DL1IAO Stefan von Baltz
Team: Central Europe 3
Country: Germany
Age: 38
Occupation: Ophthalmologist
DL1IAO Stefan von Baltz
I have been trained as an Ophthalmologist at the University Hospital of Mannheim and now work in a private practice in Bayreuth. It was Alex W2OX who first introduced me into Ophthalmology and invited me for an internship at Wills Eye hospital, PA in 1999. This is one of many examples how Ham Radio has influenced my life.
I received my first license in 1990 at age 14. I’m thankful to my dad Ralph DJ1DB who provided the knowledge and hardware to get me on the air while still in school. Later, Roland DK3GI invited me to my first ever multi-op and showed me how to really operate a contest. When I was 21 he selected me as a teammate for WRTC 1996 and later again in 2002. As a student I teamed up with Hannes DK1NO at his phenomenal hilltop QTH and learned some life lessons while building antennas and operating the low bands with him. Today time limits most of my operating to contesting on the HF bands, but occasionally you may find me rag chewing in CW. I have been operating together with my teammate Manfred DJ5MW from early on and we still get together for the IARU Region 1 Field Days. I hold DM1A as a callsign for Multi Op entries. I’m maintaining a database of DL contest records on my own website.
It has been 18 years since my first WRTC participation as a youngster in 1996 and 12 years since my last one. With Manfred I was able to reach #4 at WRTC 2000. We had been following WRTC 2010 and really regretted not to be part of it. Compared to our last participation we feel a bit more relaxed and experienced and it will be a thrill to find out how well we can do.