Biography

K8CJY has been my amateur radio call since 1961 and I have been active for most of the past 52+ years. During the 60's, 70's and early 80's, my activity was on 50MHz, 144MHz and 432MHz. This began with AM and later weak signal SSB and some ATV on 439.25MHz.


Beginning in the late 80's, my operations moved to HF due to antenna restrictions (No 100' + towers and large arrays like the original QTH). Today, I spend most of my time on 160M, 75M and 40M. I also enjoy 6M, 10M, 20M and 17M when the propagation is favorable. The modes of operation include SSB, RTTY, AM, SSTV, PSK-31 and recently I have been experimenting with FreeDV digital voice mode.

The rig here is a combination of new and old. Primary equipment for HF/6M consists of Flex Radio 5000 and a Icom 756PROIII driving either an Alpha 9500 or an Expert 2K solid state amplfier. The amplifiers drive a Palstar AT-Auto tuner or an Ameritron ATR 30 tuner . There is also a Collins S-Line setup with a KWM-2A, 312B5, 30L1, AOR DDS-2A synthesizer and a Heath 610 monitor scope customized to match the S-Line. Most recently, I have added a Drake 4-Line in the station consisting of a T4XC, R4C, L4B, CC-1 with converters and theTC-6 + TC-2 transverters. The HF equipment and antennas can be configured and routed via a 3 level 6X6 RF switching matrix. This allows any rig to any amp to any tuner to any antenna to be selected for operation.

For VHF/UHF, the equipment includes an Icom 910H, the Drake TC 6 and TC-2 and the Flex radio with the 144/430 module.

Other boat anchor gear in the collection includes a restored Clegg Interceptor and Zeus 6&2M AM/CW receiver/transmitter and a Johnson 6N2 Thunderbolt amplifier. In addition, I also have Collins and Drake equipment that is not set up including Collins 75S3, 32S3, 62S1, 312B4, 30S1 and Drake MN2000, C4 Station Control and TR-4C and TR-6 transceivers.

The modern equipment is under computer control using TRX Manager,Ham Radio Deluxe and some other software running on a homebuilt rack mounted computer. The PC is a 6 core AMD processor with an advanced graphics processor, 2 sound cards, 16 GB of memory and 3 TB of storage.

The entire array of equipment is connected into a broadcast audio chain consisting of 2 Heil microphones, Symetrix 528E microphone processors, a Harris digital StereoMixer and a Symetrix Telephone interface. The digital output of the chain drives an Orban 9200 digital audio processor which drives all of the transmitters. Each of the receivers can be routed into the audio chain for recording, monitoring or rebroadcast.

A relay based HF antenna matrix allows any antenna to be patched to any rig.

The entire station is assembled in Harris radio studio furniture with much of the gear being rack mounted. This neat configuration insures that my XYL allows the station to be located on the main floor of the house in the den.

During the summer months, I operate marine mobile with an Icom 706MKII on board our SeaRay 44' cruiser based at Catawba Island, Ohio on Lake Erie.

I retired in January 2013 from full time activity as VP of Broadcast Technology at Harris Broadcast Communications after a 48+year career.

My professional career in broadcast communications began in 1964 and has included a wide variety of job experiences from engineering, production and announcing at several Cincinnati radio and television stations to my last position for the Harris Broadcast Communications Division. Along the way, I enjoyed 8 years as Director of Radio/TV (WVXU) and Assistant Professor of Communications at Xavier University (Cincinnati, Ohio) and thirteen years with Midwest Communication Corp as Executive Vice President.

The past 20 years at Harris have involved helping to develop Digital Television (aka HDTV), working on digital radio (HD Radio), leading the team that builds some of the worlds finest broadcast facilities and representing the company in various standards committes. Several years ago, I served as the chief technical architect for the rebuilding of the broadcast networks in Iraq as part of the Iraqi Media Network.I was recently engaged in developing a system for delivering mobile, pedestrian and handheld digital television using the broadcasters ATSC DTV channel. The system is known as ATSC Mobile DTV and it is now deployed on more than150 stations in the US, Canada, Bermuda and Mexico.

In addition to my broadcast work at Harris, I served as a board member and Vice Chairman of the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) based in Washington, DC. ATSC is the standards body for digital television in North America. I have also served on the FCC's Media Security and Recovery Council providing input to the FCC commissioners regarding protecting our communication integrity during natural disasters and attacks.

After retirement I have returned to Harris Broadcast (now GatesAir) on a part time basis as a technology and regulatory advisor. I am also engaged in several volunteer activities including serving on the board of the National Voice of America Broadcast Museum at the former VOA Relay station at Betheny, Ohio and teaching video production at our local high school.

Besides amateur radio, my other hobbies include sailing and trains. I collect 0-Gauge scale models of steam and early diesel locomotives ( 1900 to 1960 era), also G-Gauge models of Colorado narrow gauge (1880 to 1940 era). An O-Gauage layout is currently in the design stage with construction planned to begin soon.

I am a life member of ARRL, The Greater Cincinnati Amateur Radio Association (GCARA), The Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE),The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE), IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Radio Club of America. I am also a member and Fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE). At NAB 2013, I was awarded the Television Engineering Achievement Award in recognition of my lifetime achievements in the broadcast industry.