Biography

From Coos Bay, Oregon.

Served 13 years 8 months in USAF exiting as a SSgt/E-5 with two AF Commendation medals, Humanitarian Service Medal, Expert Marksman Rifle, 6 Outstanding Unit Awards with Valor, Freedom of Kuwait Medal from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Maintained the autopilot, navigation, instrument systems for the KC-135 Stratotanker, SR-71 Blackbird and U-2R/TR-1 Dragon Lady reconnaissance aircraft.

20 years as Information Technologies Manager for two corporations.

I initially started with licensing in GMRS. I joined the Clark County Amateur Radio Club. I then got my Technician class license a year later, then upgraded to General class. A year after that I upgraded to Amateur Extra class. SO I am an "uncured" ham!

I enjoy interfacing my laptop with the radios and dabbling in the dark arts of the digital airwaves. APRS, WinLink, FT-8. Still need to work with packet BBS, RTTY and VARA. Always something to learn and building my own antennae is a hobby I enjoy.

Equipment

Yaesu FT-891 100W HF/6m transceiver, DigiRig DR-891, LDG Z-11Pro II coupler, Bencher BY-1 iambic paddle, DX Commander Classic 40m-6m ground-mounted 1/4-wave vertical fan antenna w/ 32 radials of 5m. 6m vertical end-fed dipole at 16 feet AGL. 10m/6m Homebase-10/6 folded dipole at 30 feet AGL.

Kenwood TM-D710G 50 W FM 2m/70cm transceiver, Anytone AT-588V2 1.25m 65W FM transceiver, Comet CX-333 tri-band vertical antenna 30 feet AGL, 253 feet MSL.

Wouxon KG-UV8H handheld 2m/70cm FM transceiver

Midland MXT-400 40W FM GMRS transceiver, BRC HP-500 antenna.

Wouxon KG-805 GMRS handheld transceiver.

SAA2 nanoVNA