Thank you for helping me become a member of this illustrious organization. I am humbled and inspired. My special thanks go to Serge KK7RR, whose guidance and encouragement have been invaluable. I also want to thank W0PHX, George, my CWA Beginner instructor who gave me a wonderful start with CW Academy.
I was born in 1947 and raised in Vienna, Austria. When I was 14 years old, I decided that I would emigrate to the United States for all the old-fashioned reasons: freedom, opportunity, and admiration for a nation that – for the first time in history – did not vanquish and destroy the enemy after winning a war but rebuilt them to make them business partners. I was truly lucky being born into and growing up in Pax Americana. I came to the US in 1967 on a scholarship and never left.
I studied in Portland, Oregon, and Los Angeles, CA, and came to Auburn University in Alabama for my Ph.D. in clinical psychology, then settling in Montgomery, Alabama. I am a psychologist on the hard science end of the discipline where I have a lot in common with my engineer friends. And fellow hams. I design and supervise behavior management systems for nursing homes that have residents with dementia and behavior problems. I love my work and won’t retire until I have to. My wife Tara, a blue-eyed curly-haired Irish girl from Connecticut, and I live in Montgomery with a German Shepherd and a Chihuahua. We have scaled down. We used to have seven big dogs: Shepherds, Great Danes, Irish Wolfhounds. We love dog obedience training. All our dogs had obedience titles. I play tennis and I am an instrument rated private pilot. Life is busy. I visit Vienna every other year to see old friends.
In radio I started as SWL at around age eight, growing up with the Voice of America and the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service in Europe (AFRTS). I was licensed in 1976 with 13-wpm code (call was WA6RMX). Then career and family life took over and I was inactive for years and let my license lapse. In the 1980s I was assigned N4UZZ and advanced to Extra class. Despite all efforts I could not get better in CW. By November of 2019 I could not even copy 5 wpm. I started Beginner class in January 2020.
I am net manager for Central Alabama Skywarn. I design, build, and install wire antennas. Now I have a new direction of interest in ham radio: activating POTAs and SOTAs in CW mode.
At home my station is an Icom IC-7610, an Elecraft KPA-500 amplifier, and an endfed wire up 20 feet. That is the best I can do because it must stay hidden from the HOA. I have a Vibroplex keyer and run N1MM. My activity these days is almost exclusively HF CW, mostly on 40 m. I will get on local FM when severe weather threatens. Look for me during CWTs.
This biography is what appeared in Solid Copy when the member joined CWops.