Biography

My father was in radio since the 1940's when he was recruited out of high school at age 16 to receive radio and radar training by the US Army. When 18 he served in the Army until the end of WWII. He continued his radio career until his retirement in 1980. You could say I was born with a soldering iron in my hands. I was about 6 years old when I built my first radio and began my first real experimenting with antennas when I was about 12. I received no formal training, but had a nearby resource when I wanted it.

I married at 19 and by the time I was 31 had seven children with my lovely wife. It takes a lot of time and money to raise a family and consequently I didn't feel I had resources to devote to amateur radio. I satisfied my electronics and technology needs through my career in IT. I retired in May of 2016 as IT Director for a small city.

In 2007 I was in attendance at a meeting where emergency communications was being discussed and training classes announced. The spark was reignited. As it was an hour drive to the training and I was sold on the need for more licensees I recruited 10 others to carpool for the 8 week evening course. Well, with my background and motivation, I took practice tests and was ready for the Technician exam is little over one week, but I couldn't abandon those I recruited, so in addition to participating in the Technician class I began studying for the General exam. Two weeks later I was scoring well on the practice exams. With weeks to go I couldn't abandon my recruits, so I started studying for the Extra. Now that took a lot more effort! I don't know what is wrong with me. OCD I guess. Once the goal was set I would not accept defeat. The next four weeks I studied like I had never before. I think I averaged about seven hours a day. A test session came up a week before the classes were completed and I felt ready so I went for it! I passed the Technician as expected, and when asked if I wanted to take the General, I accepted, and passed it as well. I think they were a little surprised when I accepted their offer to sit for the Extra exam. By the time I finished that exam my brain was numb! I could hardly see straight, but handed it in and waited while they scored it. I passed! Now, the hard part. I had not even been on the air yet, and now I had the highest privileges afforded in the US in amateur radio. I truly felt unworthy and humbled. I thought of all those that have spent years in the hobby and 'earned' their way up the ladder to General, and far fewer to Extra, and here I was, equal in license but not in operating skills. I had yet to pay my dues. Ten years later I am still working at becoming worthy of the honor.

I still don't have sufficient time or funds to have the dream ham shack or setup. What I have is minimal but in the limited time I have had to be on the air I have had contacts around the globe. I am very pleased to be a part of the amateur radio community and will teach and mentor as many as I am able so they too can participate in a hobby that will prepare them to be of service when the need arises. Providing emergency communications in times of disaster has given me great joy. It is the reason I got in, and the rest is icing on the cake.

Equipment

Icom 756 Pro
Yeasu FT-747GX
OCF dipole on small lot, inverted V with a bit of a Z