Eric, again part of it for me was to get these old rigs and fix them up and get them on the air. My favorite radio, believe it or not, were Swans. I loved Swan. I always seem to have a Swan 500. I'm really glad you bring that question up because if you look at my QRZ website, you'll see a brand new Swan that I had on there. That's a Swan 500 with the SX 15b filter and there's kind of a picture of me super imposed into the picture. Yeah I love Swans. I had over the years many, many different Swans, Swans 500.

Denny, WB9MSM:
I never owned any other Swans but Swans 500. I also had told you and the listeners there that I really liked the Collins S-Line. Well once I got a really good job I had, I said to myself so you know what I'm gonna buy myself brand new, not a brand new, I couldn't buy a brand new one then, Collins S-Line and I did that. I had my own Collins S-Line. I still got some pictures of it. That's all I have left, but I had that for some time there Eric and it was really nice, they have a Collins S-Line.

Denny, WB9MSM:
But anyway I had that, I ended up selling it and it's gone. It lasted so long and I moved on to something else. But I've had so many different radios over the years. I had Gonsets, oh I don't know so many different ones Eric. It was fun because back in those days I actually had my own rigs and my own tube checker and all kinds of different things that I could check the tubes and put tubes in them. If you have to do a little work on them you could work on them. However, since then, I have really moved to a solid state, I really don't have anything like that anymore. With the exception of my Ameritron EL811 that's got tubes in it, but otherwise no everything else I have now is solid state.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
And now this message from QRP Labs. Well hams, QRP Labs has done it again. QRP Labs announces a new 10 Watt linear HF power amplifier kit for just $26.00 US. That's right, $26.00 United States currency. This power amplifier comfortably produces 10 Watts from a 12 volt DC supply. For every mode, including the high duty cycle digital modes. This new linear amplifier provides 26DB of gain from 2-30 megahertz with a plus or minus one DB gain flatness over the entire range. This 10 Watt linear power amplifier kit has no surface mount components to solder. There are a small number of transformers that need to be wound and assembly requires care and patience. If you're a beginner, you can still do this kit. The push pull driver stage uses two BS170 transistors in the amplifier found in the Softrock transmitter design. This final uses two IRF 510 transistors in push pull configuration. Yes this humble low cost Mosfet is really capable of excellent performance all the way up to 10 meter band and beyond. Hans says the short lead lengths and PCB layouts are extremely important to the success of this kit.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
This kit includes a huge heat sync to prevent overheating even during a 100% duty cycle. Hans sent me a message that he tested key down for 1 hour at 10 Watts at full power with no forced air cooling. He tested again for 15 minutes at 20 Watts 100% continuous duty cycle with no forced air cooling. He even tested this new power amplifier with a 20 volt DC power supply into an open load, a shorted load, and various mismatches without instability, oscillation or failure. So if you have a QCX or any other QRP transmitter and want to boost its output power with a highly reliable linear power amplifier at an amazing price, then click on the link in this week’s show notes page to tell Hans you heard it here on QSO Today. QRP labs is my favorite kit company. It should be yours too. QRP Labs.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
So what's the current rig now Denny?

Denny, WB9MSM:
The current rig that I have that I use for the most part is my Kenwood TS-590S. I have that and I actually have a couple of TS-2000s. They're nice radios and I have the one TS-2000 since 2001 and I mainly use that just for two meters right now. Two meters for our local repeater. I don't get on a lot of repeaters, but I do get on a 2 meter repeater. I like it. We got one here in Watertown with the Watertown Amateur Club. And we have our own repeater. And it's kind of nice. They also have just put a D-Star repeater on there too, so that's really moving up in the technology. Yeah, they go a D-Star on there. I have not gotten into D-Star. I think it's a great, great thing. I just haven't gotten into it yet. But a lot of the guys are starting to move in that direction which is great. I 100% support it. I just haven't done it yet.

Denny, WB9MSM:
Yeah the other TS-2000s that I have, I have it sitting on a 40 meter dipole. I have a number of wire antennas up also including a Yagi antenna. I have an old Mosley Classic 33. I have that up about 40 feet or so. And then I got some wire antennas that I have out there. I have a Hypower, a really nice antenna. I never would have made the DXCC on 80CW without it. And the gentlemen that owns that company is just so great. Fantastic guy. The high power 80/40 and that's what I have. Originally was about 160 80 and 40. I took the traps off for 160 and just 80 and 40. Like I said I would have never got 80 meters without that antenna and that DXCC without that antenna. I did it on that. Oh that was so fantastic. That's a whole another story in itself.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
I saw a picture of your shack on the upright corner. There is a spectrum display. Is that spectrum display coming from the Kenwood's?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Basically let me just share some information with you now. I really am into software now. I don't know if you really want me to go down that road or not, but I'm really into software. I'm a software freak. Not building as much these days, but I sure am into software. And there's software out there and basically what I did with my 590, I was able to put a SDR with my 590. What I did is I went inside my 590 and I tapped into it and actually cut a cord coming out of the back that enables me to go and do SDR. So I actually had the SDR play one. I got the older there. I went to my 590 and I tapped into a jumper there and you're able to in ...actually the jumper I went into and if anybody's interested they can email me, I can send them the information on it. But the CN101, and I jumped into that and I'm able to go in and do SDR. I used the HDSDR software and that is really nice software.

Denny, WB9MSM:
It allows me to more or less turn my 590 and use that and use the display and I can do some clicking on there and I can go to different stations when I see them come up on the display. It really works nice, so that's just one piece of software that I have.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Denny in order to use the 590 with SDR, you have some kind of a sound card or something like that, that's taking that or using some kind of a DB dongle something like that, that's taking that, it's the LO or something out of the 590?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Basically I have the SDR plate. I don't know if you ever heard of that.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
It's software and hardware or just software?

Denny, WB9MSM:
It's both, actually it's both. I'm mainly using it for the hardware, however, Eric. I'm using it mainly for the hardware and I take the hardware and I put it into HDSDR software.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Oh, okay, okay.

Denny, WB9MSM:
Sure. It's kind of confusing.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
No it's not at all. So I brought up on my screen so essentially the SDR plate is a black box that's taking information out of the back of your 590 and turning it into something that the computer can see.

Denny, WB9MSM:
Yeah, basically that's it.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
That's cool.

Denny, WB9MSM:
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, that's 100% correct.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
So an old rig like a 590 can become an SDR receiver. How much of the band can you see at one time?

Denny, WB9MSM:
I can see quite a bit. I can see pretty far. I can see like a 100, 200 ...

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Kilohertz. You can use it to see if anybody's in the band while you're out there calling CQ.

Denny, WB9MSM:
Exactly, exactly Eric. I can see a lot of bandwidth. I mean it's crazy, it's really crazy. I can see a lot. So that little unit really does something. What's interesting about the 590, it did not, I repeat did not, allow that capability without doing what I did going inside and going into the jumper. Now the 590 SG does do that. You don't have to do any jump or anything. You have that capability without doing the jumper. I got this information from another fellow and he passed it along to me, actually I'm trying to think of his call, WE1X come to my mind, yeah WE1X. I couldn't have done it without that information, it's really good. If anybody needs it, just send me an email. I am good on QRZ.com. I'd be more than happy to forward it to them if they got a 590 and they want to make that ... it's, a really, no brainer. It's really easy to do. Just go inside and get that cable. The cable that you use is from an old ... you remember they used to have the cordless phones ...

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Sure.

Denny, WB9MSM:
They had battery. You take that battery connector and you ship it and you put it on the back of the radio and you can pull it out of there you fed it up into the SDR plate. So it works out pretty nice.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
That's pretty cool. Your QRZ page shows lots of pictures of DX awards. So you got into DX and you've actually completed DXing and you got into FT8 last year. How long have you been in DXing and what do like about Dxing?

Denny, WB9MSM:
I'm so glad you asked that question. I got to be honest with you. I am ... as you see if you look at my QRZ page you'll see that I am a DXer. My true joy is HF and true joy is Dxing. Now with that being said, yeah I got a lot of different awards. I got the 5 band DXCC. I got 7 band Worked All States. I'm a real CW guy. I'm not gonna say that I'm a high speed CW operator, because I am not. I feel real comfortable 20 to 25 words per minute, real comfortable I could copy that all day long. I can't do the 40 words or anything like that. So I'm not a real high speed guy, but I have fun with that CW and I have fun chasing DX on CW. That's actually how I really, really got my 5 band DXing speed was with the CW on 80 meters, and actually CW on all my bands. But CW of 80 meters, just to give you an example of how much fun DXing can be.

Denny, WB9MSM:
I'll never forget the morning a couple of years ago and I was actually on 80 meters and I heard a Japanese station. First time I ever heard a Japanese station on CW. I worked the guy and it wasn't 5 minutes later he already had me uploaded into log book of the world. And I thought, this is cool, but it's so neat to hear that band open to Japan for example. Or the other day, Eric, I don't know, it appears that maybe you're not into the Dxing, but we just finished up a really nice D-expedition the Victor Papa Six Delta to Ducie Island. Duce Island is located right near the Pitcairn. It's an island there they had a D-expedition where they had 12 to 15 hams which a good majority of them were US guys, but there was actually an international team and they were there for 10 days or so.

Denny, WB9MSM:
I worked them on a lot of different bands, but the real thrill was when I worked them on 80 CW. That was neat. I got to tell you Eric, if you look on your S meter and you start seeing a S9 and it's coming from the Patarin Islands and you're on 80 meters CW and the meters just ... it was just a thrill to work the guy. They too uploaded to LOTW shortly after they got back. I made a small donation to DX-xpediton. I think that's only proper to help defray some of the cost. Sure enough they LOTW'ed me. It's not a brand new contract as far as all time new one, but it certainly was on CW, I've never had them on CW before. I had them on phone 7 or 8 years ago. It was so much fun. You get bit by this bug and HF in itself Eric is such a thrill, because HF is where it's at in my opinion.

Denny, WB9MSM:
I love the fact that you can come down in the radio shack and your antenna is all you have and you hear stations and you transmit the stations with the antenna that you have. You’re not going through any internet or anything of that nature. It's the real magic of the radio and the antenna and it's actually quite captivating. It really makes you excited, I feel anyway. I enjoy it very, very much. So Dxing is in my blood.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
I saw a bunch of press releases in every language that last year you worked a 100 countries and got DXCC working using FT8. How long did it take you to do it?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Well, I tell you what Eric. Thank you very much for bringing this up. First of all, FT8 too,I like FT8. I think it's the greatest one, may be not, but you know what I like it. I think where we have to be as hams, we should be very open to trying different things. There are guys I know that won't even give it any time, because they generalize it's not good, it's not good. Well I think we should work together. Back in 2017, July, K1JT came up with this FT8, they started releasing FT8.

Denny, WB9MSM:
I did not get into it until September of 2017, so it was a number of months later. But I got so excited working it because the software’s free and everything cool and again you have this on your computer screen. I've got the one computer screen is a 27 inch monitor and the one right to the right of it is a 24 inch and I got the smaller one is a 14 inch or something, but it's HP. But anyway, yeah you get on there with that and it's so much fun watching it come across the screen, but I've to work all states in 6 weeks, 6 weeks Eric. Again it's like shooting fifth in the barrel. It is easy. I'm not gonna joke about it, it is. But it's also run. It took me four months Eric to DXing speed with FT8, four months.

Denny, WB9MSM:
As I was stressed to conform, I know a lot of people don't like it, but as I stress to people it's good for amateur radio. Hey, let's think of this, we should be embracing all these modes as some new frontier that need to be explored and I still get on FT8. I don't get on it all of the time, but I enjoy it. I think that's where it's at. You got to look at this, just prior to FT8 I was getting on JT65, I only made a few contacts on there and then FT8 got to me and I said wow this literally cool, because it reminded me, I'm a substitute teacher since I retired, it reminded me of the kids at school, you know they get some free time, they're all playing games. Well FT is almost like a game because it's going kind of fast and I love it. I just think it's cool. So anyway, that's my plug for FT8 and I'm gonna stick to it.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Are you active in an amateur club there?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Yes I am actually. I'm active in the Watertown Amateur Radio Club UA. The club was founded back in 1982 and we've got somewhere around 30 some members, I don't know. I'm actually the secretary, but it's somewhere around 30 some members. Yeah somewhere right in that range. Yes I am active.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Now you mentioned that the Watertown Amateur Radio Club maintains a repeater or two and you now have D-Star. Does that radio club also do activities or events?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Oh yes, absolutely. One event that we are very, very big into is annually is the Oconomowoc Walk, I'm sure you've never heard of that. It's a community it's about 15 miles east of Watertown. They have every year an art festival. It's one of the largest in this part of the United States. They have a huge art festival. Well we go there as a radio club and we provide communication for them. It's a Saturday/Sunday type of event and we go there and provide the communication for their event. We've been doing that for many, many years. And it's a good community event for our club to be involved with something that's community based. I say it's a big event because we get a lot of people coming through there that see us with our radios and stuff like that. Yeah, it's kind of neat. We all wear our orange vests. Yeah, yeah, every year we do that. We've been doing that for many, many years. The Watertown Amateur Radio Club gets involved in different things, but that is one of the biggest things that we get involved with and it's really a good event.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
What excites you the most about what's happening the most in amateur radio now?

Denny, WB9MSM:
Well, I tell you what Eric, what excites me is really, and again, I'm gonna just touch on this FT8 thing, just for a minute. Because that technology Eric that is going on today in amateur radio supersedes in my opinion, again only my opinion, that was going on years ago, it's going to be at lightning speed. With the advent of the computer and the ham radio is such a great fit together. I don't know Eric the ham radio and computer are just ... it's like a really good marriage. It's type of technology that I really, really try to embrace. That's why I have so many different things that I get involved with and mainly into the software side, because I have so many different programs that I get in, everything from DX Atlas to CW Skimmer to whatnot.

Denny, WB9MSM:
I just think that there are so many things there. So it's the technology I like Eric and it really is fun and FT8 part of it is just one thing that really technology wise, if a person looks at what's happening with the low noise and making contact under those conditions, it's phenomenal. So I just say that's it, the technology, really excites me.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Denny would you have any advice to give to a new or a returning hams to the hobby?

Denny, WB9MSM:
To new or returning hams, I'd say embrace a lot of different things and come into it with an open mind that you're anxious to learn. I say that in only one sense that there's a lot of opportunities in amateur radio for different modes and operation wise. You can go into a lot of different things. Our hobby is not just limited to VHF or UHF or HF. I mean you can go all different kind of areas. I have never fully embarked into this satellite part of amateur radio. I have not gotten into D-Star as of yet. But I mean there are so many things, so I say be open minded. Look at amateur radio as an opportunity to learn something and I think they will be quite pleased.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
Denny you've been a wonderful guest on the QSO Today Podcast. I'm so glad that you're feeling much better, and that we actually had a chance to do this cue a few months after we were planning on it.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
So with that I want to wish you 73 and thank you so much for joining me.

Denny, WB9MSM:
Oh you bet, Eric and I want to say thank you so much Eric for inviting me to be interviewed. I'm so used to, when I was working, doing the interviewing and I got to tell you Eric I look forward to your podcast each week. I sincerely mean that because you always have some very interesting guests on your podcasts. I really enjoy listening to them. I am very thankful. Thank you very much Eric and I wish you the best of 73.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
73. That concludes this episode of QSO Today. I hoped that you enjoyed this QSO with Denny. Please be sure to check out the show notes that include links and information about the topics that we discussed. Go to www.qsotoday.com and put in WB9MSM that's mike sugar mike in the search box at the top of the page. I appreciate your guest suggestions, keep them coming. My thanks to both Icom America and QRP Labs for their support of the QSO Today Podcast. Please show your support of these fine sponsors by clicking on their links in the show notes pages or when you make your purchases that you say that you heard it here on QSO Today. You may notice that some of the episodes are transcribed into written text. If you like to sponsor this or any of the other episodes into written text, please contact me. Support the QSO Today Podcast by first joining the QSO Today email list by pressing the subscribe buttons on the show notes pages.

Eric, 4Z1UG:
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Eric, 4Z1UG:
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