My current QSL and QTH info is here.
Most of my current ham radio activities since 2002 are on the shortwave bands.
I'm an ARRL Life Member and ARRL A-1 Operator.
Awards earned as JJ1BDX: DXCC (Mixed, CW, Phone, Digital, 40/30/20/17/15/12/10m Single-band, Challenge), WAS (Mixed, Digital, 15m, 15m Digital, and FT8), WAZ (Mixed and 20m CW), and WPX (Mixed and Digital).
Awards earned as N6BDX via Remote Ham Radio (RHR): DXCC (Mixed, CW, Digital, 80/40/30/20/17/15/12/10m Single-band, 5-Band DXCC with 30/17/12m endorsements, Challenge).
I am interested in measurements of WSPR signal transmission and reception. I also love to listen to the FM and various radio broadcasts. I've made a command-line FM receiver with multipath interference canceler called airspy-fmradion.
I was born in Setagaya City, Tokyo, Japan, in 1965. My first shortwave experience was in 1973 with a Sony portable radio ICF-5800 at age 8. On February 25, 1974, I went to Boulder, Colorado, USA, with my parents. I spent 1.25 years of American life there until May 1975 at age 9.
I got my first ham radio phone-only license in Japan in March 1976. I also earned my CW license in 1979. Later, I upgraded my Japanese License in 2003 as the 1st Class Amateur Radio Operator. I also got the FCC Amateur Extra Class ticket, with the current callsign N6BDX.
I started my first ham radio operation on 6m SSB in 1976. Then, I learned to operate CW in 1979. After that, I became a packet radio enthusiast from 1985 to 1992. During the period, I was experimenting with TCP/IP on AX.25. I also ran the Terakoya NetNews System with the people of Packet Radio User's Group (PRUG) on 70cm/23cm FM 1200bps AFSK.
I lived in Toyonaka City, Osaka, Japan, from July 1992 to February 2020. I was active as JJ1BDX/3 from June 2002 to October 2014 and was operating JO3FUO during 2005-2014, mainly on HF CW, with 100W output and simple antennas. During this operation, my grid locator was PM74rt, and the JCC/JCG number was 2504. Unfortunately, I could not operate HF due to my business priority from 2015 to 2020. I went back to Setagaya City again in February 2020.
From May 2020 to December 2024, I had been experimenting with HF operation in Setagaya City for the first time in my life since 1976, on the 40m to 10m HF bands, mostly with FT8 and FT4, occasionally with CW. I was able to confirm the contacts of more than 100 DXCC Entities and all the US 50 States (earned ARRL Digital WAS Award) during this operation. The maximum output was 100W, and the antennas were restricted to 2.2m-length mobile whips with the counterpoise wires in the balcony.
From August 2023, my ham radio activities focus onto remote operation from the US 48 mainland States via RHR. I have earned the 5-band DXCC award including the 30m/17m/12m endorsements, and the DXCC Challenge award for the 1000 entity slots, with NO PAPER QSLs, solely by the confirmations through LoTW.
I've neither had a tower nor linear amplifier exceeding 100W output nor HF and 6m beam antennas. I am enjoying simple and restricted antennas, bear-foot transceivers, and manageable systems at home.
My life as a condo dweller keeps putting me in second-class citizens' status in the ham radio world due to smaller ERP and restricted antennas. It's sad to say that only people who own a shack in a detached house, towers, linear amplifiers, and beam antennas are regarded as first-class citizens in the world of ham radio, especially in DXing.
However, I believe that those lavish property ownerships of maximizing one's ERP are not sustainable through a human being's life. I see more and more cases of the advantages being neutralized and vanished by the owners' unfortunate life events. I respect big system owners who actively maintain the system with passion and devotion, but that is not my style and I think that style should not be forced on anyone. And I don't want to be treated as a second-class citizen.
I believe all amateurs are equal, aren't we?
I've been focusing on pursuing DX by remote operation from the USA with Remote Ham Radio (RHR) since August 2023. There are many legitimate reasons for this exodus.
First of all, I'm already sick and tired of the Japanese bureaucracy that impedes rational ham radio activities. Since March 2023, you are no longer practically allowed to radiate more than 50W output if you are living in an apartment complex, which consists of the majority of houses in Tokyo, not necessarily by the RF Safety Rules, but by the bureaucratic procedure mandating explaining the details of the station location and surrounding buildings. This rule itself raises many controversial issues, because submitting a document would not change the actual RF radiation effect on human bodies anyway. My understanding is that the government wants to restrict ham radio activity in densely populated areas of Japan, which is understandable. Still, this rule would not be effective because the existing license would not be revoked even if the RF Safety assessment is not conducted or the required document is not submitted. Eventually, I decided to quit my 100W station license in April 2024 because being complacent about RF Safety would surely pose a safety risk, regardless of what the government says. Being unable to transmit more than 50W practically ruled out pursuing DXing at home.
I should also state that living in Tokyo, in the Grid Locator PM95 area, means you are living in interference hell for DXing, because the grid is literally the most densely populated area of shortwave DXing stations in the world. When you look at the statistics page for various DXpedition stations in the Club Log, you will find that the number of contacts from the stations in the Grid PM95 is almost always the largest in the world. Here are some examples in the 2025 expeditions: TO9W, 6O3T, 5J0EA, 9U1RU, E44OM, and E51MWA. Take notice that the target stations are literally located everywhere in the world. The Club Log statistics suggest that DXers in Tokyo, Japan, are literally calling everywhere in the world in such greedy manners. These statistics also effectively explain why DXing in Tokyo and the vicinity has become so hostile and full of interference, especially in the 6m/50MHz band, where stations calling DX regularly wipe out other non-DX stations on the FT8 channel 50.313MHz. Pursuing DX in such an area is impractical at best.
Last of all, RHR stations are well-maintained and located in relatively quiet areas for DXing. They are actually usable even from Tokyo, where you need to tolerate a few hundred milliseconds of network delay to servers and stations on the mainland USA. Experimenting with and operating the stations, including their basic but solid built-in FT8/FT4 client software, has shown that a 5-band DXCC could be earned if the operator has the proper skills. Being free from expensive properties like towers and real estate, or from having to maintain them, is actually a huge advantage, as it prevents property debt.
Quite a few hams criticize, claiming that operating remotely does not belong in DXing or contesting. While I understand their resentment of a possible cheating opportunity in the remote operation, I disagree with them. It's up to the operators themselves, after all, to abide by the rules or to exploit and break them. For example, DXCC allows multiple operation locations within the same DXCC entity. Nobody should be accused of operating remotely, so long as they are not breaking the rules.
Ham radio is all about advancing technology, inventing new operating styles, discovering and solving unsolved problems, and enjoying healthy competition within the community. Rejecting technological advancement and complaining like Luddites is counterproductive and not the right attitude to embrace change or progress in society.