May GARA Meeting: Building Antennas

Anthony Luscre-K8ZT will join us virtually and do a presentation on antennas to tie in with the past classes and the antenna building project for Field Day.

First licensed in 1981 as KA8NRC, Anthony has been a QRP operator from his very first QSO (no one told him Novices should not start with a 2-watt QRP rig). Changed callsign to K8ZT in June 2000 after updating to Extra Class License

He is active in a variety of Amateur Radio activities, but his favorite activity is operating! Whether it is contesting, DXing or rag chewing, satellites, etc. CW Phone or Digital, the QRP contacts have added up and now top 115,000. First drawn to contesting by his love of working DX, he has consistently finished in the top ten of various major contests and finished first in the World and  US in both CQ Worldwide Phone and CW QRP categories multiple times. As a bonus, his QRP DXCC total recently topped the 328 mark, and he has completed 11-band WAS QRP. 

Now retired, Anthony’s work background includes 20 years as a Medical Technologist working in Clinical Microbiology and private computer consulting and 20 years as a Computer Technology Coordinator, Technology Director (most recently as a Technology Integration Specialist for  30 school districts). His retirement activities include volunteering as a Trainman on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.

Anthony lives with his wife Linda, KA8ODP, near Akron, Ohio. His station is definitely not a super contesting station. His small suburban lot is cramped with a modest array of antennas, proving that you can be competitive in contests without acres of aluminum if you choose your entry category carefully. 

Anthony currently serves as ARRL Ohio Section Youth Coordinator. He enjoys sharing his Amateur Radio interests with others by maintaining a website, k8zt.com, writing articles for various publications, including CQ Magazine (column “Ham Radio Explorer”), the DX Engineering blog “On All Bands,” and developing an online course, “Introduction to Contesting,” for the ARRL. In addition to frequent in-person club presentations pre-COVID, starting during the pandemic, he has done over 400 club presentations and classes virtually in multiple states and countries. 

In 2024, Anthony was awarded the Dayton Hamvention Special Achievement Award for his work in presentations to clubs around the world.

Join us at 6:30pm for dinner, or 7:15pm for the meeting on Monday, May 27!