Sean behlmer KJ7MXJ

Sean Behlmer KJ7MXJ

   Sean Behlmer grew up hearing about ham radio from his dad, Steve KE7GO. Sean helped with soldering and generally puttering around his dad’s shack. Now he enjoys listening to his Uniden scanner, which can receive amateur radio frequencies and the trunked P25 digital signals that the Montana public safety communication system uses. In his spare time, Sean read the ARRL Technician license manual for fun (Editor: seriously??) and watched some Dave Caswell KE0OG videos on YouTube. He was more than ready to take the exam on Feb. 29, 2020 and passed Technician and General at the same time. After studying https://www.rtl-sdr.com/ for a bit, he plugged his SDR radio into his computer and could see the waterfall display. Not bad for a “beginner.” He also uses EchoLink on his phone. There are several EchoLink nets on the “world” node that he has checked into.
   Sean knows several Helena hams, too, having worked for Northrup Grumman in the past, and now for the state Department of Environmental Quality. He started out in engineering but switched to computer programming. He uses programming languages C++, Visual Basic, and PLSQL and works with Oracle databases.
  More from Sean: “I'm interested in learning more about SDR radios.  Here is a link to a description: 
​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software-defined_radio.  A great thing about SDR radios is that new technologies can be made to work with a software update without needing to change the hardware.”
   “Amateur radio is something that could be combined with a lot of my other hobbies. Hiking and getting out in nature go well with SOTA.  A computer software interest and SDR radios go well together. I like to kayak, and part of Canyon Ferry Lake has no cell phone signal. But Canyon Ferry Lake is close to the Hogback Mountain repeater, and radio could be a good backup communication when there is no cell phone connection.” Welcome, Sean!

April 2020

Sean's scanner