K4AVL Amateur Radio Page
Frank Florianz (Wilkes-Barre, PA, USA)



First licensed in 1970 as WN2MXK (Novice) at age 15, then WA2MXK (Technician) in 1972. Upgraded to General in March, 2007, and Extra in Jan., 2008. My late dad was never a ham, but was a WWII vet (radioman in the Army Air Corps) and later an Engineer for Dumont TV. I got my interest in electronics from him, but it was actually a high school science teacher who got me started in ham radio. I built my first tube HF receiver in 1970, operated CW for a while, but then gave up the hobby for over 30 years. I just got back into it starting in late 2006, now in my mid-50's. Besides Amateur Radio, I occasionally restore old radios, and build tube hi-fi and guitar amps. I'm an avid computer enthusiast, including expertise in Linux and a good deal of programming, and also enjoy the outdoors, home improvement, travel, photography, and am a railfan and history buff. Married, no kids, and have lived in at least 8 states over the years. I lived in Asheville, North Carolina from 1996 until late spring 2010, when we moved to our new QTH in Northeastern Pennsylvania (Wilkes-Barre). I'm originally from New Jersey & upstate New York. Currently an ARRL member, past member/officer of WCARS (Western Carolina Amateur Radio Society), and have been most active on 20 meters. Enjoy experimenting with homebrew antenna setups, and currently use both solid state and vintage tube gear. My favorite mode is SSB on HF, but I also enjoy PSK as well as occasional RTTY & CW. Completed my "worked all states" mixed-mode in March 2008, and my entry-level mixed-mode DXCC in Novemeber, 2009... Hope to see you on the air.

Scroll down for some images, and other topics...
Be sure to visit the links section at the end of the page
Most of these images can be seen in a larger size by opening them separately.
Right-click on them and choose "view image".

Front & rear of house, rear shows 40 meter vertical
     

40 meter vertical and 20 meter loop
     

20 meter portable (quickly disassemblable) antenna
     

Operating a "test" portable setup in the garage in preparation for Field Day
     

Setup in the garage, also some tube amp projects I've worked on in the past
     

Make a simple code practice oscillator for just a few bucks
     

WAS award received in March 2008, and homebrew ladder line
     

Inverted V      I put up another (higher) wire antenna in May 2008, click here for pictures.

I began operating again in earnest in April 2007, upon getting my rigs set up.
I qualified for my basic DXCC (at least 100 entities worked & confirmed) as of 1 June 2009, and am keeping a record of my activity here.
As of August 30, 2009, I have had 107 QSL cards checked & my application submitted by an ARRL field checker for my basic mixed-mode DXCC. After a long wait, the certificate finally arrived the day after Thanksgiving. Still waiting for the sunspots to kick in, it's been a lot of fun so far.
Over 150 as of Fall, 2017.



The date shows the first contact (by month & year) with a particular DX entity (whether confirmed or not), and there may have been more since then for any particular entity. The first X is for "worked", the second for "confirmed". Confirmation can either be by direct QSL or Logbook of the World. It's often a waiting game, if no confirmation arrives, you have to work the DX entity again, most likely a different station there.

001 04/07 X X United States
002 06/07 X X Nicaragua
003 06/07 X X Dominican Republic
004 06/07 X X Montenegro
005 06/07 X X Dominica
006 06/07 X X New Zealand
007 07/07 X X Jamaica
008 08/07 X X Spain
009 08/07 X X Venezuela
010 08/07 X X Canary Islands
011 08/07 X X Chile
012 08/07 X X Panama
013 08/07 X X Guyana
014 08/07 X X Trinidad & Tobago
015 08/07 X X Puerto Rico
016 08/07 X X Colombia
017 08/07 X X Mexico
018 08/07 X X Honduras
019 08/07 X X Brazil
020 09/07 X X Germany
021 09/07 X X Argentina
022 09/07 X X Isle of Man
023 09/07 X X Wales
024 09/07 X X Costa Rica
025 09/07 X X Italy
026 10/07 X X Canada
027 10/07 X X Madeira Islands
028 10/07 X X US Virgin Islands
029 10/07 X X Ecuador
030 10/07 X X Turks & Caicos Islands
031 10/07 X X Hawaii
032 11/07 X X Cuba
033 11/07 X X Guatemala
034 11/07 X X Grenada
035 11/07 X X Paraguay
036 11/07 X X Revillagigedo
037 11/07 X X Namibia
038 11/07 X X St. Maarten (old entity)
039 11/07 X X France
040 11/07 X X Luxembourg
041 11/07 X X Bonaire, Curacao (old entity)
042 12/07 X X Poland
043 12/07 X X Cayman Islands
044 12/07 X X Mauritius Island
045 12/07 X X South Africa
046 01/08 X X Azores
047 01/08 X X Alaska
048 01/08 X X Mozambique
049 01/08 X X Haiti
050 01/08 X _ St. Helena
051 01/08 X X Falkland Islands
052 01/08 X X Martinique
053 02/08 X X Netherlands
054 02/08 X X Portugal
055 02/08 X X Bahamas
056 02/08 X X Slovenia
057 02/08 X X St. Lucia
058 02/08 X X Suriname
059 02/08 X X Ducie Island
060 02/08 X X England
061 02/08 X X Aruba
062 02/08 X X St. Kitts & Nevis Islands
063 03/08 X X Morocco
064 03/08 X X British Virgin Islands
065 03/08 X X Barbados
066 03/08 X X Antigua/Barbuda
067 03/08 X X Uruguay
068 03/08 X X St. Vincent
069 03/08 X X Bulgaria
070 03/08 X X Clipperton Island
071 03/08 X X Bermuda
072 03/08 X X Croatia
073 03/08 X X Jersey Island
074 03/08 X X St. Barthelemy
075 03/08 X X Montserrat
076 03/08 X X Belize
077 03/08 X X French Guiana
078 03/08 X X Anguilla
079 03/08 X X Guadeloupe
080 03/08 X X Peru
081 05/08 X X Bolivia
082 05/08 X _ Cyprus
083 05/08 X X Belgium
084 05/08 X X European Russia
085 05/08 X X Northern Ireland
086 05/08 X X El Salvador
087 06/08 X X Algeria
088 06/08 X X Ukraine
089 06/08 X X Niger
090 06/08 X X Austria
091 06/08 X X Bosnia-Herzegovina
092 06/08 X X Scotland
093 06/08 X X Czech Republic
094 06/08 X X Estonia
095 07/08 X X Greece
096 07/08 X X Slovak Republic
097 07/08 X X Hungary
098 07/08 X X Serbia
099 07/08 X X Cape Verde Islands
100 07/08 X X Ascension Island
101 12/08 X X Antarctica
102 04/09 X X Guantanamo Bay
103 04/09 X X Lithuania
104 04/09 X X Ireland
105 04/09 X X Uganda
106 05/09 X X Sardinia Island
107 05/09 X X Balearic Islands
108 05/09 X X United Arab Emirates
109 06/09 X X Malta
110 06/09 X X Fernando de Noronha
111 06/09 X X Switzerland
112 06/09 X X Kuwait
113 09/09 X X Ceuta & Melilla
114 08/10 X X Romania
115 08/10 X X Denmark
116 09/10 X X Nigeria
117 09/10 X X Norway
118 10/10 X X Sweden
119 10/10 X X Greenland
120 10/10 X X Guernsey
121 10/10 X X Togo
122 10/10 X X Saba & St Eustatius (new entity)
123 10/10 X X Sint Maarten (new entity)
124 10/10 X _ Bonaire (new entity)
125 10/10 X X St Pierre & Miquelon
126 10/10 X X Senegal
127 10/10 X X Japan
128 10/10 X X Asiatic Russia
129 02/11 X X Cameroon
130 03/11 X X Iceland
131 03/11 X X Finland
132 03/11 X X Indonesia
133 03/11 X X Belarus
134 03/11 X X China
135 03/11 X X Moldova
136 03/11 X X Curacao (new entity)
137 03/11 X X Kazakhstan
138 03/11 X X Latvia
139 03/11 X X Dodecanese
140 03/11 X X Mongolia
141 03/11 X X Svalbard
142 03/11 X X Israel
143 03/11 X X Oman
144 03/11 X X Bahrain
145 03/11 X X India
146 08/11 X X Crete
147 10/11 X X Market Reef
148 01/12 X X Malpelo Island
149 07/17 X _ Mauritania
150 09/17 X X Saudi Arabia
151 09/17 X X San Andres & Providencia

(so far 151 worked, 147 confirmed)

Links section
(click a link to open it in a new window or tab):
I have tried to add a good variety of helpful links, both informational as well as commercial resources, but this is just a start...

HRD DX Cluster Analysis      DX Spots

SolarCycle24.com      Great resource on current solar activity

WCARS Forum      Join our club forum for Ham Radio interests...

QRZ Forums      All sorts of ham topics, lively discussion, including their ham call lookup

ARRL Logbook of the World      Great tool, if you don't have it already

EQSL      Another method of sending/receiving QSL's (not valid for ARRL awards)

Southern Appalachian Radio Museum      Located in Asheville, NC

Cebik.com      Huge technical resource site on antennas

Antique Electronic Supply      Great source for tubes & parts for your vintage projects

Angela Instruments      Guitar amp parts are their specialty, but they also offer a big line of Hammond transformers at good prices

Surplus Sales of Nebraska      Hard-to-find RF parts and other vintage items

United States Early Radio History      Good resource on radio/communications history

North Carolina Scanner Frequencies & Radio Reference      Emergency frequencies statewide

Amateur Radio Repeater Database      Nationwide, updated daily

DX Engineering      RF & Antenna parts

NJ7P Tube Database      Tube technical reference, also links to other sites

Fair Radio Sales      Another surplus parts dealer

FCC Part 97      ARRL page of the FCC regulations

Ham Radio Virtual Museum      Great reference on the top Boatanchors

"Official" PSK31 WWW Homepage      Reference information on the PSK mode

Ham Scope      A good free program for the digital modes

FCC Distance & Bearing calculations      Find Distance, Azimuths Between Two Points

Ham Call Server      Buckmaster's Ham Call lookup site

30 Meter Digital Spots      Digital spots for 30 meters and other bands

HF & Lower Frequency Propagation      Navy site on atmospheric propagation theory, including descriptions of ionospheric layers & solar weather

10 Meter Beacon Spots      Spots of 10 meter beacons worldwide

Transistor Tutorial      History of the transistor & practical circuit design

PropNet      Propagation Paths reported worldwide on various bands

HB9BZA LOTW Resources      Get lists of LOTW users worldwide (unofficial site)

Introduction to Packet Radio      WB9LOZ's in-depth info & TNC commands

Last updated: Fall, 2017

I also have a good stock of new & used tubes & vintage radio parts, etc.
If you are in need of anything in particular, feel free to inquire.

Please send any inquiries, questions, or comments to:
frank754 "at" gmail "dot" com
Thanks for stopping by...