ANDY VK5LA.
Lives at:
Andy lives in the Riverland in S.A.
When licenced:
Andy was first licenced via a WIA 6 month course at the old Burley Griffith building at Thebarton in Sept. 1995 as VK5XAW. He upgraded to VK5KAW after about 4 months with 5wpm Morse…(listening to unsquelched 10m FM will motivate you!) In late 1999 he upgraded to VK5LA
Member of:
Andy is an active and current member of the Riverland Radio Club. He has held all office positions several times, currently the secretary.
Other info:
Andy did a fair bit of VHF and above and lots of Packet radio as well. Joined SCARC when he got my licence. Was on the roster for the WIA 80m Sunday Morning broadcast/callback. Andy had lots of fun on 15 and 10m DX for a couple of years before moving to the Riverland mid 1998. Helped out with transmitting the twice weekly slow Morse sessions with Kingsley VK5AKN(SK). Did a fair bit of RTTY contesting in those days. Andy wWas one of the original 20 examiners for the foundation licence at its introduction. Was fairly inactive for a few years while the kids were young, until he became interested in Microwaves around 2005 and built transverters for all bands to 10Ghz and participated in many VHF/UHF field days, winning the Spring VHF/UHF Field Day 8hr Nationally. Andy really enjoys getting outdoors and the whole drive, setup and operate, trip.
He is also a very keen homebrew antenna guy and loves the associated tech and gadgets with ham radio.
He has recently started concentrating on chasing DX parks and the awards that go with them, especially using CW. Have had some ripper CW P2P’s with USA and UK stations recently!
DXpeditions:
Andy was part of the 2023 trip to Troubridge Island as VK5TIL.
He was also a team member of the 2024 trip to Flinders Island as VK5FIL.
WWFF/VKFF:
In 2013 Andy started chasing SOTA summits amd became a Shack Sloth in 2013.
He heard about VKFF via Larry VK5LY(SK) and gradually started hunting parks and in 2017 started activating parks. Recently began using Morse, hunting and activating parks after VK2IO did a massive Rove to Queensland, activating many parks with his KX3. He couldn’t hear him well enough on QRP SSB to work him, but could hear him on CW, hence the motivation. CW adds another dimension to WWFF
WWFF/VKFF stats:
Other hobbies:
Other than amateur radio Andy’s interests include playing the guitar in a band.
Andy lives in the Riverland in S.A.
When licenced:
Andy was first licenced via a WIA 6 month course at the old Burley Griffith building at Thebarton in Sept. 1995 as VK5XAW. He upgraded to VK5KAW after about 4 months with 5wpm Morse…(listening to unsquelched 10m FM will motivate you!) In late 1999 he upgraded to VK5LA
Member of:
Andy is an active and current member of the Riverland Radio Club. He has held all office positions several times, currently the secretary.
Other info:
Andy did a fair bit of VHF and above and lots of Packet radio as well. Joined SCARC when he got my licence. Was on the roster for the WIA 80m Sunday Morning broadcast/callback. Andy had lots of fun on 15 and 10m DX for a couple of years before moving to the Riverland mid 1998. Helped out with transmitting the twice weekly slow Morse sessions with Kingsley VK5AKN(SK). Did a fair bit of RTTY contesting in those days. Andy wWas one of the original 20 examiners for the foundation licence at its introduction. Was fairly inactive for a few years while the kids were young, until he became interested in Microwaves around 2005 and built transverters for all bands to 10Ghz and participated in many VHF/UHF field days, winning the Spring VHF/UHF Field Day 8hr Nationally. Andy really enjoys getting outdoors and the whole drive, setup and operate, trip.
He is also a very keen homebrew antenna guy and loves the associated tech and gadgets with ham radio.
He has recently started concentrating on chasing DX parks and the awards that go with them, especially using CW. Have had some ripper CW P2P’s with USA and UK stations recently!
DXpeditions:
Andy was part of the 2023 trip to Troubridge Island as VK5TIL.
He was also a team member of the 2024 trip to Flinders Island as VK5FIL.
WWFF/VKFF:
In 2013 Andy started chasing SOTA summits amd became a Shack Sloth in 2013.
He heard about VKFF via Larry VK5LY(SK) and gradually started hunting parks and in 2017 started activating parks. Recently began using Morse, hunting and activating parks after VK2IO did a massive Rove to Queensland, activating many parks with his KX3. He couldn’t hear him well enough on QRP SSB to work him, but could hear him on CW, hence the motivation. CW adds another dimension to WWFF
WWFF/VKFF stats:
- 1,697 WWFF references worked in 16 different DXCC entities
- 100 WWFF reference areas activated
- VKFF Hunter Honour Roll 1,625 issued
- VKFF Activator Honour Roll 100 issued
- 342 Park to Park contacts
Other hobbies:
Other than amateur radio Andy’s interests include playing the guitar in a band.
