Biography

When I graduated high school in 1964 I entered the Marine Corp and did basic training at MCRD San Diego, CA. After basic training I was assigned a mos of 2533, radio telegraph operator and attended radio school at schools battalion at MCRD San Diego.
After getting out of school I was sent to Camp Lejeune, NC. Shortly after arriving at the 8th Engineer Battalion I was sent to California to join a new outfit called the 9th Engineer Battalion at Camp Pendleton. We boarded the USS Ogden in San Diego and headed for Vietnam in June 1966 and I served in the communications platoon of the 9th Engineer Battalion at Chu Lai until returning to the states in February 1968 where I was then sent to Quantico, VA. Discharged in June of 1968 I returned home. Since I already knew CW, a friend of mine talked me into becoming an Amateur Radio operator with a little theory studying. My first call was WD9FTC and after using 30 wpm in the service I decided to study and take my Extra class exam in the Federal Building in Chicago, IL. I was lucky enough to pass the CW and theory and became the owner of the call KN9D. After a divorce and remarriage I moved to Erie, PA and received my call of NM3G. The call change was because I am a firm believer of holding a call that fits the region I live in. More disgusting to me than answering a 2 call thinking the station is in NY or other 2 district state only to find out they reside in CA or AZ. Anyway, when I was a kid of age 9 or 10, ham radio got my interest and all the calls began with W before all the new call signs started showing up like my KN9D or NM3G call. After looking at the available calls that I could apply for I found one with the W and also had my initials so I grabbed it. That is where I am today with W3LB. Most of my communications now is done with digital modes and my CW speed has dropped down to about 15 wpm. I do very little SSB work and have never got the contest fever. I am not an avid DX hunter but work DX if it happens to be on the waterfall. Recently I have gotten into the antenna building part of the hobby and build my inverted Vee antennas and now working on a copper pipe multi band vertical. I was born in 1945, retired but working part time to keep busy. Those 70 years have flown by so now I am trying to slow time down with luck so far. 73's and happy hamming.

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

Yaesu FT-450D, Ten-Tec Model 607 keyer, Yaesu SCU-17 interface, Yaesu YH-55 headset, HP Pavilion, Astron RS-50M. Home brew 20 & 40 meter inverted Vee antenna. Mosley TA-33jr Triband beam on 64' Rohn Spaulding tower. Backup equipment: Ten-Tec Pegasus & Icom 720A. Astron RS-50A, Amp Supply AT-1200 antenna tuner.