Biography

I was originally licensed in June 1957 as KN1CJV and was only licensed for CW on HF with 75 watts and a crystal controlled transmitter. My transmitter was a Viking Johnson Ranger and the receiver was a Hallicrafter Super Skyrider SX-16 which was made in 1939. It did not have an S-meter, but had a tuning eye which most current hams have probably never experienced. The receiver was very unstable and drifted. I had to retune it after every transmittion. my initial antenna was an endfed Zepp fed with open wire. I eventually put up a 2 element 15 meter minibeam on the roof of my parents home. You can see a photo of my orginal station below, if you scroll down. After about six month with my NOVICE license, I took the train from Stamford, Connecticut to the FCC office in New York City where I took the written exam and 13 words per minute CW test and passed the General Class radio exam. At the time, I had 75 countries confirmed as a Novice and considered staying a Novice in order to become the first Novice DXCC. However, I wanted to get on AM (before the days of SSB) more than becoming the first Novice DXCC. My Viking Ranger was equiped with a VFO and AM capability. DX was my passion from the very beginning and still is to this day - 63 years latter.

After graduating from the University of Connecticut in 1963, I entered active duty in the USAF and retired in 1984. I was in the USAF Medical Service Corp (Medical/Hospital Administrator) and spent my last ten year of AF service in the Washington DC area. Having been stationed in Germany and Japan, I was licensed to operate in those countries and had a wonderful being DX and getting to meet many hams in those countries. Even managed to operate two DXpeditions during the CQ WW DX contest, one in Luxemburg (1965) and the other on Minami Torishima also know as Marcus Island (1972). I started a second career in a management position in our local Anne Arundel County government and retired from that position after 19 years in 2004. I have been married for almost 56 years and we have two sons, one granddaughter and three grandsons. Besides ham radio, I enjoy gardening and genealogy research.

(To be continued - under construction)

Formerly K1CJV and KN1CJV - First licenced in 1957. When I discovered that the call sign W3FOX was available for issue, I requested that my call be changed for several reasons: my surname is FOX, I had retired to Maryland, which is in the third (3) call area, the call sign ended in "X" which is sometimes advantageous in a DX pileup, and other stations usually remember a call sign that spells out a complete word.



Foreign calls held:

DL5GO (Germany) - 1964 to 1967

DL5GO/LX(Luxemburg) 1964 to 1967

KA7DF (Itazuki AB and Hakata AS, Japan) 1971-72

KA2DF (Tachikawa AB, Japan) 1972-74

KA1DF & KA1DX (Marcus Island - Minami Torishima) 1972



QSL DIRECTIONS: Due to the high cost of postage the following information is provided: All of my QSOs will be uploaded to LOTW on a daily basis. US stations wanting a QSL card should send an SASE with their card. Stations outside the US who want a direct card should send a self addressed envelope and $2 US. All cards received through the QSL bureau will be answered via the bureau. I cannot confirm with QRZ.

LOTW - If you are not already using LOTW to confirm QSO, please read this PDF file that will greatly assist you on how to quickly confirm QSOs without the cost of postage. https://www.g4ifb.com/LoTW_New_User_Guide.pdf There is no cost to use this service.

Email: w3fox@comcast.net

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

HOME STATION:
Icom IC-7610
Icom IC-7300 100watts
Icom IC-7000 100 watts for 2meter SSB
ICOM PW1 Amplifier - 1KW
HEX Beam (K4KIO) at 40 feet on an MA-40 Tower
Half wave dipoles for 160, 80, 60, and 40 meters


MOBILE STATION:
Icom IC-7000
Baby Tar Heel
144/220.440 25 watt tri-band mobile w/Larsen ant