VK3MO and WA3O - The Brotherhood of Ham Radio

Ian VK3MO and his daughter Rachel in 2006

I have known Mike WA3O for many years -- he sent me his HW-7 QRP transceiver, which I proudly display in my shack.  I have also had several contacts with VK3MO,  going going back to at least 2002.  I ran into both of them on 20 meters from the Dominican Republic on September 2, 2025 when KX4WC/AM was flying from Chile to Panama.  This was a very cool contact.   WA3O made it even cooler by sending this email about his connection to Ian VK3MO.  Mike writes:    

On another note. VK3MO . I heard Ian talking one afternoon about Pittsburgh. After he cleared with his QSO I called him and asked about it and he said his daughter was visiting Pittsburgh to check out a university (Duquesne). So I gave him my email and phone number in case anything should arise. We met up with his daughter and took her to dinner and she and my wife went to Niagra Falls. About a year after that his daughter went to that university and on many occasions we got together for a meal and to hang out.

 Ian and his wife did come to visit and we got to meet them . I also kept a morning 40 meter schedule with Ian every day.  Ian has STACKED ROMBIC antennas (one at 140 ft and one at 70 ft) so he was a massive signal most days. Ian was very grateful to have us available, just in case.

  His daughter is an accomplished violinist and got us tickets to the opera where she was in the orchestra. 

  Then Covid hit and she was just finishing finals so, we packed her up and got her to the airport before they closed the Australian boarders.

 

All from the brotherhood of ham radio.

73's  Mike WA3O 

VK3MO's 20 meter monoband array w 200 foot rotating tower

He also has STACKED RHOMBICS for 40 meters 

WA3O's Water-Cooled 1.3 kW amp using MOSFETS

More pictures at https://www.qrz.com/db/WA3O

A Flight from Chile to Panama: Aeronautical Mobile Contact with KX4WC/AM, with VK3MO in the Group

WA3O sent me an e-mail alerting me to the fact that Mike KX4WC/Aeronautical Mobile would be flying up from Santiago, Chile to Panama City this morning. So I fired up the 20 meter rig and hoped for the best.

Not only was I able to talk to Mike, I was also able to work WA3O, VY2WW, and VK3MO in Melbourne. It was a very FB morning. VK3MO was really booming in. I have worked Ian before -- his 5 over 5 over 5 over 5 array on 20 meters really helps. https://www.qrz.com/db/VK3MO

I was not hearing Mike KX4WC very well until the sun came up over our north-south path. You can see this in the picture below. Thanks to all for this very cool contact.

Ian VK3MO's 20 meter array

Peter VK3TPM had done a very nice profile of Ian and his station: 

https://www.mrarc.org.au/member-profile-ian-vk3mo/

A Second Aeronautical Mobile Contact with Mike KX4WC/Aeronautical Mobile

August 19, 2025 20 meter SSB in the afternoon. Mike KX4WC/Aeronautical Mobile was enroute to San Juan from Miami, flying through the edges of Hurricane Erin. Also in the QSO was John VY2WW and Mike WA3O. WA3O is a long-time listener to SolderSmoke. He has a water-cooled amplifier and he sent me his Heathkit HW-7 (which I still have).

Mike and I could hear each other through most of his flight.  We were both especially strong when he reached his closest point to my location.  At this point he was about 50 miles over my north-east horizon: 

Amazingly, this was NOT my first contact from the DR with KX4WC/AM.  In January 2020 (just beore the pandemic) I was in Samana, and, early one morning Mike flew over the Dominican Republic.  Here is an e-mail that I sent yesterday to all three guys who were in this very memorable QSO: 

I really liked today's QSO.  Mike called me from around 50 miles out.  We were both very strong. 

The first link describes in detail my 2020 QSO with Mike from Samana, DR.   The second describes my Samana station.  

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2020/01/aeronautical-mobile-contact-from.html

and

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2020/01/contacts-from-dominican-republic.html

Here is my current station:

https://www.qrz.com/db/HI7/N2CQR

And wow!  WA3O  Who could forget that water-cooled amplifier!?  And I still have his HW-7   Thanks Mike. 

A Wonderful Aeronatical Mobile Contact

 29 July 2024

20S 0943Z 0543L K8JSM/AM Sean, pilot on a 757/300. En route from San Francisco to Orlando with 246 souls on board, including a bunch of kids going to Disneyland.  Was 35,000 feet over Louisiana (12 miles East of Shreveport) when I first spoke to him.  (He had been in QSO with Andrew VK6IK in Western Australia.  I could hear Andrew also.) Sean was using the 400 W Rockwell-Collins transceiver on the plane (that's his picture of the control panel, above), with the antenna vertical in the back vertical stabilizer (rudder). I told him I was running 20 watts from a homebrew rig to a vertical ¼ wave ground plane antenna about 70 feet up; he speculated that the fact that we were both vertically polarized must have been helping.   Sean said he also pilots 767s transatlantic. 

I really had two contacts with him,   Around 0600 local he was calling CQ and no one was answering.  So I called him again and we continued:  I told him about the Aeronautical Mobile contact I had had from Samana.  I also told him about my contacts with MIR and RS-10 (and the RS-10 robot!) from the Dominican Republic 1992-1996.  I told him that Elisa had been present for many of the contacts with Norm Thagard on Mir station (Elisa walked in the HI7 shack at around this time – Sean said hello.)  Sean said he has been a ham for a long time – since before he was a pilot.  He has built a 2 meter “tape measure and PVC”  antenna.  I told him we have a little aircraft radio and use it to listen to the tower at Punta Cana airport, and to aircraft calling the regional ATC in Santo Domingo.  Sean says he too has a little airband receiver and often uses it to listen to airplane tower traffic.  Sean said the airline encourages this kind of contact because it is a way to keep pilots alert on long overnight flights (other pilots have other activities to do the same).  As we spoke he was waiting for a meal (salmon).  He mentioned that he could see the constellation Orion out the window;  I told him I had been looking at Orion in low in the East just before talking to him.  In the end, Sean  had to sign as the plane crossed into Florida and aircraft pilot duties took precedence.  

More info on Sean here: https://www.qrz.com/db/K8JSM     

Thanks Sean!