Amateur Radio

Hello and welcome. I am Andrew Woodward. In November 2024, I obtained my Foundation Level Amateur Radio Licence (Australia).

My callsign is VK2AWN. I broadcast from Bellingen, New South Wales, Australia. (-30.452030, 152.896680 and QF69KN). “Bello” is roughly halfway between Sydney and Brisbane on the east coast. I plan to upgrade to a standard licence by the end of 2025.

I am reacquainting myself with radio, a hobby I took up during my teenage years, which has broadened to include amateur radio. My main area of interest is HF (voice, FT8 and WSPR), and I am active on 40 and 15 metres. I am also interested in working operators via amateur repeaters on satellites, including the International Space Station. I use mostly Icom radios and Diamond antennas.

For more on my ham radio story, please see this blog post. I also have some other blog posts on amateur radio and POTA (Parks on the Air).

I am a member of the Wireless Institute of Australia and Radio Amateurs Society Australia.

Web

VK2AWN: Facebook
Apple Ham Radio: Web and Facebook
Profiles: QRZ and eQSL
Logbook (Only latest QSO‘s)
Parks on the Air (POTA)
Reddit and BlueSky

Contact

Email: inbox AT vk2awn DOT net
Facebook Messenger: vk2awn

Radios

Amateur HF: Icom IC-7300
Amateur HF: Icom IC-718
Amateur VHF/UHF: Icom ID-52A Plus
Amateur VHF/UHF: Icom IC-208H
Amateur VHF/UHF: Baofeng UV-5R Mini
Citizen Band UHF: Icom IC-41PRO, IC-450 and IC-455
Receiver: Icom IC-R8500
Receiver: XHDATA D-808
General Purpose SDR: Nooelec NESDR SMArt v5 SDR
DStar hotspot: MMDVM Hotspot Spot Radio Station WiFi Digital Voice Modem

Software

SDR Control for Icom (Mac and IC-7300). I use this for voice and FT8.
HamToolbox (for Mac, iOS and iPad OS)
EchoLink (for Mac, iOS and iPad OS)
Ham2k PoLo (POTA logging) (for M-series Mac, iOS and iPad OS)
ParksNPeaks for POTA (for iOS and Mac)
pota.app as a cross-platform web app
MacDoppler and MacDopplerRadios (for Mac and IC-R8600)
RT Systems (for Mac and ID-52AP, IC-7300, IC-208H)
RT Systems (for Windows and IC-R8500)
SatGazer (for Mac)
TQSL for LOTW
Blog post on drivers (ignore logging)
ISS Detector (for iOS and iPad OS)
SDR++ (for Mac)
MagicSDR (for iOS and iPadOS)
I have also used Chirp, WSTJ-X and GridTracker (for Mac)

QSL

I QSL via eQSL, QRZ and LOTW
I do have printed QSL cards.
I will send a physical QSL if you send me an IRC and return envelope to PO Box 13, Bellingen NSW 2454, Australia
I can send a card in an envelope if you send USD5 via PayPal (click to pay)

Antennas

Base HF transmit antenna: Diamond CP-6S
Base HF receive antenna: Tecsun end-fed wire
Base VHF/UHF transmit antenna: Diamond X50A
Base all frequencies receive antenna: Diamond D3000N Super Discone Antenna
Base Citizen Band UHF: RFI COL5000 UHF
HF Antenna Tuners (Transmit): Mat-Tuner mAT-180H and AT-100M Pro
HF Antenna Tuner (Receive): MFJ-959C
Mobile VHF/UHF antenna: Diamond SG-M507 and SG7900A
Mobile CB Radio: Uniden AT-880 Twin
Portable HF transmit antennas: (a) LWHF-80 80-6M Multiband End Fed Long Wire Antenna, (b) home home-made 20 metre dipole, (c) pocket QRP antenna and (d) Mini-ANT 20W QRP Shortwave All Band Tuned Antenna Tuner With M-Head
Baluns/ununs: LDG RBA1-1 and RU9-1

Logging

When not doing POTA, I use the logging program in SDR Control for Icom and HamToolBox.
I sync with QRZ, LOTW and eQSL.
When doing POTA, I use Ham2KPoLo
I have HAMRS as a back-up