The Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team is a small group of ham radio operators with continuing ties to southeastern Ohio who enjoy operating their radios outdoors and when away from home.

Meet the SEORATs: N8VZ | K8RAT | N8XWO | W8MHV | WD8RIF KD8KNC | KA4VNK | N8SUZ | K4SWL | KD8WVX

Previous members: KE8EAS | K8PAW (formerly KD8MZA)

Carl Denbow, N8VZ

arl Denbow, N8VZ, is a phone and digital field operator and participates in Parks on the Air (POTA) as both an Activator and a Hunter. Carl's primary field transceiver is his Elecraft KX2 which he sometimes pairs with a small RF amplifier. Visit Carl's QRZ.com site.

Mike Hansgen, K8RAT

ike Hansgen, K8RAT (formerly AA8EB), has left the hills of southeastern Ohio for the glaciated plains of north-central Ohio but still participates in SEORAT field operations as his schedule permits. Mike is a fan of directional field-portable antennas and has built a 330' vee-beam for field use; he is also a fan of large competition-grade radios and has been known to take a Yaesu FT-920 to SEORAT field events. Mike has many HF rigs, including... an Elecraft K2, an Elecraft KX3, a Ten-Tec Argonaut 515, a Ten-Tec Scout, a Ten-Tec Omni D, a Yaesu FT-102, a Heathkit HW-8, a Heathkit HW-9, and a Heathkit HW-16 + HG-10B VFO. Mike's primary radio is his Elecraft KX3. Mike participates in Parks on the Air (POTA) program as a Hunter and using his barefoot KX3 and end-fed random wire antenna has somehow maintained a position in or very near the top ten in the POTA Hunter Leader Board. In 2016, Mike enjoyed participating in the ARRL's National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) year-long operating-event as a Chaser and finished the Centennial Year with 285 NPS units worked and confirmed. Mike is a fan of vintage receivers and has several nice examples, including... a Hallicrafters S-22R (needs capacitors), a Hallicrafters SX-24, a Hallicrafters S-38D, a Hallicrafters SX-96, a Hallicrafters S-40B, a Hammarlund HQ-129X (and a 2nd one needing work), a Hammarlund HQ-180, and a National NC-155. Mike is fascinated by historic means of generating CW and has developed an excellent fist with a cootie/sideswiper key. His first cootie was fashioned from a kitchen knife, a c-clamp, and a pair of vise-grips (photo),

John McCutcheon, N8XWO

ohn McCutcheon, N8XWO, has sold his pop-up camper but when he still had the camper, he regularly traveled with it and enjoyed combining these trips with amateur radio. John enjoys outdoor operating events such as the ARRL Field Day and the PCARS Ohio State Parks on the Air. John has several rigs, modern and vintage, including... an ICOM IC-7000, an ICOM IC-7410, and a Kenwood TS-140S. Within the team, John is the guru on weak-signal VHF operations.

Drew McDaniel, W8MHV

rew McDaniel, W8MHV (formerly 9M2MC), might be considered the "spiritual leader" of the team. Drew regularly travels to exotic lands for his employer and often makes ham radio an important part of his travels. Drew has far too many radios to list, but in his stable of portable rigs can be found the following: a four-band Elecraft K1, an Elecraft K2/100, a single-receiver Elecraft K3/100, an Elecraft KX2, an Elecraft KX3 + KXPA100 + PX3, a Ten-Tec Argonaut 515, an ICOM IC-7300, an Index Labs Improved QRP Plus, and several homebrew rigs. Drew is a fan of vintage equipment and has a very impressive collection of "heavy metal". Drew's home station, with the exception of the the "heavy metal", is powered by sunlight. Visit Drew's Amateur Radio and Asia Travels web sites.

Eric McFadden, WD8RIF

ric McFadden, WD8RIF, somehow ends up doing much of the logistical work leading up to SEORAT expeditions. Eric's collection of HF rigs includes... a four-band Elecraft K1, an Elecraft K2/10, an Elecraft KX3, a Yaesu FT-817ND, a Heathkit HW-7, a Heathkit HW-8, a Heathkit HW-9, a Heathkit HW-16 transceiver + an HG-10B VFO, a Drake 2-C / 2-CQ + Drake 2-NT + Hallicrafters HA-5, and an ICOM IC-735. Eric's favorite field rig is his Elecraft KX3. He has built the Enhanced KX3 Travel Kit for his frequent field operations. For bicycle-portable field operations, he has built two smaller, lighter kits: the KX3 Mini Travel Kit and the K1 Travel Kit. Eric participates in the Parks on the Air (POTA) and the World Wide Flora & Fauna in Amateur Radio (WWFF) programs as an Activator. In 2016, Eric participated in the ARRL's National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) year-long operating-event as an Activator. He successfully activated all ten of the NPS units in Ohio and all six of the NPS units in West Virginia, finishing the Centennial Year with 183 activations, placing 2nd in Ohio and 17th overall among Activators. He also successfully worked and confirmed 76 NPS units as a Chaser, over half of which were worked park-to-park while activating. Visit Eric's Amateur Radio web site.

Miles McFadden, KD8KNC

iles McFadden, KD8KNC, enjoys participating in SEORAT field operations and particularly enjoys participating in ARRL Field Day as an accomplished SSB operator. Miles often finds himself helping with the logistics of a RATpedition: packing, unpacking, schlepping, and quite often preparing breakfast, lunch, or dinner at the events.

Robert Riordan, KA4VNK

obert Riordan, KA4VNK, had been inactive in the radio hobby for several years until he suddenly found himself with extra time and money after his harmonics moved out of the house. Robert's growing collection of HF radios includes... a Ten-Tec Argonaut V, a Ten-Tec Argonaut 509, a Tec-Tec Scout 555, a Yaesu FT-818, a Yaesu FT-1200, a Heathkit SB-101, a Heathkit HW-7, a Heathkit HW-8, a Kenwood TS-130, a Kenwood TS-680, a Kenwood TS-830, an ICOM IC-7200, and an ICOM-718. In 2016, Robert participated in the ARRL's National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) year-long operating-event as both an Activator and as a Chaser. As an Activator, Robert finished the Centennial Year with 23 activations, placing 6th in Ohio among Activators. As a Chaser, Robert successfully worked and confirmed 64 NPS units. Robert is primarily a SSB operator but is working to add CW to his repertoire. Visit Robert's QRZ.com site.

Jeff Slattery, N8SUZ

eff Slattery, N8SUZ, is the ARRL District Emergency Coordinator for Ohio Section District 8 and Communications Director Emeritus for the The Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure (GOBA). Jeff owns a pirate ship (photo) and participates in the U.S. Islands Award Program as a qualifier and as an activator. Jeff enjoys land-based outdoor operating events such as the PCARS Ohio State Parks on the Air and participates in the Parks on the Air (POTA) program as an Activator. In 2016, Jeff participated in the ARRL's National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) year-long operating-event as an Activator. For field use, Jeff has an ICOM IC-7100 and an ICOM IC-706MKIIG.

Tom Witherspoon, K4SWL

om Witherspoon, K4SWL / M0CYI / VY2SW (formerly KC8GLI and KF4TZK), a native of North Carolina, has left the hills of southeastern Ohio to return to the mountains of western North Carolina (by way of Germany and England) but still participates in SEORAT events when he is able. In addition to numerous shortwave receivers, both vintage and ultra-modern, conventional and SDR, Tom's stable of very effective field transceivers includes... a Mission RGO One, a Lab599 TX-500, an ICOM IC-705, an ICOM IC-703 Plus, an Elecraft KX3, an Elecraft KX2, a pair of Elecraft KX1, an Elecraft K2/10, a Ten-Tec Argonaut V, a Ten-Tec R4020, a Yaesu FT-818, a Yaesu FT-891, a pair of Yaesu FT-817ND, an LNR MTR3b_LCD, an LNR Precision LD-11, a 20m and a 30m QRP Labs QCX Mini, a Venus SW-3B, a Penntek TR-35, and a Penntek TR-45L. In 2023, Tom was inducted into the QRP ARCI QRP Hall of Fame. Tom is a great advocate of outdoor-operating and participates in the Parks on the Air (POTA), World Wide Flora & Fauna in Amateur Radio (WWFF), and Summits on the Air (SOTA) programs as an Activator. In 2016, Tom succumbed to the siren-song of the ARRL's National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) year-long operating-event late in the year but quickly rose to 2nd place among North Carolina Activators and finished the Centennial Year with 91 activations, placing 2nd in North Carolina and 34th overall. Tom is founder and curator of The Radio Spectrum Archive, a project to preserve and share time-shifted radio spectrum recordings. Tom is a regular contributor to The Spectrum Monitor magazine, to DX Engineering's On All Bands blog, and to Ham Radio Workbench podcasts. Tom was the founder and director of Ears to Our World, a 501(c)(3) grass-roots, nonprofit organization that specialized in the distribution of self-powered world band radios and other appropriate technologies to schools and communities in the developing world. Visit Tom's QRPer.com, SWLing.com, The Shortwave Radio Archive, and The Radio Spectrum Archive websites.

Andy Young, KD8WVX

ndy Young, KD8WVX, enjoys operating HF in the great outdoors and in 2016 participated in the ARRL's National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) year-long operating-event as both an Activator and as a Chaser. Andy's primary HF rig is a Kenwood TS-480SAT which he uses both at home and in the field. In the field, Andy has been experimenting with the Buddipole antenna system. Andy is primarily a SSB operator but is working to learn CW. Visit Andy's QRZ.com site.

site built and maintained by wd8rif