About me

I was born on February 11, 1968 and raised in the small but beautiful town of Rillaar (go to www.rillaar.be for some photos and other information of Rillaar - sorry: not in English), in Belgium. Belgium is situated in the west of Europe, bordered to the north by the Netherlands, to the east by Germany and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and to the south and the west by France. Although its surface area of 32,545 km² (12,565.6 square miles) makes it a small country, its location has made it the economic and urban nerve centre of Europe.

Belgium spans 2 degrees in latitude, from 51 degrees 30 minutes North at Meerle (northernmost point) to 49 degrees 30 minutes North at Torgny (southernmost point). In longitude, it spans less than 4 degrees, from 2 degrees 33 minutes East to 6 degrees 24 minutes East.

"Belgium, heart of Europe" is not just a catch phrase: the geographical centre of the 15 countries of the European Union is actually in Belgium, and more precisely in Oignies-en-Thiérache (Viroinval), in the province of Namur.

The geography of Belgium shows it to have three major areas: lower Belgium (up to 100 m/328 ft above sea level), central Belgium (between 100 m/328 ft and 200 m/656 ft above sea level) and upper Belgium (from 200 m/656 ft to over 500 m/1640 ft above sea level). Lower Belgium begins in the west at the coast, with beaches and dunes which extends in a straight line for 65 km (40.4 miles). Inland from the coast lie the "polders". This flat and fertile land used to suffer from flooding by the sea in the past but is now totally dry, thanks to the sluices which protect it from tidal erosion. Between the western polders, the Leie and the Scheldt, are the Flemish lowlands, a sandy region which is hilly in places such as the Kemmelberg and the Kluisberg. The Kempen lie in the east of the country. The soil in the Kempen is poor and the landscape comprises conifer woods, heathlands, ponds, marshes, pastures and corn fields.

Behind the Flemish lowlands and the Kempen, gradually rising to the Sambre and Meuse valleys, lies central Belgium, with its low and very fertile clay plateaus. The heavily urbanised Brabant has its own lush green carpet, the forest of Soignes, a forest area and a remnant of the earlier Forest of Cologne, which covered a large part of the country in Roman times. Furthermore, central Belgium boasts Hainaut in the west and Hesbaye in the east, both fertile areas with large farms and extensive fields and pastures.

Upper Belgium, the most sparsely populated and densely wooded part of the country, begins south of the Sambre and the Meuse at the Condroz plateau, a fertile area which is regarded primarily as a tourist attraction on account of the beautiful valleys of the Meuse and the Ourthe and its numerous historical monuments. Between the Vesder and the Meuse lies the Country of Herve which due to its rich clay soil is suitable for grazing and cattle rearing. To the south of the Condroz lies the area of Fagnes and Famenne, which, although a poor agricultural region, is well known for its many mysterious caves, the most interesting examples being those at Han-sur-Lesse and Remouchamps. Further to the south are the Ardennes, a region alternating between a magnificent, wooded area with natural beech forests and specially grown fir trees, and plateaus and deep valleys. The Ardennes are a natural tourist attraction, and its southernmost part, Belgian Lorraine, has a milder climate than the rest of the country.

According to the National Institute for Statistics the Belgian population was 10,239,085 on August 31st, 2000. Did I mention it is a small country? Another interesting fact is that my last name (Janssens) is the second most common name in the country; the first place is reserved for Peeters (but I'm sure we'll beat those guys one day!)

It was in Belgium that I received my first ham radio license in 1994, although it was an American license: KB2RRV. Later, in November 1995, I passed the Belgian class B (2 meters and higher) license test and received my ON1DAZ call sign; and less than 6 months after that I passed the class C Morse code license test and was given the ON4CBJ call sign. That opened up the world of H.F. radio to me; a world I had been monitoring for several years before. Less than a month later I was able to upgrade my American license to the General class, of course because of the training I had done for the Belgian license. Unfortunately no more V.E. test sessions were held in Belgium after that, and it wasn't until the end of the spring of 2001 after I moved to Texas that I could take the next (and last) test to upgrade my license. Immediately after I received my Extra class license I applied for and was granted my current K5WW call sign. In that same period I had my Belgian call sign changed to ON5ZK, mainly because I always wanted a shorter call sign; and I chose that particular suffix as a tribute and a way of saying "Thanks!" to my good friend Hans ON6ZK, who introduced me to ham radio and was always very supportive in my effort to obtain my own license.

Currently, I live in a small South West Texas town: Brackettville. If you have a good map you will see Brackettville in between the cities of Del Rio (31 miles to the West, on the border with Mexico) and Uvalde (40 miles to the East).

The city limit sign needs to be replaced, there are a little over 2,000 residents in Brackettville as I write this.

On March 1, 2005 we moved to Fort Clark Springs, which took us (my wife KU5Z and me) off the air for a while. But we're back!

If you're unfortunate enough to not know what "ham" radio is then click on on the left. Otherwise, you can skip that section and move on to the photos.