In the summer of 1958, my brother and I were walking near the flightline at Sembach AFB in West Germany, and we stumbled across the AF Mars station in operation. Two airmen were talking to a guy in Italy; a moment of magic as an 8-year-old I will never forget.
By 1963 I was issued WN5GDS and I operated 40-meter CW throughout my one year of eligibility before having to upgrade, or else…. I upgraded to Conditional General and immediately parked my straight key and started enjoying 40-meter AM phone.
I maintained a quiet interest in CW, to the extent I eventually upgraded to Extra in 1973, which involved a memorable trip to the FCC in Washington, DC, a 20 wpm code test, and a difficult theory exam. That same month I passed the FCC First Class Radiotelephone with Ship Radar Endorsement and have always cherished these FCC licenses and what they represented at the time.
The late 70s and early 80s I worked in Chicagoland. I was also active at that time on HF SSB and UHF FM and operated heavily on a system in Chicagoland, along with my wife WB5MRR, who was licensed shortly after our marriage in 1974.
During those years I also traveled extensively in South America and had some memorable visits with ham radio friends in Bolivia, Chile, the Panama Canal Zone, and operated from Guyana and The Galapagos. In 1983 we moved from Chicagoland to the San Franciso Bay Area, where amateur radio became a very occasional hobby for the next three decades. In the late 1980s I changed careers into the mortgage industry where I became a broker and later a trainer and consultant on technology – which I still do today as I near retirement.
We moved to Tarrant County, Texas in 1996 where in 2010 I bought a Kenwood TS570S and reinvigorated my interest. I credit the DFW 10-meter FM repeater with really invoking my interest in getting active again, and I also became highly active in the burgeoning DMR side of amateur radio in 2014.
In 2015 I joined a fine group of individuals in Hurst, Texas whom I researched on the internet before joining the Hurst Amateur Radio Club. Although I now live near Austin, I remain a member of this club.
Participating in Field Day the last few years, the CW bug hit me good, and in early 2024 I joined the CW Academy to see if I could get myself ready for actively operating CW in the 2024 Field Day. By June I was ready to go at 25 wpm and watched two other club members eye the CW operation with great interest; we now have about five members who are serious at CW.
I also thank Sam NM5N for getting me interested again. And I was incredibly fortunate to get into the Advanced CWA class under Rob, K6RB, who really encouraged us and successfully shepherded us up towards copying 30 wpm (at least with contest exchanges).
There is something about CW that is both intellectually satisfying while being totally “retro cool.” I doubt I will ever return to the microphone on HF. I am proud to have joined and to be a part of this community as I move into retirement. I will be on as often as I can moving forward, and really look forward to the OTC sessions when I can make them.
This biography is what appeared in Solid Copy when the member joined CWops.