W2RE Bio:

Ray drinking with Jeff Briggs VY2ZM in Prince Edward Canada.

Personal:

Ray began his ham radio journey in 1988 as a novice operator with the call sign KB2FHL, and soon after, his girlfriend and now wife, Lori (KB2HZI), joined him in the hobby. With 35 years of experience in ham radio, Ray is currently 57 years old and retired with a union pension, but still runs his own communication businesses.

Ray and Lori have been happily married since 1991 and have three children, all of whom attended or completed college: Ray Jr. (31), Bobby (KC2UPN) (29), and Kelly (2). Ray describes their home as a busy one, with Lori working as a nurse in Westchester Co, NY and also assisting in tower climbing and antenna building.

After working for Pepsi for over 28 years, Ray retired/resigned in 2013. During his time at the company, he served as the Chief Shop Steward (teamsters local 445, 812) for a 100+ man shop for over 20 years, where he acted as a steward (lawyer) for the workers. Though it was a thankless job, in Ray’s own words, it taught him invaluable values and skills that he uses today in dealing with people and businesses.

Additionally, Lori and Ray have the perfect workout routine – chasing around our three energetic grandkids! These little ones are always on the move, whether they’re crawling, running, or playing games with us. It’s a fun and exciting way to stay active, and we love every moment of it. Plus, it’s a great way to spend quality time with the family and create memories that will last a lifetime. Who needs a gym membership when you have these adorable little fitness trainers keeping you on your toes?

My truck prior to my retirement.

W2RE:

In 1996, Ray was granted the call sign W2RE as a vanity call sign. He built a successful station in Blueberry, NY which he still resides in today. From this location, he won many DX SSB contests in the USA by entering SOA, while the station was active between 1996-2008. Today, the station is dedicated primarily to remoting. This location features two towers on a 1300′ ridge in the Hudson Valley.

In 2010, he built his dream vacation/contest home in the Northern Catskill Mountains, about 2 hours north (100 miles) from his primary residence. It is situated on a hilltop at 2100ft ASL with 20+ acres, and a 360-degree drop-off in all directions. This station offers total privacy and a very low noise floor, making it a pleasure to operate DX and participate in contesting. Despite his busy schedule, Ray is still in awe every time he visits the location, although he doesn’t get to visit very often these days. After investing his life savings and winning a few radio contests between 2010-2014, this station is now on a remote service called RemoteHamRadio.com.

Business:

Currently, Ray is the CEO of Hudson Valley Towers Inc and the COO of http://RemoteHamRadio.com. He is co-partners with Lee Imber WW2DX in both these ventures. Ray considers Lee and Rock to be very talented individuals, and he feels truly blessed to be in business with them.

Contrary to popular belief, RHR does not have investors. All the infrastructure of RHR was funded by hard work, dedication, and reinvestment from HVT business between 2008-2013 and RHR between 2012 to the present. The RHR team is committed to reinvesting in the business by securing the best possible land to build and maintain sites throughout the USA. As of today, they have 60+ radio towers and over 300 antennas, and they plan to continue expanding and innovating in the future. Stay tuned for more updates!

In 2022, Ray started a short term rental business that has taken off like a rocket! Not content with just running three successful communication companies, Ray has taken on the challenge of the real estate market and is killing it. From managing the properties to ensuring that guests have an unforgettable experience, Ray is making waves in the hospitality industry. Who says you can’t have it all? Ray is living proof that with hard work and dedication, you can achieve anything you set your mind to. Stay tuned for more exciting developments from the multi-talented Ray W2RE!

Update:

In 2015, Ray and the RHR team purchased a 60+ acre farm house on the Atlantic Ocean in Eastport, Maine (USA). The team is confident that after the completion of the station build, this will be the contest station that all others measure station performance in the USA. For more details, please visit the Eastport page: http://www.w2re.com/eastport-2/

In the summer of 2017, Ray and his son Bobby KC2UPN started Radio Echo Communications: https://www.radioechocomm.com/. They are now open for business!

In 2019, Ray purchased 22.5 acres in Jonesport, ME and built a world-class station at this location. For more information, please visit the Jonesport page: http://w2re.com/jonesport

In 2023, Ray and Lee purchased an additional 40 acres in Maine, which is the high point on the hill at 600′ asl.

Thank you for reading Ray’s bio!

Family Picture December 2017

 

Lori KB2HZI and Ray W2RE, Its ham thing!

 

Ray in World Gym 2019 Pawling, NY
Its imperative Ray stays in shape to continue building towers!
Baby Ella – My first Grandchild! Photo Dec 2020
Some of the locations we own with homes that make it easy to maintain while on the road. No hotels required!

The three grandkids. Ella, Cole and Melissa

12 thoughts on “About

  1. what a cracking Bio Ray very insperational, the setups are amazing, and love the videos and the live streams it does’nt take you long to start a pile up, so maybe next time you live stream it could be under contest conditions i could watch that all day haha, i think what your doing with youtube and facebook is great, bringing ham radio to the masses and who knows it mite come full circle and more people take up ham radio especially the young ones, i started off in CB like most people back in the 80’s then went out the hobby due to growing up and having family, got back into it as M3WUN a few years back, then just has i was starting to enjoy it we had financal uncertanty like most and sold my radio setup, so starting all over again, and studing for my intermidiate licence, anyway Ray thanks for reading this a bit long winded i no, hope your company goes from strength to stength,you should set a website up to sell all the old antennas and other surplas stuff you take down, take care Ray from Ian Mcmahon M3WUN Liverpool uk

  2. Ray my name Kevin Colbert KD9MNB new to the hobby
    Interested in acquiring a Mosley Beam antenna to increase DX communication
    I currently have a ZeroFive 43 FT vertical antenna
    ICOM 7300
    Palstar LA-1K amp
    PALSTAR AT2K antenna tuner
    Do you install antannas in the Midwest ?

  3. Wow what a station, great clips of your setup. Just listening to you on 20m but its very busy trying to get.All the best G0FJJ

  4. Ray i here you in de eastside of de Netherlands on 20 meter 14.120 Mhz .
    Radio 5 and 10 tv 0ver 9

    God bless you.

    Jan Wentink in de city Groenlo jo21

  5. Hi, there. Awesome story. I live in Lubec and have heard bits and pieces about your setup, but I didn’t know about the Lubec location. I would love to go by and take a look if that is ever a possibility. Please let me know. You can get my email address on my QRZ page.
    73,
    Phil KF1O

  6. Hello. I am Roger Larkin, Mapleton, Utah (KB7JD). I was given your contact info by Jozef, F8DRE. I understand that you are the representative of Waldek SP7GPX antennas. Can you send me emailed sales sheets on these antennas? I am primarily interested in the 18 element, 6 band antenna, but others I am curious about. Please SEND SPECIFICATIONS with this emailing. I need this to complete a comparison survey with a number of US & 1 UK companies. Thank you so much. Hoping to hear from you soon. 73’s.
    Roger Larkin
    rogeralarkin@gmail.com

  7. Hi, today 20.9.2020 at around 14:13 local time (08:13 AM at your place) I heard a broadcast from the other side of the Earth for the first time on the frequency 14217 kHz.
    According to the captured session, It was your broadcast.
    My place is in Liberec, Czech Republic, locator JO70MS.
    Receiver AOR AR-7030, antenna hand-made loop (MLA) made of coaxial cable, diameter about 80 cm (32 inches), range 5 to 17 MHz .
    Your signal was strong and clean, with slight fading.
    I can send you a short record by e-mail if you are interested.

    Regards
    Robert, listener number OK1-36046

  8. Hi, I just made a short CW QSO with you on 14001.85MHz, 559/559. My antenna is a self invented s- magnetic loop “ON4APZ” with 80cm diameter on the ground floor, It has an unique property: There is no need to re-tune when changing the frequency within the band.
    You can find its description on our website.(Dutch) photo’s & measurements.
    73
    Guido ON4APZ

  9. Hallo Bobby,
    59+ in der Nähe von Bielefeld, vielen Dank für das nette QSO auf 3792khz.

    Vy 73 und bleib gesund
    Achim DO1YAR

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