Biography

My callsign is November 8 Michael Lee Ketner
or...

November 8 Madrid London Kansas
November 8 Mike Likes Kenwood
November 8 Modulation Loves Kilowatts
November 8 Mike Loves Katrina (my xyl's acronym for my call)






I will QSL direct and via E-QSL. If you are a SWL I will also send a card via E-QSL or direct to you if you will send me one to let me know you heard me. No SASE required, I enjoy sending my cards out. I started in radio by listening to me scanners and shortwave radios when I was 10 years old. I had an old Bearcat crystal scanner and a Realistic shortwave radio. I used to sit up late at night and spin the dial on the shortwave radio and got a kick out all of the things I heard. My Dad's friend was a HAM and I remember all of the old gear he had, Hammarlund, Collins and National Radio gear. I used love going over to his house and he would always take me in his radio room and let me listen to the operators.

I lived in Wiesbaden Germany, Ansbach and Nuremberg while working for the military and had a blast over there listening to my shortwave & ham gear. I also was a frequent visitor to the military amateur radio club's shack and the MARS station at the signals battalion HQ. I wish I had got my Deutschland Radio license but oh well. Maybe one day because I do plan to go back. My family's heritage is German. In German Ketner is spelled Kettner and my Mother's maiden name is Haas.

I enjoy the fellowship of HAM radio and meeting others on the bands.
Thanks for looking me up and hope to speak with you again soon!

Best 73,

Mike, N8MLK

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Ham Buddys gone but not forgotten:

Glenn Russ, K4DTT "Glenn at the beach"
Ernie Snavely, KA4SLQ Co inventor of the John Deere power take off PTO.
Jim Baker, WG4MB "willie go 4 more beer"


These fine operators helped me tremendously and were good friends also.

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You Know You're a Ham if :
- you buy electrical black tape in ten packs.
- you've stripped wire with your teeth.
- you've told your son that, "One day, all this will be yours", and he doesn't respond.
- you'd rather help a buddy put up a new tower than mow the lawn.
- you've grabbed the wrong end of a soldering iron.
- you start giving out RST reports when you are on the telephone.
- the propagation forecast means far more to you than the local weather forecast.
- the microphone or visual aids at a meeting don't work and you rush up to the front to fix it.
- you tell the XYL, when she notices a new rig in the shack, why that has been there for years.
- your watch is set only to UTC.
- at night, when you pray, it starts off something like: CQ CQ CQ GOD DE (your callsign).
- you ever had to patch your roof after an antenna project.
- Ham radio magazines comprise more than 50% of your bathroom library.
- you ever put a GPS tracker in the XYL's car, just so you could watch her on APRS.
- you and the XYL took a cruise so you could visit the radio room.
- you ever tapped out HI in Morse on your car horn to another ham.
- you ever had an antenna fall down.
- your teenager refuses to ride in your car because it looks like a porcupine.
- you know the Latitude and Longitude of your home QTH.
- you go into the local Radio Shack store and the clerk asks you where something is.

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Wondering what that A and K means on many HF propagation reports:
Heres a easy to understand explanation.

Solar flux are high-energy particles from the sun correlated to the number of Sunspots. High solar flux can cause degradation and polar cap blackouts of HF radio.

The K index is a measure of the range of geomagnetic polar storms caused by the sun on a non-linear 0-9 scale.

The A index is a daily geomagnetic activity average based on the K index converted to a linear 0-400 scale.

Conditions is a summary of HF band propagation: Very poor, Poor, Fair, Normal, Good or Excellent.

K = 0 Inactive
K = 1 Very quiet
K = 2 Quiet
K = 3 Unsettled
K = 4 Active
K = 5 Minor storm
K = 6 Major storm
K = 7 Severe storm
K = 8 Very severe storm
K = 9 Extremely severe storm

The A index is linear, and is computed from the eight previous K index values. It ranges from 0 (quiet) to 400 (severe storm).

A = 0 - 7 Quiet
A = 8 - 15 Unsettled
A= 8 - 15 Unsettled
A = 16 - 29 Active
A = 30 - 49 Minor storm
A = 50 - 99 Major storm
A = 100 - 400 Severe storm

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"It is not the class of license the Amateur holds but the class of the Amateur that holds the license."

14.300.00 is an officially recognized emergency frequency and is listed as such in many U.S. Government publications. Interfering on / with operations on 14.300.00 will get your station reported via the FCC online reporting system. Contests have no right to interfere with any frequency. All stations heard then recorded interfering with 14.300.00 ops are reported to the FCC via online abuse system.

Worked DXCCs: