About

NX1P.  The call sign was assigned to me by the FCC in July of 1989 a few weeks after I passed my Extra class license.  It is not a Vanity call sign.  I received this call sign on my birthday!  Needless to say I was pleased.

My original call sign was WN1GRX/WA1GRX.  I received my original call sign in 1965.

I was quite active on 10 meter AM in those early years.  And for a few of those early years I had an HT37 and got on sideband.  College, marriage and family put me off the air for many years.

In 1979 I was back on the air with my HT37 and NC303.  Ancient boat anchors for that time but it’s what I had.  In 1983 I got my first solid state transceiver, a TS430sat but was off the air again due to relocation moves.  1987 got me back on the air with a 70 foot tower and a homebrew 34 foot boom 15 meter beam.  A laser beam to be sure.

Work layoffs made me unemployed for a time during 1988 so I studied for my Extra.  In the spring of 1989 I took my advanced and extra class exam the same day and aced them (100%).  The VEC examiner had never seen that before.  I guess I just want to prove to myself that I still had tech on my side.

Divorce and relocation put me off the air after 1996.  I sold my TS850 and was off the air until 2005 when I got a IC756proII and in 2004 put my San Francisco QTH on the air briefly for a few months.  I sold the IC756PROII before I relocated at the end of 2004

Another relocation and a few years until 2008 when I purchased an IC756PROIII.  I put up a couple of dipoles at my Seattle QTH and got back on the air.  I also purchase an Elecraft K1 which I used extensively on my adventure motorcycle trips.

On one such trip I did some real estate shopping and found a mountain top QTH in southern Oregon.

In 2009 I made my first contacts using my K1 with a wire thrown out the bathroom window during a snow storm in March, sitting on the toilet seat!  I had purchased a nice modern cabin on top of a coastal mountain on the south coast of Oregon. Yes, putting the wire out the window and making a contact was my first act upon entering my new home!

A year later, in 2010,  I had a K3, Drake L4B, 80 foot tower and an M2 log periodic.  My first major contest station since 1991.

Various CQ and ARRL contest awards have followed.

Today, I have the K3, THP 1.5KFX, KX3, KPA500, KAT500, the log and various wires.  I still have my place in Seattle with the dipoles.  Seattle is very frustrating!.

I’ve added a Sportsmobile 4 wheel drive E250 van outfitted to carry 2 motorcycles and deploy a full portable QRO station where ever I decide to take it.  I also have a G3 screw driver antenna that loads from 10 to 80 meters so I can attempt to operate while traveling from place to place.

In 2013 I began joining DXpedtions as a CW op and IT guru.  T32RC was the first.  It was also the first DXpedition with ‘real time’ club log updates (real time means, you make the contact, check clublog and its there).  V73TM and V73XP followed in 2014, also with real time clublog.  I’ve created an Internet appliance called ClubPi which runs on a Raspberry Pi and automates the real time Club logging for DXpeditions.   The software is free for the asking.

It has been a long interesting journey and I look forward to more adventures.

Paula NX1P