Biography

I have been active in radio most of my entire 62 years. Began with SWL in central Massachusetts as a kid on a 3 band GE portable, and still remember the thrill of first receiving Radio Peking and Radio Australia when I first got my Radio Shack Realistic DX-160 on a longwire antenna. Still have the DX-160, and it still works!

Played with CB during the craze (my handle was Bookworm), and you would have thought amateur radio would be the next logical step - but I went sideways into radio broadcasting! Held the Third Class Radiotelephone Operator's License with Broadcast Endorsement still required in the late 70's (still have the Restricted Radiotelephone Operators Permit), and was a volunteer board operator on a Gates console for public radio WICN, 90.5 FM, Worcester that led to a Sunday night gig on WNEB, 1230 AM, Worcester which had a country format then. Called myself Jay Greene on the air.

Kind of lost my radio way in college and grad school, but came back to fulfill the lifelong goal of becoming an amateur radio operator in 1995 just after my son was born, beginning with Technician Plus under the N3VLL callsign. Finally took and passed the General Class exam about 10 years later at the Gaithersburg Hamfest, and then found a vanity call sign to honor my alma mater - W3MIT. I finally upgraded again to Amateur Extra Class in June, 2016 - thanks to the Laurel VEC for all three license levels, and to the Anne Arundel Radio Club for the Extra exam.

I was at the 2014 ARRL Centennial National Convention in Hartford (and there became a member of the Order of the Wouff Hong).

I was the Secretary/Treasurer of the NIH Radio Amateur Club (NIHRAC) for six years and remain a member, Trustee of their W3NIH callsign, and also a member of the Montgomery Amateur Radio Club. I just became an ARRL VE in July 2022.

I worked the GOTA station for the Randallstown Amateur Radio Club (a 50 year continuous tradition in 2020) using callsign K3MZ on Field Day from 1830' AMSL at Washington Monument State Park, Maryland - and the second year, made the max allowed for GOTA of 100 QSO's all over the nation on 40M and 20M, the day I had always dreamed of since I became a ham. I'm not a big contester, but all these years have given me some game at digging out weak signals, and I moved up in 2021 to one of the three main stations on N3IC, SSB overnight on Field Day. 265 contacts made on Field Day 2023.

More interested in ragchewing. I often check into the 40M ECARS, SouthCARS (numbers below), Nightwatch, and especially the Brothers Nets during the pandemic, and I still work from home - live my life on the 40M band! I enjoy the 13 Colonies Special Event over the Independence Day weekend - clean sweep two years now, and collected all of the 2021 QSLs.

I finally bought a RigExpert antenna analyzer and now can get my Buddistick on the air from a tripod on the townhouse patio table fairly rapidly with some success with my inherited Kenwood TS-830S (de AE3Y/SK), with matching VFO-230, SP-230 speaker, and AT-230 tuner. Also have a TS-440S/AT borrowed from NIHRAC. In Summer 2020 I added an Ultimax DXtreme 33' end-fed antenna, which lets me get on 80M and 40M much easier. Living in a townhouse makes it hard for antennas!

73 de W3MIT

W3MIT Memberships & Certifications:

ARRL
ARRL Volunteer Examiner (VE)
Skywarn, MOC38
Montgomery Amateur Radio Club (MARC)
National Institutes of Health Radio Amateur Club (NIHRAC); W3NIH callsign trustee
Montgomery County Auxiliary Communications Service (MCACS), Full Member
East Coast Radio Amateur Service (ECARS), #30728, 7255 kHz, 7:30AM-1:30 PM Eastern Time
South Coast Radio Amateur Service (SCARS), Member #13493, 7251 kHz, 8AM-1 PM Eastern Time
Nightwatch Net, Member, 7192 kHz 4-6 PM Eastern Time
Brothers Net, Lifetime Member #1175, 7192 kHz 6 PM Eastern Time, M-F

Equipment

Kenwood TS-830S/AT-230/VFO-230/SP-230
Kenwood TS440S/AT on loan from NIH Radio Amateur Club
Buddistick antenna
Ultimax DXtreme 33' end fed antenna as sloper with high end ~28 feet
2 Radio Shack HTX-202 2M HTs and a Wouxun UVD1P 2M/70cm HT