About the Net Manager
Kevin Harkins lives in Norwich, CT, just a handful of miles from where he spent his early childhood.
He became
KA6PDG in 1981 in southern California, a proud prodigy of Gordan West,
WB6NOA, and hasn’t looked back since.
In 1982, he moved to northern California, and the following year, became a net control for the Sacramento Valley Traffic Net and active on the Golden Bear Net, an independent traffic network.
Since then, he has served as AEC, EC, and DEC for Amateur Radio Emergency Services in California and Oregon; he has handled tactical and emergency traffic as a member of the Baja Amateur Racing Association for the Baja 500 and 1000 and Parker 400 races; served as communications coordinator for the International Special Olympic Winter Games in Reno, 1989, net control for the Wildflower Century and Pacific Coast bike treks, and director of communications for the Pacific Northwest Amateur Balloon Experiment.
Kevin has been a net control for the Hurricane Watch Net, and together with Randy Gudeahn, (now
AA2RG), founded the International Training and Information Public Service Net in the early 2000s.
He has been active with ECTN since returning to Connecticut in 1994, and believes that traffic handling and training new hams to understand that, “doing it right is fun”, is at the core of what the amateur service is about.