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Baton Rouge Amateur Radio Club
PO Box 4004
Baton Rouge, LA  70821

Dues are $25 per year payable in January. For a membership application click here (Word) or here (PDF) .

Club meetings are normally held on the last Tuesday of the month at 7:00 PM. Most of our meetings will be at the Main Library at 7711 Goodwood Blvd, Baton Rouge, LA 70806.

In May, we move our meeting to the BREC Observatory and in December, we normally have a banquet at a local restaurant.

Board Members

I am a recently retired Electrical Engineer, who with my wife, settled in Baton Rouge to be with our daughter and three grandchildren. I spent my professional career in the power and automation markets, in Wisconsin, Houston, and Columbus, OH. I obtained my Amateur Radio license in 1963, as a sophomore in high school in Milwaukee. My station consists of a Kenwood TS-990, JST-245, Palstar HF-Auto tuner, and a ACOM 2000A amplifier. I use a G5RV  at 60 feet in the backyard. For the repeaters, I use an IC-5100 at the house and IC-208H in the car. I enjoy operating the HF bands for DXing, CW, PSK31, and now learning to be a contester. I enjoy going to Dayton Hamvention every year to reunite with long time Ham radio friends who I have known all my life. My wife and I enjoy the southern Louisiana culture, food, and most of all, the friendly and welcoming people.

I started the hobby as a shortwave listener in 1977. I was in a Radio Shack store in Grand Prairie, Texas and I saw this multi-band radio that supposedly picked up stations from around the world. I asked the sales clerk if I could have a look at it and I was surprised that the radio was able to pick up the Voice of America (VOA) and The Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) inside the store with all of the florescent lighting nearby. About the same time, my grandfather in North Dakota discovered that his pastor was an active ham. A short time later I received an assembled Heathkit code oscillator. I still continued to listen to shortwave broadcasts and I also had a citizens band base station from Cobra. I became bored with CB so thankfully that phase didn’t last too long. In 1991 the FCC decided to drop the code requirement for VHF and UHF operations. I attended Ham-Com in Arlington, Texas with a friend who had been urging me to get my license since we were both in high school. I got my KB5TMD call on June 29, 1992. I could now finally use that brand new Alinco DJ-580T. I quickly became frustrated with the limitations of a handie-talkie as my sole radio so I purchased an old Icom 27H 45 watt 2-meter mobile radio 2 years later. I served as president of the Southwest Dallas County Amateur Radio club twice. I was a member of that club for 17 years until I moved to Baton Rouge in 2009. I joined the Baton Rouge Amateur Radio Club in April 2009. I also was a member of the Livingston Amateur Radio Society in Denham Springs and served as net manager for 3 years and club president for one year. Today I am a member of the Baton Rouge Amateur Radio Club and the Ascension Radio Club in Gonzales as well as the American Radio Relay League. I enjoy contesting (Yeah, I know Field Day really isn’t supposed to be a contest) and DX’ing as well as rag chewing on HF. Hamfests are always fun as well as public service events. My station consists of a Kenwood TS-590S as my main HF station. I have a Hy-Gain EXP-14 tri band beam mounted on a 35 foot tower behind my utility room. I’m also looking forward to exploring some of the digital modes. I recently bought one of those DV Dongles for D-Star but I haven’t done much with it yet other than listen a bit. I upgraded to General Class in May of 2000 and finally to Extra Class in June of 2005.

Ken was originally licensed in 1956 as KN5GUU while his QTH was in New Orleans.  After he received his EE degree from Tulane University He was commissioned as an Officer in the US Navy.  Ken served in the submarine force (USS Lafayette and USS Haddo) while in the Navy.  After his Naval service Ken worked for Exxon in Baton Rouge until his retirement In 1998.  Since retirement, Ken has worked for several engineering firms in Baton Rouge as a Project Manager.  His amateur radio interests include HF SSB, Amsat satellite, DX, VHF/UHF and digital modes.  Ken currently resides in Baton Rouge and is moving to a new QTH next month. Ken has been a member of the Baton Rouge Amateur Radio Club since 1976.

I became interested in shortwave radio as a teenager, however, with school, work and raising a family, didn’t obtain my amateur license until 1987.
HF operations are primarily CW and frequently at QRP power. Occasionally work PSK31 and SSB. My station consists of a Kenwood 870, Icom 7200, Hy-Gain Patriot vertical antenna on 6 to 40 meters and an OCF dipole on 80 and 160 meters. I enjoy kit building, casual contests, QRP fox hunts and have been known to work portable from a tree stand.
Other hobbies are birding, guitar, target shooting, and reloading. I retired in April 2010 as a medical oncologist and the medical director of a local hospital.

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Steve was first licensed in 1964 and holds an advanced class license. His life long interest has been emergency communications. During Hurricane Camille in 1969 he was net control for the Central Gulf Coast Hurricane Net during the storm and received a Public Service Award from the American Radio Relay League. A volunteer with the American Red Cross for many years, he currently serves the Red Coss as the technology lead for the Louisiana Region, the Red Cross official in charge of ham radio communications in Louisiana. He also serves as a member of the Red Cross Disaster Services Technology team which provides communication and IT services nationally during large scale disasters. Steve is a lawyer and also serves on the board of directors of Dixie Electric Membership Corporation.

I was first licensed in 1962 as a novice, WN5CFG. A few months later I upgraded to general class, WA5CFG. While in college I enlisted in the US Navy Reserve as a radioman/Seaman as a result of my having a general class ham license. After graduation I served on active duty as a Radioman Second Class aboard a guided missile destroyer, USS Somers DDG 34. My ship’s call sign was NDWH. Before I was discharged from active duty my ham license expired, so I retook the tests (general and advanced) and received a new call, WD5HLJ. This call was used for only a very short time. I upgraded to extra and became AA5O in 1978. My primary interest is DX, having attained 352 DXCC entities confirmed including all current ones except for BS7H. My other passion is playing the trombone. I am presently performing and recording with the Platinum Sound Orchestra, and playing occasional solo gigs. I retired from a career in industrial sales in 2007 and now spend most of my time playing music, DX’ing, and collecting and restoring older Drake equipment.

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