I am very honored and pleased to become a member of CWops. I would like to thank Ron KU7Y for my nomination as well as my three sponsors, Bud AA3B, Bill K3WJV and Lar K7SV.
I was first licensed as a Novice in 1965. I was in junior high school and living in the Denver Colorado, metropolitan area with my parents. I don’t remember exactly what sparked my first interest in amateur radio. I met another ham at my junior high school who had his General license. He was my age, helped me get my license, and we became best friends. I often wonder how our parents put up with all our ham radio activities. Riding in the car we would verbally send roadside signs in CW and talk to each other in CW. It had to have driven them crazy.
My first transmitter was a crystal-controlled tube type oscillator which I built on an 8 ½ x 11” aluminum pan. I had a dipole antenna on the roof. I delivered newspapers and splurged on a used NC300 receiver. After saving enough paper route money, I upgraded my transmitter to a DX-60. My best friend and I built antennas, mostly mono band beams out of aluminum tubing, putting them on our parents’ houses. With a 20 Meter homemade Yagi, I made my first DX contact, CW with 60 watts. I was hooked on chasing DX.
My best friend and I both went on to college in electrical engineering at the University of Colorado rooming together for two years, with a station in our freshman dorm room using a wire antenna hanging out the window. We joined the CU Ham Club and mostly used the college club station. After graduation, my wife and I moved to Montana for my first job working for an electric power company. I retired almost 3 years ago.
My wife and I have 2 children both married and 6 grandchildren, 5 boys and a girl. My favorite activity is still chasing DX with a hope to make the DXCC Honor Role. I am active in the local club, ARES and a life member of ARRL. I enjoy contests. In the last year, I became interested in SOTA activities. I always enjoy CW.
When taking the code test for my Extra, I found I could not write, actually print, fast enough to keep up and had to look over the hand copy to get the message. This has always been a limitation to real CW enjoyment. I have had a desire to increase my speed and develop the ability to head copy for a long time. A good ham friend suggested I enroll in the CWA. I enrolled last January and have really been enjoying the newly developed CW skills. The CWA is an awesome program. Thank-you to all the many CWops members who help make it happen.
Hope to see each of you “down the log”!
This biography is what appeared in Solid Copy when the member joined CWops.