Alex van Hengel, born in 1962, lives in Heerjansdam, a small city approximately 10 km South of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
The radiobug bit me on the age of 12 being a boy-scout participating in the Jamboree on the Air, talking to other scouts all over the world by radio. Soon I started to seriously SWL listening. At first on a lended Kenwood R300 but soon I was hooked and I bought my first own receiver and there was no way back.
I am licensed since 1980, started on 2m FM with my novice license (PD0LGF) and soon VHF DX became my main interest. I became PE1JUP (VHF license) and finally in 1984 I passed the morse exam and became PA3DMH. About that same time I got married and moved to another QTH where I could not operate VHF and the focus moved to HF DXing. Today I am still very interested in VHF DX but unfortunately this is limited by my current QTH. Over the years my callsign changed to PC1A and now PA1AW
DX-ing, no matter what band, is the favorite part of this hobby for me. I think I can say I am a skilled CW, RTTY and SSB operator. This is also the order in which I favor the different modes. I love to work BIG pile-ups, but also can spend hours listening for that low signal on VHF or Low Bands.
Since 1984 I am in contesting also. I am one of the founding members of the contestgroup PI4COM and most of the years I also was active in this group as contestmanger and Secretary General. In this role I also became national coordinator of PA6HQ, the Netherlands HQ station representing the national IARU Society in the annual IARU HF Championshipcontest.
I am also part of the LLDXT, Low Land DX Team. A team of DXers from the low lands going on DXpedition in different combinations. For many of these operations I have acted as the QSL manager. Although my private situation limited my options to operate at the other end of the pile-up I was active as LX/PA3DMH, SV9/PA1AW, SP/PA1AW, UX/PA1AW, HB0/PA1AW, LX/PA1AW and MJ/PA1AW. I am sure this list will grow over the next few years.
Since 2016 I am also involved in the EUDXF. I volunteered in the vacant role of Office Manager being the first line contact between the EUDXF and supported DXpeditions. Next to this I am involved in the EUDXF website and other Social Media.
73 Alex PA1AW