KB3HJC — Randy

Amateur Radio • POTA • Digital Modes • Public Safety Communications

About Me

Hello from north-central Pennsylvania.

I’m Randy, KB3HJC, located in Tioga County, PA. My interests in amateur radio include HF operating, Parks on the Air, FT8, SSB, VHF/UHF, radio programming, antennas, and portable field operation. At some point, I would also like to get into CW.

I enjoy getting on the air from home and from the field, especially for Parks on the Air activations. My station and portable setups are always changing as I test different radios, antennas, batteries, and logging setups. I especially enjoy experimenting with practical gear that works well in real-world conditions.

I use WRL for logging and can usually be reached on AllStar node 273654.

Family & Life Outside the Shack

Outside of amateur radio, I’m blessed to be married to my wife, Julie. We have been married for 25 years and have two kids, Darwin and Solaris.

As a family, we enjoy fishing, camping, cruises, and traveling. A lot of my radio interests fit naturally with being outdoors, portable operating, and spending time away from home enjoying new places.

Photos

A few photos from my portable operating, antennas, and radio setups.

KB3HJC tailgate POTA radio setup
Tailgate POTA setup
Yaesu FTX-1 Optima portable radio setup with WRL
FTX-1 Optima and WRL in the field
Portable POTA setup on a picnic table
POTA picnic table setup
Portable antenna tripod setup
Portable antenna setup

Photo Album

More photos from my station, POTA activations, portable radio setups, antennas, and other radio projects are available in my public photo album.

Current Radio Gear

Yaesu FT-710 AESS

Main HF base station radio for home operating.

Yaesu FTX-1 Optima

Portable and field radio setup for POTA and flexible operating.

QRP Labs QMX+

Compact QRP digital-mode radio, especially useful for portable FT8 operation.

Parks on the Air

I enjoy activating and hunting POTA parks around Pennsylvania and nearby areas. Portable operating gives me a good excuse to get outdoors, test antennas, and keep improving my field setup.

Portable operating focus: POTA activations around north-central Pennsylvania, practical antennas, battery-powered HF, SSB, FT8, and quick field setups that actually work.

KB3HJC Parks on the Air Stats

My current Parks on the Air activator and hunter stats are shown below.

Public Safety & Emergency Communications

I’m involved with my local fire department as Fire Police Captain. Because of that, public safety radio, paging, dispatch monitoring, and emergency communications are a big part of my radio interests.

I enjoy working with radio systems from both the amateur radio side and the public safety communications side.

Outside of Radio

Outside of amateur radio, I work as an IT Infrastructure Engineer and enjoy working on technical projects involving Linux, networking, SDR, and radio communications.

Contact & Links

Thanks for the contact, and I appreciate you taking the time to look me up. Hope to hear you again down the log.

Callsign: KB3HJC

Email: randy@kb3hjc.com

AllStar: Node 273654