Biography

44 years of age, reached end of third year of medical school then dropped out, currently a stay-at-home Dad.

Been ham since 1989, but inactive between circa 1998 and June 2015. Back on the air now that I'm able to put up some wire. My interest in radio has never gone on hiatus however, as I've always been interested in SWL and MW, both DX and simply sitting/laying back and listening.

Also passionate about music (guitar, metal, opera, quite an extensive and eclectic taste frankly), books, film, hiking (AT on the bucket list), old-time radio drama, and most certainly other distractions I'm forgetting at the moment.

In terms of my operating, I'm discovering the digital modes, essentially for the first time as this stuff was only for the wealthiest of hams 'back in the day' but now very affordable given the ubiquitous sound card...lots of fun on both PSK and Olivia. CW will always be a passion, and starting to chill on the mic a bit more, getting more comfortable simply being 'me'.

I love , first and foremost, the notion of meeting others around the world or simply down the block, who want to shake hands over the airwaves for no particular reason, other than to be able to say afterwards that we've made one more friend. Cool stuff really!

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

Current setup:

Icom IC-735 100 watts (nominal)
MFJ-941E antenna tuner (G5RV goes nowhere without assistance)
Bencher BY-1 paddles and a Japanese knockoff straight-key (yucky)
Baofeng UV-5R 2/440 HT as a base station into a J-Pole on the roof
G5RV 50 feet at apex
Homebrew interface for digi-modes used with fldigi, dxLab suite for logging.

Finally, I'm always throwing up new wire antennas and/or simply re-working the dipole to death...but the G5RV, though I've only had it for two weeks, has impressed me immensely DESPITE all the detraction I hear.