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 Hello and thanks for stopping by!

Hello! My name is Eric and I live in a southern suburb of the Twin Cities area of Minnesota called Lakeville. I am about 20 miles south of both Minneapolis and St. Paul. Besides being a HAM radio operator, I am a vinyl record collector, baseball fan, and a fly fisherman.

I got my technician license in 2008 and did a little with repeater work and then got away from the hobby for a few years. I got interested in SOTA when I lived for a few years in Aspen Colorado, so I started studying for my General license. Things changed for me and I moved back to Minnesota in 2014 and once again HAM radio took a backseat. I did however pass my General in 2016 and then passed my Extra in March 2017. Amateur radio did truly begin for me when I got on the HF bands. I began having so much fun talking to people all over the world, to me it still feels a bit like magic. 

I am new to CW after having just finished CW Academy Level 1. What an amazing class! If you have any interest in learning the code, I highly recommend the program! I went in not knowing more than a few letters; finished the 8 week class knowing the whole alphabet, numbers, some common punctuation and a few prosigns. While I still have a long way to go I am having a ton of fun with CW and hope that someday it becomes second nature to me. Right now it is still a bit of a struggle. I am having a hard time copying. My sending is pretty good at least. But I have a very strong desire to become proficient at the Code so I have been practicing a lot and getting on the air for simple QSOs, POTA and SOTA chasing which is helping! If we worked a CW contact, thanks for your patience. 

I enjoy chasing DX, Summits on the Air (SOTA) chasing and activations, World Wide Flora & Fauna (WWFF) hunting and activating, chasing Special Event Stations. I also dabble in contesting and just have a ton of fun working contests! For digital modes I am a huge fan of FT8 and work with it often. One thing that I really like is using "portable" style antennas, it adds a little to the challenge and that in turn adds to the fun, well at least for me it does. 

Club Associations: 

10-10 International Member #77572.

100 watts and a wire #1291

Fists CW Club #18492

The North American QRP CW Club - NAQCC #8334

SKCC #18345

Twin Cities Repeater Club: http://www.tcrc.org/

Eureka Amateur Radio Club: VY0ERC -  The most northerly located amateur radio club in the world