Biography

I live in Stuyvesant Falls, Columbia County, NY. I am a 25 year Volunteer Firefighter (currently Fire Chief) and 26 year Paramedic, so I keep pretty busy. I am a Nationally Certified Firefighter 2, Fire Instructor 2, Fire Investigator, Fire Officer 1, Incident Safety Officer and Hazardous Materials Technician. I work full time for NYS Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Service's Office of Fire Prevention and Control as a Fire Protection Specialist. My current assignment is with the Special Operations Branch (Hazardous Materials, technical rescue and stuff) My amateur radio hobby has kept me busy at work, I normally work the field communications unit for activations / details, and work closely with our Office of Interoperable & Emergency Communications to maintain Division-wide communications. I am also NYS Credentialed as a Communications Unit Leader (COML) and maybe soon as a COMT.

I've been an Amateur Radio Operator since 1992 (originally KB2OUR) mostly on the VHF 2M band. I am a life member of the ARRL, a member of the Rip Van Winkle Amateur Radio Society, OMISS member # 8101 and a VE through the ARRL.

I don't do a lot of contesting, but am interested in starting to get some awards, so I'm hoping to be on the air more often. My logbook is current in eQSL and LotW. Unfortunately, I can't seem to figure out how to get QRZ.com contacts to count toward any awards, so PLEASE consider a format different with / than QRZ.com. I do appreciate actual cards, sending them as postcards is fine, or via the ARRL bureau (for DX stations) or OMISS bureau (for US & OMISS stations) No SASE necessary.

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

I have a Kenwood TM-742A tribander in my vehicle with 2M, 70CM & 6M. My QTH has an Icom 735 and Kenwood TS-940Sat with a Cushcraft A3S on a 25 foot tower, a 160 - 10 vertical and an OCF dipole, Yaesu FT726R on a dual band vertical, a TenTec 6M mobil on a 1/4 wave and an additional TM741A with 2M, 220 & 70CM.