User data

KN4MBF

First name:

Michael

Monti

Address:

7301 Hobbs Rd

Owensboro

United States

QSL via:

QRZ, E-mail request

User info

 I was born in So Florida, April 1959. 

 When I was about 12 years old I meet a local kid that was a few years older then myself. He was studying electronics, vacuum tubes and transistors, Well I just thought this was amazing. I started messing around and experimenting with whatever I could get my hands on. Mostly TVs and radios I found in the trash. At around 15 I got my hands on a Sonar 6 channel CB, convinced Dad to let me put up a good vertical antenna off the 2nd floor roof. It was a skip talking beast. stock 5 watts am ! and it rocked !! I wish I could find my old log book. 

In High school I took the option to go to vocational school (Best decision I ever made) and studied Industrial Electronics, Taught by Mr. Warren at Shardon Vocational School in Hollywood Fla. 2 years later I was working for a local computer manufacture "Mod Comp"  Wow did I ever learn a bunch then... And I could see the future was in computers. The could do sooo much stuff already and the rate computers were growing, they were going to be everywhere. 

A few years later I went to work for "Computer Data Corporation" in LA. Doing repair and maintenance on mainframe computers and there peripheral devices. 

Family matters drew me back to So Fla. where I went to work for a marine electronic repair company. There I was exposed to what I call "Real world RF"  I got to work on (And Learn) lots of HF radios as well as VHF stuff and Loran and Radar and Sonar and autopilots and these new GPS things. I was in heaven !!!  I made one of the first mobile APRS units running around So Fla, setup in a honda accord. Also while working there I got my hands on a Kenwood TS-140S that had been hit by lightning. It took a bit of work but I got it up and running. Listening to stuff from around the world was great, but I wanted to talk too..... just could never get around to upgrading to General class to be able to talk on HF.

 I got my Tech+ ham license (KE4DWK) in 1993, took my test in my hometown park (Hallandale Park) I played in as a young kid. Enjoyed many years of UHF/VHF opps.  

Life goes on ... When time came to renew my license my life was in turmoil and the solar cycle was going down and I just lost interest. I packed up all the gear and parked it in a corner. 

2006 I retired from Arch Wireless after working for PageNet before they went bankrupt as a Paging Transmitter Tech. Cool Job, I got to go to some great mountain top transmitter sites. Average weekly mileage was around 800 miles a week on the roads through out NJ. NY. & CT. chasseing pager problems. 

Shortly there after I moved to Kentucky and took a job at a resort/campground "Diamond Lake Resort" doing a bunch of odd jobs, Long story short.. I have been here for 14 years now. Well, I always had some equipment set up to do some DXing. HF, VHF, and UHF. The local repeaters and such. HF was dead as we were at the bottom of the solar cycle. Local repeaters were very quiet. (as compared to the Armstrong repeater in New Jersey I was use to) 

2016 rolls around and the HF is starting to open up again. And there is all these new digital modes to play with. Computers and Radios have become one....  My two favorite things have come together. Time to get Re-Licensed !!! so I did.

Now I am KN4MBF mobile (My Big Ford) General Class Ham Operator.  

Current station equipment is an ICOM IC-7000 with a AT-120 auto tuner into a 108" whip antenna installed in my E-350 Ford 4X4 Van. running 100 watts max. Generally I run around 80 watts.

Just enjoying life.........

If you would like to say "Hi" another way...

I have a TeamSpeak3 server. Connect your TS3 client to 12.179.100.114 and do some rag chewing.

If you like classic Rock and Roll check out http://madmikesradio.net