A New Beginning

USS Constitution at Boston National Historical Park

July 2013 began our new detail at Boston National Historical Park. After arriving in Denali National Park November 2003, I never imagined living outside of Alaska again. Things happen for a reason and because of that, we sadly departed Alaska in June of 2013. Traveling across the country was exciting but long. Well over 5,000 miles later, we arrived at our new destination, Boston. Recently, I had to decide what to do with my callsign, KL8DX. Operating and contesting in the lower 48 with my Alaska callsign would have led to confusion when operating in contests. After giving it some thought, I decided to change my callsign to AK2MA when my Vanity Callsign expired. 

A callsign is unique and I wanted it to reflect the next journey of our life. After thinking about contesting and sending my call on CW, the AK2MA seemed to work well. I applied for and received AK2MA in October of 2013. It was a sad day to see that my Alaska call was cancelled but I may be able to use it again someday. I loved operating from Alaska even though it was the most challenging location I had ever operated from. I was able to obtain several contesting awards and I was proud of my ham radio accomplishments while there. I have all of my wallpaper to remember the great and challenging times I had living in such a beautiful part of our country. You can hardly get on the air without some sort of pile-up.

So, as we continue to get settled at our new location, I hope to soon turn my focus on putting up a few antenna's before the snow arrives. I miss the sound of CW and it will be fun taking my new callsign for a spin. I think it's safe to say that I won't be creating pile-ups any longer but I can't wait to hear the sound of a contest weekend coming through the speaker once again.