I am privileged to now be a member of CWops!
I was nominated by my deeply knowledgeable Advanced instructor, Joe KK5NA, and I then received additional sponsorship from Marv W5DT, Jim W0UO, and Howard W1HRB.
CW has been a defining part of amateur radio for me: I was required to learn a blistering 5 wpm in 1974 when I was licensed as WN9NGD. I upgraded to WB9NGD and 13 wpm, clearly blowing past all the Caution and Speed Limit road signs.
My first radio was a loaned Heathkit DX-20 with several crystals and a nasty RF bite when I keyed it.
My extended Milwaukee-area ham radio group and high school radio club was the Glen Gates Gang: it was named for the physics teacher who mentored us and allowed us to talk dorky and work 40, unmonitored in the small clubroom next to his classroom.
My efforts to extend ham radio in my high school club were boundless. One weekend I stole my mother’s broom, decapitated it, and created a short loaded vertical with a pie tin capacity hat.
I was not allowed on the school bus with that contraption and had to modify my plans. Hopping on my father’s bicycle, I took off for school, racing down misty, rain soaked streets and intersections to Nicolet HS. Unsurprisingly, I never made it to school that morning and instead woke up eight hours later in a hospital room. The antenna was destroyed, the bike frame was bent, and my head had stitches.
Two lessons learned: ham radio is exciting, and years later my children always wore helmets while bike riding!
I eventually left Milwaukee and, after completing a degree at UW-Madison, I took a job as a semiconductor research technician at Sperry in Minnesota. My call changed to N0IRR. Years later I moved with my growing family back to Madison, and my call changed again to K9UTC.
My wife insisted that we move from Wisconsin after my kids were through with high school. She had spent thirty years in Florida and thoroughly hated ice and snow. It took me a few years to find a professional opportunity in a place where the pieces lined up. Our move to Charlotte and search for a home allowed me to find a place with no HOA, trees, and a shack in which I can truly enjoy ham radio and CW with few compromises for the first time in many years.
I had not spent much time on CW over the years, but it had always held a mystique and magnetism for me. Maybe it was the early time I had spent on NTS 80m scribbling down Radiograms with a pencil with strong, friendly support from an Elmer and other hams in the tightly-knit CW operator cadre.
Today, I am nearly 100% CW since starting the CWA courses, and I do some ragchew, POTA, DX, and an occasional CWT.
My TS-890 is a great instrument for CW, and I’ll take its older sibling, a TS-850, to Field Day this year.
Last year I took CWA Intermediate with Buzz AC6AC, Marv W5DT, and Heather AH7RF. This past Winter I took Advanced with Joe KK5NA. The wonderful guidance, support, and training I have received have given me a deeper connection and enjoyment of CW and the people who practice it. Onwards on this CW journey. Thank you!
This biography is what appeared in Solid Copy when the member joined CWops.