Chesterfield Island DXpedition, 2015 (OC-176)

N6HC. Arnie

Arnie was first licensed in 1957 as KN3ANU at the age of 13 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and quickly upgraded to a General Class ticket. He received an Official Relay Station (ORS) appointment from the ARRL and enjoyed handling CW traffic and participating in CD contests. Arnie put Amateur radio on hold while he attended Temple University and earned a B.S. in Biology and a M.D. degree. Post medical school training followed at the University of California, San Francisco and service in the United States Public Health Service (Department of the Navy- Lieutenant Commander), Indian Health Service on the Navajo and Hopi reservations.

Arnie moved to Southern California in 1976 and started a solo private urology practice. He retired from full time urology practice in 2001 and continued to work as a part-time locum tenens physician until 2011 and now volunteers at the Orange Free Medical clinic in Orange, California. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a longtime member of the California and Orange County Medical Associations, a diplomate of the American Board of Urology and a member of the American Urological Association, Western Section of the AUA and the California Urological Association. He was a member of the clinical faculty of Loma Linda University School of Medicine.

In 1977 Arnie upgraded to Extra Class as N6HC. He has been an ARRL member for more than 57 years and a member of the league's Legacy Circle and Maxim Society. He serves as a Volunteer Examiner and a field QSL card checker for both ARRL and CQ awards. He is a member of the Southern California DX club (Vice-President-2009), Northern California DX Foundation, Southern California Contest Club and Orange County Amateur Radio Club. He is also a member of the Chiltern DX Association (UK) and the Medical Amateur Radio Council, Ltd. (MARCO). He was elected to membership in the A-1 operators club and has earned many operating awards including WAS (6 bands, SSB, CW, RTTY), DXCC #1 Honor Roll, DXCC (8 bands, SSB, CW, RTTY), WAZ (CW & SSB), WAC, WPX (SSB & CW), and VUCC. He is an active contester and has earned numerous awards for participation in both domestic and DX competitions. He has operated from many places around the continental United States as well as Hawaii, Alaska, Mexico, Samoa and Prince Edward Island. He was named the DXer of the Year (2012) by the Southern California DX Club.
He has been a team member of nine major DXpeditions: K7C-Kure atoll (2005), 3B7C- St. Brandon Island (2007), TX5C- Clipperton Island (2008), K4M-Midway Island (2009)*, T31A- Kanton atoll, Central Kiribati (2011), T32C- Christmas Island, Eastern Kiribati (2011), NH8S-Swains Island (2012)*, T33A-Banaba (2013) and FT5ZM-Amsterdam Island (2014)*.
*DXpedition of the Year

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W2LK, Les

Les found Ham Radio with some High School friends and became K2SHL when he got his general. He became interested in DX and discovered that contests were a great way to find more DX and started contesting in the early 1970's. In 1996 he received W2LK.

In 1992, he operated from the US Virgin Islands for his first experience on the other end of a pileup. In 1998, he and his friend Steve Weinstein, K2WE, were the first Americans licensed to operate from Vietnam since the war as 3W6LK and 3W6WE. Since then for CQWW CW, he has operated from J7, KH6, CT9 and V3 and for many years from K2LE and W2AX in Vermont. In 2011 he was part of the VK9HR Lord Howe expedition and in 2012, ZL9HR on Campbell Island and the VK9MT Mellish Reef team in 2014. He is active on all bands from 160 to 6 meters and particularly likes 160 and 80 meter Dxing.

He is a member of Cwops (726), North Jersey DX Association, Hudson Valley Contesters and Dxers, Order of Boiled Owls of NY, the Yankee Clipper Contest Club and ODXG.

Professionally, he started his career with IBM as a programmer, worked in several banks and brokerages and eventually ran a successful consulting and staffing business with his wife, Barbara.

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K5GS, Gene

Gene was first licensed in 1976 as WB5WFD, and has held K5GS since 1996; previous calls were WD6DLK and KE6LT. He’s an avid DXer and an occasional contester. His DXCC count is 353 confirmed (mixed) with all current DXCC entities confirmed. Gene’s radio interest has always been DXing with occasional diversions into restoring vintage radios and the digital modes.

A member of the 2012 ZL9HR Campbell Island Dx-pedition, and 2014 VK9MT Mellish Reef team, he is looking forward to visiting Chesterfield Islands in 2015. He also holds call signs ZL1NA and VK2IXC.

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K6GFJ, Ross

Ross has been licensed since 1964, and currently holds an Amateur Extra Class license. Ross has traveled and operated extensively throughout the South Pacific.

Previous calls include: FO0FB, KH6GJW, 3D2FB, ZK1XE, ZL0AKO, VK3BZZ, KL7FFT, XE0GFJ, and WB6GFJ.

Ross is a member of NCDXF, NCDXC, NCCC, RSGB, CDXC, and ARRL.

Ross is currently an advisor to the Northern California DX Foundation, is a past president of the Northern California DX Club, was a Vice-Director of the ARRL Pacific Division (1981), and is a former manager of the Incoming W6 QSL Bureau.
His current DX totals are 357/339 mixed overall and he is on the DXCC Honor Roll and CQ Magazine DX Honor Roll. Ross operates SSB, RTTY and CW.

Currently retired, Ross has been an IT Manager for Sevin Rosen Funds, held various IT positions for a large Palo Alto law firm, and ran his own import/export company in the 80s. Early in his career he held various positions in commercial broadcasting.

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HA5AO, Pista

Pista was born in 1951. He was radio operator in the military between 1971 and 1973. In 1973 he joined HA5KHT club station and was a very active member of the contest team until 1990. In 1976 he was licensed as HA7VT and changed to HA5AO in 1984. Due to professional commitments, he wasn't active between 1990 and 2004. Pista is back on the air since 2004 and active on HF bands (mainly CW).
He is DX enthusiast and member of the A1 Operator Club, INDEXA, CDXC, ODXG, EUDXF, PDXG.
DX peditions: T88CI (2008, 2009), 7P8AO (2009, 2010), YJ0HA (2010), C21HA (2012) and member of ZL9HR team in 2012, 9M4SLL in 2013 and VK9MT in 2014.

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AD6E, Alan

First licensed in 1962 as WN6BID upgraded to General in 1963 and became WB6BID, QRT for many years after high school. About 1980 regained interest in the hobby and bought a QRP rig, started chasing DX with 5W and a low dipole. Current station includes a K3, P3, Acom 2000, and another K3, TenTek Hercules II.

Member of the Northern California Contest Club, chairman of the California QSO Party (see http://www.cqp.org) for 10 years, and was initial chairman of the CWops CW OPEN competition http://www.cwops.org/cwopen.html

DX operations include: AD6E/KH9, 4M7X, KH6, DL0MB, TI9M, K7C (Kure), P29NI, 3D2C (Conway), T33A.

Alan lives in Hawaii.

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