ROB kingery AE7AP

Picture
Rob at his rig
Picture
On Summit Mountain W7M/PS-020 in the Beartooths. Photo by Barb AE7AQ
   Imagine seeing the solar eclipse of August 2017 from the Teton Wilderness! For Rob AE7AP and wife Barb AE7AQ that is just one in a series of challenging mountain tops they have conquered in recent years as devotees of Summits on the Air (SOTA). More recently, Rob and Bill N7MSI activated a summit in the Helena area before and after midnight UTC on New Year’s Eve, earning their SOTA points for 2017 and 2018, along with extra points for a winter activation.
About ten years ago, according to Rob, he and Barb were researching what their retirement options might be. Apparently, the conversation went something like this:
  • Barb: I’d like to travel.
  • Rob: I would be happy to drive you anywhere.
  • Barb: I want to visit other countries.
  • Rob: Let’s learn how to sail and go to Hawaii!
They bought a 16-foot sailboat and learned how to sail it. Then they realized that it would be helpful to have a ham radio on board. Rob looked up hams and contacted John KS7R. John explained ham radio licensing, and told them they would want the General as well as the Technician. They prepared for and passed their Technician and General licenses on the same day.
  • Barb: Why not go for the Extra?
About a month later they both passed the Extra exam on the same day, and now they travel around the world by radio.
   For someone who initially thought he wasn’t all that interested in amateur radio, Rob has become deeply involved not only with SOTA, but also in helping each year with the Elkhorn Run, contesting, and low-power kit-building. He and Barb co-teach test prep classes and serve as Volunteer Examiners. Rob has a number of certificates, including Worked All States and DXCC (100 DX Entities) from the ARRL, and JCC (100 Japanese Cities) from the Japanese Amateur Radio League (JARL.)
   A visit to Rob’s shack reveals an Elecraft K3s transceiver with a P3 Panadapter. He has a SteppIR DB11 Yagi antenna and a Yaesu G-1000DXA antenna rotator. A Delta switch allows him to change antennas. For the ARES net he and Barb use a Yaesu FT-7900 2 meter radio. His Yaesu VX-8DR handheld transceiver enables him to send APRS messages from a summit.
   As the manager of the Montana SOTA Association, he is happy to answer questions about SOTA. Rob is a regular at Saturday morning coffee and at club meetings, and is always on hand to help with ham radio events. For an interesting discussion, be sure catch him at odd moments describing his latest kit-building project.
April 2018
Picture
SteppIR DB-11 Antenna
Picture
Barb AE7AQ and Rob AE7AP in Teton Wilderness 2017. Photo by Rob.
Picture
Rob with Worked All States certificate