Biography

I first got interested in radio back in the mid 1960's when I was about 12. I started with an old shortwave my dad brought home from a friend and after the radio bug hit me I asked for a Knight Kit Star Roamer shortwave kit for Christmas. Over the years my interest in radio and electronics grew and a few buddies and I built our own "pirate" AM radio station that we operated through our high school years.

In 1970 I joined the Navy and during the middle of Electronics Technician "A" school I volunteered for submarine duty. I spent the next 4 1/2 years of my 6 year Navy career as an Electronics Technician Radar on the fast attack nuclear submarine USS Snook (SSN 592). I still had the radio bug and tried to learn morse code to get my ham license but always seemed to have a mental block towards learning the code. I kept my interest in SWL'ing throughout my time in the Navy and knew one day I would master the code.

In 1977 I hired on with the FAA as an Electronics Tech (Navaids) working at the airport in Dubuque, Iowa. A year later I transferred to the airport at Waterloo, Iowa where they had radar and I was able to get back into the radar field which was my background in the Navy. In 1979 I escaped Waterloo and transferred to the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City as an Electronics Technician Instructor. Here I spent the next 28 years teaching many field techs and engineers who maintain the various electronic systems (specifically ARTS IIE) used by Air Traffic Controllers to make it safe for you to fly. In 1992 just before I turned 40 I told myself that I was going to learn morse code and get my ham license. After almost 30 years from tuning the knob on that first old shortwave I finally mastered the code and got my license. I soon was able to go from 5 wpm to the required 13 wpm to advance to my General license. I was in the process of mastering the code for the Extra class when they did away with the code. On July 25, 2009 I finally took and passed the Extra Class exam. I have waited 45 years for this moment!

I retired from the FAA in June of 2007 when I turned 55 and have enjoyed some good times on the radio since then. I enjoy working mostly RTTY but have done some PSK and sometimes jump in on SSB.

I had been living on my sailboat at Port Aransas, TX from December 2014 until October 2015. I have returned to the "real" world and bought a house in Terrell, TX where I can now set up my ham shack again.

73's to all who have read this far.

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

Equipment includes an Icom 746Pro, Icom 735, Ameritron AL-811H feeding a Mosley CL-33 tribander on a Universal 40' self supporting tower or an inverted vee.