NT1K AT W1AW

Name: Jeffrey Bail
Call Sign: NT1K
Location: W. Springfield MA
Loc: FN32qc

Mailing Address:
Jeffrey Bail – NT1K
P.O. Box 0484
W. Springfield MA, 01090-0484

Member of the Following:
ARRL – American Radio Relay League
YCCC - Yankee Clipper Contest Club
HCRA - Hampden Country Radio Assn
Feld Hell Club – (FH3148) Online Hellscriber Club

Non Ham Clubs:
NRA – National Rifle Assn.
GOAL – Gun Owners Action League (Of Massachusetts)
Westfield Sportsman Club

Bio:

I’ve been interested in electronics/communications ever since I could understand the Radio shack catalog. I started off with talking to friends on the CB when I was around 13 (1996). My uncle Don (N1JOI, SK) caught wind of my CB hobby and pushed me to get my Ham Radio license. I sat with him and he tried to teach me and he also enrolled me in a class at the local hospital in 1998 that was taught by James Mullen (KK1W). Being a teenager took over and I lost interest in Ham Radio until my senior year of High School. In 2001,  I obtained my Tech License after 2 other attempts and joined the MTARA (Local repeater club). After a couple of years of being involved with Ham radio I once again lost interest. Within the past couple of years, I purchased a house, got married and I now have two kids. So I’ve been finding my self home a lot more and figured to get back into Ham radio since it’s a hobby that can be done in the house (Compared to my Photography and Motorcycle hobbies). This time I didn’t want to just buy a dual band rig (144/440) and talk on repeaters. I wanted to operate HF, So I studied and Obtained my General license in June of 2010.

Now that I have HF privileges, You will find me mostly doing Digital communications (PSK, RTTY, HELL, JT65) and making SSB contacts with DX Stations. I find it hard to Rag Chew on HF as I do not know the person or their environment.  It gets boring talking about the weather and “What equipment are you running?”. But if the moment is right, I will ragchew.

In 2011 I set a goal to get my extra class license before field day. I decided to start studying in mid May and on May 27th, I passed my extra class. Another goal was to become a ARRL VE (Volunteer examiner) which I obtained VE Status in April 2011. So far participated in one session. I hope to participate in more. The next two goals I’m still working on is installing a ButterNut HF9V that I obtained in the winter at a ham fest. The other goal I am working on is to “Master” CW (Morse Code) at 20 WPM. With the way things are, I don’t think that will happen any time soon. So if you catch me on CW, give me break.
In November 2011, I decided to change my call from N1BMX to something else. For the past couple years, I was no longer liking the N1BMX call for various reasons. I applied for 1X2 calls here and there but lost because of competition. When N1DE became available, I decided that no matter what I want to change my call so I applied for N1DE and another call that has been in system for quite some time knowing that my chances are better. I ended up losing out on N1DE but got NT1K. Now I have to get used to saying “November Tango One Kilo”.

N1BMX.com/NT1K.com:

I started N1BMX.com as a way to tell others what I’ve been doing in the “Radio” world. I am by no means an Expert” on anything I type about. Please keep that in mind when browsing this site. I like to report on things that I’ve seen or done from my point of view and hope that at least a couple of people find it useful. I’m open to comments or criticism, but keep in mind that I’m new to a lot of this stuff.  If you didn’t tell by now, I am HORRIBLE at grammar. I am not the best at spelling (even with autocheck) and I’m just as bad at forming sentences and paragraphs. This is just a blog, not a professional website. So please do not remind me about it, I know. Since I changed my callsign, N1BMX.com no longer seems logical so I moved everything to NT1K.com as well as my e-mail addresses.

If you do leave this site with anything useful, let me know! That way I know that at least someone is reading this site.

Thanks,