My name is Alex and I live in Wadsworth, Ohio. I'm in two clubs, the Silvercreek Amateur Radio Association (SARA), and the University of Akron Amateur Radio Club(W8UPD). I'm 21 and in my third year of college.
I originally got my Technician Class license in 2015 at the age of 12. I got the callsign KE8CSR, and stuck with it for 7 or 8 years. In April of 2019, my dad and I got our General Class license. We got a used Icom IC-718 and tuner not long after. Over the Coronavirus pandemic we upgraded our antenna from a homemade speaker wire 20 meter dipole to an MFJ 10-80 meter dipole. We were finally able to get a good contact and we could hear stations from a lot further away. I did a lot of FT8 and digital work, occasionally getting on SSB. During my freshman year of college, I decided to start studying for my Extra Class license. The test was about a month away, I spent every free moment studying on HamStudy, and to my surprise, I passed. A few months later I saw a 1x2 callsign was going to be free, so I applied and ended up getting that too.
The only difference between the picture shown here and the shack as it is right now, is the addition of a few items. There's now a dual band Alinco mobile and a CB radio hooked up, along with two mag mount antennas and a ground bar hooked up to the outlet behind(not ideal, I know).