About VE6KBS

 

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Name: Karl B. Staddon
 

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Call Sign: VE6KBS
 

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QTH:  Calgary, Alberta, Canada
            Latitude N 50.58.103, Longitude W 114.05.848
            Maidenhead Grid Locator DO20wx
 

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Station Information:  (have also operated as 5Z4KD, 5H2KB, ZK1KBS and  VE6KBS/HC)
HF Radio – Icom IC-756PROII, VHF Radio – Icom IC-207, HF Antenna – Force 12 DXer Plus yagi (33’ boom; 10 elements in total - 4 elements on 20 metres, 3 elements on 17 metres and 3 elements on 15 metres; two feedpoints; no traps.)  Primary HF Service Area – Current yagi heading is 230 degrees covering the west coast of Canada and the United States as well as the South Pacific.  VHF Antenna – Cushcraft 4 element yagi (1200 baud packet access via FM digipeater on the Canterra Tower in downtown Calgary on 145.15 mHz (-600 kHz.)  TNC - SCS PTC-IIpro with two packet modules.

How I Got Started Using Winlink 2000: (See Photos) I was part of a group of six who went to Kenya and Tanzania on September 7, 2001 to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya and to safari while in transit between mountains – we returned September 30, 2001.  It was only because of the very generous and able assistance of Ted Alleyne, 5Z4NU, and Ralph Karhammar, 5H3RK, that I was able to get my amateur radio licenses on very short notice for both Kenya and Tanzania.   Our group was on the move virtually every day, so we needed a relatively light station which was easy to set up and tear down quickly and which did not consume a lot of power.  I took the following equipment:  Yaesu FT-817 radio (5 watt maximum output QRP rig), SCS PTC-IIpro TNC, two 10 watt solar panels, IBM Thinkpad computer Model A20m Type 2628 including two lithium ion batteries, two gel cell batteries totaling 10 AmpHrs of capacity, LDG QRP Automatic Antenna Tuner (original non-latching relay version), 20 metre dipole antenna and a MP-1 manual screwdriver vertical antenna by Super Antennas.  All the station components were protected while on the move in two Pelican cases (one Model 1500 and one Model 1520).
 
Shortly after we arrived in Africa, the tragedy of 9/11 happened which dramatically increased the value of the Winlink 2000 system to us as it was our only source of daily communication with our families back in North America for the majority of our time in Africa.  As a group we sent and received in total about 180 emails via Winlink 2000 – about 90% via Joost Schuitemaker, ZS5S, near Durbin, South Africa (about 2,000 miles away) and the balance via Rudolph Kruggel, HS0AC, in Bangkok, Thailand (about 4,000 miles away).  A big “Hats Off” to these two Winlink 2000 PMBO operators for the absolutely exceptional service which they provided our group in this period of high anxiety. 
 
I now have the privilege of serving a very special group of amateur radio operators as a Winlink 2000 PMBO operator.  I’d like to say a big thanks to the Winlink 2000 Development Team for their support, patience and trouble shooting with me as I’m still coming up the learning curve.  Lastly, and lest we forget, none of us would be using the Winlink 2000 system without the superb client access software called “Airmail” which Jim Corenman, KE6RK, has crafted and continues to enhance.
 

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Personal Information: (See photos!)
Investment banking has paid the bills for 25 years bills.  Passions include my family, mountain climbing both domestically and internationally, long distance bike riding, Calgary Search and Rescue, international travel, short term missions projects, history, music and amateur radio (licensed since 1992).