I earned and received my Novice ticket on January 2, 1968, becoming WN8ZNC. Passed my General test in May 1968 becoming WA8ZNC which I held until this year in January 2024 to become WU8T. Never wanted to change my call as it was like my name but also was frustrated using WA8ZNC in contests. Finally, over the Christmas holiday, decided to be like Nike and, “Just Do It”. My dad was a ham also, WA8ZBA (SK) and when I got on the air, I wanted nothing to do with CW as I told my dad I wanted to get on SSB when I got my General class. He reluctantly agreed to let me upgrade our rig from a Drake 2NT/2C to a Drake TR-4 but I had to trade them in and pay the difference. (He told me he was trying to discourage me as I was a freshman in high school and didn’t want me to take ham radio as a fancy short stint. But I was stubborn and agreed to this.) After six months as a General and spending all my time on 80 m SSB at night, I went back to CW and really never went back to SSB. Dad thought this was hilarious as he said I should have kept the 2NT/2C.
I grew up in east Ohio across the river from Wheeling, West Virginia. I am a retired hospital CEO/CFO and have a MBA from the University of Texas at Tyler and a BS in accounting from Wheeling University, Wheeling WV.
My ham radio career was disrupted by my career in 2004 and I never expected to get back on, though I kept my call active. After retirement, we moved to Washington State in 2020 and my wife encouraged me to get back on the air since the home we purchased has two plus acres, trees and a shop with an office that I use as my shack. When I got back on the air in 2020, I can honestly say that my CW was atrocious and I swear I could hear everyone either cry or cuss when I got on the air. Well, I got my CW back as well as my speed and want to thank Joe, AA2IL as well as K1EBY, K4RUM and W6SX for nominating me for CWops. There is also one more, Chad N9UNX, who tried when we were at the Dayton Hamvention during the Contest Super Suite to get me interested in CWops, but I kept putting him off. When Joe asked me if I would like to join, I said yes, apparently that was two guys inviting me and I had to say yes.
My main interests today are contests and primarily CW, I will work SSB for contests, but love the CW tests, MST and SSTs. I also have a daughter who is also a ham, KB5OHG, who keeps buying me tee shirts with ham sayings on them.
I want to finally thank my wife for encouraging me to get back in the hobby and supporting my contest activities.
This biography is what appeared in Solid Copy when the member joined CWops.