Lance Collister received Bachelor degrees in both physics and philosophy of religion, and has worked in design engineering, product development, technical writing, general and sales management and marketing. He is responsible for six patents. He retired for medical reasons in 2007.

He was first licensed in 1965 at the age of fourteen and his first contact was on 2m. On December 1, 1983, he gained notoriety in the 2m community by being the first civilian to contact space, completing with W5LFL aboard STS-9. He also took first place on the 2m in the ARRL International EME Competition that year. In September 1999, he achieved 2m DXCC #11. He operated four 2m EME DXpeditions from C6A and two from ZF8.

In 1996, he upgraded to Amateur Extra class and constructed his first 6m antenna and amplifier for the Magic Band. Later that year, he completed his first 6m EME contact. With the advent of JT65A and expansion of his 6m EME antenna to four nine element yagis, he has completed contacts with 183 DXCC on 6m, 128 of which were made on EME.

He has published numerous articles and guidelines and written computer programs to assist operators around the world in successfully operating EME, and has given many people their first 6m EME contact. He also has been involved in providing dozens of surplus Harris Channel 2 TV amplifiers to operators in 13 countries and provided instructions on how to use them on 6m. He was awarded the Jersey Trophy by UKSMG for his work in helping people get on 6m and for his tireless promotional efforts regarding 6m EME.

He has successfully operated 6m EME DXpeditions from E51, 3D2, 5W and E6. He is listed by the ARRL with a number of 6m DXCC “firsts” from North America. Lance has demonstrated the ability to keep up with technical developments advances and successfully use any modes to capitalize on the propagation opportunities available on 6m. Some information about 6m weak signal work – as well as his previous 6m EME DXpeditions - is available on his web site below.

Contact information:

Lance Collister, W7GJ
(ex WA3GPL, WA1JXN, WA1JXN/C6A, ZF2OC/ZF8, E51SIX, 3D2LR, 5W0GJ, E6M)
P.O. Box 73
Frenchtown, MT 59834-0073
USA
TEL: (406) 626-5728
QTH: DN27ub
URL: http://www.bigskyspaces.com/w7gj/
2m DXCC #11/6m DXCC #815