Biography

Я говорю по-русски и на эсперанто. Mi parolas la rusan kaj Esperanton.

I am an attorney and former EMS Paramedic. I got licensed in the mid-90s as a Technician. A few years later I passed the 5WPM test and became a Tech Plus. In 2000, shortly after the birth of my first son, I upgraded to General. My main interest was satellites, and I was a member of AMSAT during that period.

As of August 8, 2020 I have upgraded to Extra. Whelp...that only took about 25 years!

In 2002 I moved to Kazakhstan, where my wife is from, and was never able to pursue the hobby there for various reasons. However, I lived in the same building as UN5J and would occasionally visit him in his shack!

I came back to the US in 2008 and was never able to get back into the hobby due to work, family and then law school. Now that I have some time and we are empty nesters, I bought a Xiegu G90 and am looking forward to getting back on the bands, especially for digital modes. I'm particularly fond of Hellschreiber.

I am an Esperanto speaker and welcome all Esperanto-speaking hams to contact me. Se vi estas Esperantisto, bonvolu kontakti min. Mi estas gxoja paroli kun vi, se la radiokondicoj permesas. I also speak conversational Russian.

My other interests are history, science fiction, space, beekeeping and aviation. I have about 80 hours in various aircraft.

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

I had no ham radio gear from my previous active period, and I'm on a shoestring budget, so my first purchase was a Xiegu G90. By the way, it's pronounced "shye-gu" (majored in Chinese for 2 years). This is a fantastic radio, easily the best bargain currently in ham radio: for $450 you get an 160-10M all mode radio with waterfall display, cw decoder, adjustable filters, built in SWR graphic analyzer. The tuner is incredible- it will tune a wet noodle. With the Xiegu G90, a new ham can get on the air with a no-compromise rig (i.e. it's not a crippled xcvr so you'll want to buy the much more expensive, "full featured" rig) for about $500. Plus the thing seems built solid as a rock (be aware though that there are dud radios that leave the factory, and users have reported issues, although it seems that the US dealers have all given top notch customer service and replaced the defective units).

When I thought about relearning CW, I saw the price of keys and about passed out. So, off to the auction! I picked up a truly beautiful Vibroplex Delux ARRL 100th Anniversy edition. This was from the estate of SK W4WUQ. Since it was numbered (27) and engraved with his callsign, it didn't sell for as much. I looked him up and he was an exemplery ham radio operator. I'm honored to have his key.

Another auction led to 3 more keys (and I STILL can't CW worth a darn), a nice Bencher, a 1939 Vibroplex Champion in semi-decent shape, and a 1979 Vibroplex Single Paddle Deluxe. I am now restoring the Champion and Deluxe.

I also picked up a FTDX1200, which I am still getting fully on air. It sounds amazing but I can only do (bad) CW right now.

My antennas are Main: DX Commander All Band vertical and Secondary: EARCHI Matchbox (end fed) antenna. Soon plan on putting up OCF Dipole and possibly a hexbeam or spiderbeam.