018 - Meet AL7KC Mike Sambuco - A Parks on the Air Legend | POTA Hunters Series

This episode contains my first conversation in a new series called POTA Hunters, where I sit down with the voices I hear in nearly every activation to get to know the people behind those familiar call signs.

Today, we meet AL7KC Mike Sambuco.

When I first got into Parks on the Air (POTA), I quickly noticed the awards page, especially the one for hunting all U.S. states. Because I was doing frequent activations and hunting park-to-park contacts, those boxes began filling in pretty fast. But one of the hardest to get, right up there with Hawaii, was Alaska.

Then one day, I heard Mike Sambuco (AL7KC) activating a park in Alaska. I can still remember how excited I was when I realized he could hear me and the QSO was confirmed.

Ever since that first contact, Mike has hunted me down in countless activations. I’ll never forget the time he followed me across five different bands during one outing. Even today, I’m always listening for his call sign to break through the pileup , though the band conditions between Kentucky and Alaska don’t always make it easy. Still, every time I hear “AL7KC” come through, it’s a thrill.

Mike’s profile on the POTA site speaks volumes:

• 125 successful activations
• 64 parks activated
• Over 4,800 QSOs from those parks
• And an incredible 26,000+ Hunter QSOs

In this conversation, you’ll hear how Mike first got interested in radio back in the early 1970s, starting with simple walkie-talkies on CB Channel 14. From there, his curiosity grew into a lifelong passion that has taken him from Ohio to Korea, and eventually to Alaska, where he’s been operating since 1988 under his current call sign, AL7KC.

Mike’s story is full of history, humility, and heart, the kind of story that reminds us why we all fell in love with radio in the first place.