HANS VK6XN.
Lives at:
Hans lives in the inner southern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia.
Personal info:
Married to Sandra. Has two grown-up children.
Working life:
Hans retired in 2015, as a Technical Manager with the Adelaide Brighton Group.
When licenced:
Hans found his way into amateur radio in the late 1970s via the then very popular 11 metre band, such as it was at that time. It gave Hans a desire to find out how it all worked through some education. Hans gained his first amateur radio licence in September 1979 with the Novice callsign of VK6NJF. By late 1981, Hans had obtained the Advanced callsign of VK6XN, which he still holds today
Other info:
Through the early years, Hans was active in most aspects of amateur radio, including DXing, RTTY, Packet Radio and satellites (both low earth orbit and OSCAR 10).
Eventually, however, a career as an industrial chemist, marriage, children, and life in general caused Hans to drift away from all radio activities. Following his retirement in 2016, Hans returned to amateur radio with a renewed enthusiasm, though with little idea of direction after a 20-year absence.
WWFF/VKFF:
It was at that time that Hans was introduced to WWFF by a long-time friend, Phil VK6ADF. One park, and Hans was hooked. Hans has since taken on the role of VK6 & VK8 VKFF State Rep.
Hans regularly attends hamfests in VK6 to promote the WWFF program.
WWFF/VKFF stats:
- 477 WWFF references worked in 10 different DXCC entities
- 75 WWFF reference areas activated
- VKFF Hunter Honour Roll 450 issued
- Sapphire VKFF Activator issued
- 265 Park to Park contacts
Portable equipment:
Hans’ portable station includes a Yaesu FT-857d mounted in a go-box, a Perite vertical antenna, a homebrew end-fed half-wave which is resonant on 80, 40, 20, 15, & 10m.
Other interests in the hobby:
Hans enjoys using the digital mode FT8.
Other hobbies:
Other than amateur radio Hans' interests include reception of APT weather satellite pictures, photography of merchant shipping, boating in his 18 foot runabout, Astro-photography, cargo cruising, and the occasional bit of fishing.
In 2015, Hans spent 6 weeks as a passenger on board a container ship travelling from Melbourne to London via New Zealand, Panama and the USA. Sadly, at that time, he wasn't carrying any radio gear, so a great opportunity was lost. In August 2018, Hans boarded another cargo ship in Southampton and was able to operate maritime mobile throughout the journey to Port Kelang in Malaysia. From there, Hans transferred to another ship for the run down to Fremantle, also operating marine mobile.
