Member Spotlight – Mark Baker KO4MBN

In January 2021, Mark Baker was not a ham. In December 2021, Mark is KO4MBN with a General ticket and has worked all 50 states and over 100 countries. Mark got his Tech ticket in February 2021. He joined the OVH in April 2021 and passed his General exam at an OVH VE session in October 2021. Zero to sixty in ham radio.

KO4MBN shack
KO4MBN shack

Mark lives in Bristow, VA and is a Captain and Paramedic with the DC Fire Department. He has a number of other hobbies. He is an amateur astronomer. He does astrophotography and also landscape and nature photography. He is a pistol and rifle target shooter. He has three sets of dusty golf clubs as well as some bowling ball in the closet.

Mark’s first exposure to radio was the father of one of his friends who was a ham operator. Mark was active in CB for years before getting his ham ticket.

Mark has his own WIRES-X node and is active on the America Link room #21080 or US-AMERICA-LINK on fusion. He also is active on repeaters and on FT8. His radios include IC-9700, IC-7300,  FTM-100 with WIRES-X, FT3DR (HT) and FTM-400XDR/DE for mobile. His antennas include a 10M – 17M Solarcon IMAX 2000, 10M – 80M zepp and a 6M loop.

In the short time he has been a ham, Mark has collected many awards with most of them from QRZ. These include 50 states, all continents, South America, North America, 100 countries and radio friendship. The awards are shown below.

ARRL Membership
ARRL Membership
QRZ Award 50 States
QRZ Award 50 States
QRZ Award - All Continents
QRZ Award – All Continents
QRZ Award - South America
QRZ Award – South America
QRZ Award - North America
QRZ Award – North America
QRZ Award - General class operator
QRZ Award – General Class Operator
QRZ Award - 100 Countries
QRZ Award – 100 Countries
QRZ Award - Grid Squared
QRZ Award – Grid Squared
QRZ Award - World Radio Friendship
QRZ Award – World Radio Friendship
QRZ Award - Technician class operator
QRZ Award – Technician Class Operator

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