Biography

I can still recall going with my father to Hartford CT back in 1965 ( I was 12 at the time) on Fedral St to a place called Hatry's. It was a place of wonder. I met this guy called Corky and for the next 20 minutes he talked about something called Ham Radio. Now up to this time i had never heard of Ham Radio, but being a kid, I just loved radios. Back then they would glow when turned on and if lucky you could even smell them as the tubes would warm the insides of them. Everyone raise your hand if you think Yanke Candle would have a winner with OLD RADIO as a scent. My father did incourage me by getting me my very first kit (heathkit) a VTVM. I learned a lot from that one kit. learned how to solder and read a scematic. got finished and the darn thing worked ! My next kit was a skynight shortwave reciever. my paper route paid for that. funny story about that swl stuff. I will tell it later. Back to the story. Corky expland to me that I could study and learn code and radio stuff. .....Wait a minute ya mean I gotta study? Ok I would try and above all elese I would stay away from a thing called CB radio. Corky was very firm on that last part. To drag this story out a little longer, I did study and finaly got to a level of code where I could take the required 5 wpm test and then take the written. Took forever to recieve the results from the FCC (back then you did not have your test graded while you wait) but the envelope did arrive and I got the call sign of WN1IWA.

I was a novice! wow a real live ham . I gotta a station set up fast. A SX 111 receiver and a small heathkit transmitter. My dad even made the call sign letters out of wood and put them on my door. I had a roaring 40 watts to a dipole. Had fun and like a lot of kids let this pass. I let the licence expire. Wish I had kept it up. I went for model making (any thing looking like a rocket or anything that flew). left that poor ol radio sitting there. birthdays came and went. Before long I was watching Walter Cronkite on TV and the report on the Vietnam war. I graduated and enlisted in the ARMY. When we were all at the "reception center" we all got tested on a whole bunch of things. I did real good on the code test and also on flight aptitude. Boy I thought COOL! I might get to fly or maybe run a radio. I thought back to all the things I had leaned as a kid on radios and thought for sure I would do that with ease. NOPE, Uncle Sam had a fun trip (as a grunt) to a far off place. Came back and made the first of a few really bad picks for wives. During my first bad pick , I did get back into radio. I was now WA1SVS and finaly worked up the code to 20 wpm and the theroy to take and pass my extra.

Zoom forward with me to the year of 2004. Having finaly made the best pick ever, I married the girl from my own high school class of 71. We had known each other since 1961. She has been a friend for over 43 years. She is very tolarant of my hobby and does not mind the tower I set up or that tribander that now sits on it. My set up today is far different from when I was a kid. I now have a TS 2000X (cause ya never know when you might want to work 1.2 ghz). This last year I was able to finally finish my W.A.S. due to W1AW/ port. A big thanks has to go to my bride who never compland about me being on the radio and even would ask me what "new" state I would be trying for that week. We even went to the Hartford Centennial Convention this last year. What a wife! Now if I can only convince her that she get her ticket!

I have and still get on the satilites. I am working on DXCC. I work most of the digital modes, code and voice (I say voice cause I have been on AM lately) on all the bands. 160 thru 440. Just do what seems fun at that time. I love to build and play with anttenas. Currently I am useing a horazonal loop in the yard that is about 550 feet long. I also love to rag chew when I can but am respectful of others who want to make the contact with whom I am curently talking to. I also like being a VE.

I enjoyed a carrier in aviation as a pilot and an A&P mechanic. I still hold the coveted IA certificate as well as a CFII comercial single and multi pilot . Yes I do operate airmoble when I can. I even operated airmoble from a blimp or as the say in aviation "lighter than air". Flying the "blimp" was like flying a huge building. I share the love of trains that my wife has. We do have a respectable collection of model trains of all size gauges.

Equipment

TS 2000x hw-9 r1000 xm1 and way to many handhelds
tribander, two and 440 beams horizontal loop about 500 feet long.