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Chris – N9CVR
Chris is a teacher, engineer and amateur radio operator.
In 2008, Chris graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with his BSME. Straight out of college, he had the opportunity to work in commercial radio, doing audio production, on-air work and studio engineering.
Chris first earned his ham license in 2009.
Another of Chris’ interests at the time was off-roading. Amateur radio made a lot of sense for longer-distance communications in the Jeep. So Chris tested for and received his Technician license. His first callsign was KC9QHB.
After a while, Chris’ interest in off-grid comms faded, so he let his license lapse.
In 2022, Chris was given a Baofeng radio for Christmas. This spurred him on to test for his license again, this time earning Technician and General in one sitting, then coming back a month later for his Amateur Extra license. Since then, Chris has been falling down the rabbit hole, and hasn’t found the bottom yet!
Chris started HamThings in 2024.
It might be weird, but Chris loves Anderson PowerPoles. At least on his radios. As Chris got back into ham radio, he realized that there wasn’t a good, modular, PowerPole solution for fusing his radios, so he designed one. On Jan 1, 2024, he opened HamThings, and started selling his fuse blocks.
Chris is on YouTube!
Join Chris on his amateur radio adventures! He’ll try pretty much anything, so you’ll find videos ranging from antenna building to coffee made by a ham.
Chris’ Ham Shack
Main Station
Chris’ main station is a Yaesu FT-991A. He uses it as a base radio, and also brings it into the field for portable operations.
Also, note the TYT TH-UV88 HT off to the side. Chris enjoys using this HT as a nice, cheap, knock-around radio. It is identical to the QRZ-1 Explorer, except for the sticker on the front.
Portable Station (HT)
When possible (due mainly to battery life), Chris likes to carry his Yaesu FT5D with Diamond RH77CA antenna. He will occasionally swap it out for a Signal Stuff SignalStick or the stock rubber duck.
Chris is also on Meshtastic! Pictured at right is his Heltec V3-based node
Mobile Station
Chris’ mobile station is an FTM-400DR which he was given for free because its power amplifier was very unhappy. A $60 transistor and a bit of soldering later, and this rig was back to its normal self! Since then, it’s been making 2m and 70cm QSOs, and listening in on local airport traffic whenever Chris is mobile.
APRS Station
Chris runs an APRS iGate/digipeater, N9CVR-10. Hardware includes a Yaesu FT-1500M, homemade copper J-pole, Mobilinkd TNC, Raspberry Pi running APRX and backup power.
Antenna Projects
Chris especially enjoys building antennas. Some of his projects have included
- HamThings Roll-up Antenna
- HFKits/ARRL 40-10 end-fed half wave
- 2m tape measure yagi
- 20m speaker wire dipole
- 80m dipole
- 80m off-center-fed dipole
- 2m Home Depot J-Pole (KB9VBR also sells these pre-built)
- 6m-30m (80m with Wolf River Coil) fishing pole vertical
- W4RQ Triangle loop antenna
QSL Cards
Here are some recent QSL cards Chris has received:
