About KH7AL
Allen Le Vie
Amateur Extra Class. I got into ham radio as a way to combine a love of the outdoors with a fascination for HF propagation. It turned into something I didn't expect — a passport to places and people I wouldn't have found any other way.
The Wake Island Chapter
From late 2024 through mid-2025, I was assigned to Wake Island (KH9) — a remote U.S. territory in the central Pacific, roughly 2,300 miles west of Honolulu. Wake is one of the most sought-after DXCC entities in amateur radio, and operating from there as KH7AL/KH9 was something I'd only dreamed about.
The operation produced over 20,000 contacts across multiple bands and modes. FT8 was the workhorse, eventually running in Super Fox/Hound mode. I also ran CW pileups, built and tested a Vertical Dipole Array (VDA), and dealt with everything from wasps to machete mishaps. The full story is in the log.
SOTA
When I'm home in Montana, I'm usually planning the next summit. Summits On The Air gets me into the mountains with a portable rig — usually a KX-3 or LNR MTR4B — chasing points and enjoying terrain that most people only see on a map.
Gear
- Home: Icom IC-7300, wire dipole
- SOTA/portable: Elecraft KX-3, LNR Precision MTR4B
- Wake Island: Various wire antennas including VDA, DeltaFlex
- Digital: WSJT-X (FT8/Fox&Hound), N1MM+ for contesting
Contact
Best way to reach me is through QRZ. I'm happy to arrange skeds, answer questions about Wake Island, or talk SOTA.