I want to thank you for welcoming me aboard. Also, thanks go out to those folks who sponsored me.
I’ve been in this hobby since the age of 13, back when it was so exciting to work someone from your basement shack to other parts of the country, let along the WORLD! Now, how exciting was that? Remember how exciting it was to work 2 weekends of SSB and CW contests with written logs and written dupe logs?? Thank god for the computers and this great software.
Was able to save money from a Philadelphia Evening Bulletin paper route. After 2 years, I accumulated enough to update my Heath AR3 receiver to a new Hallicrafters SX110, which I still have and works. The Globe Chief 90A with 4 crystals, got me on the air. There was no SWR meter, no big antennas, but TV 300 ohm twin lead which got us on the air. A Gotham 10 m conduit 3 element Yagi on my parent’s chimney worked during that great 1959 solar cycle.
To cut this short, I took this hobby with me through high school, US Navy (Radioman 3 Class), schooling after the Navy and into married life and family raising. I always had a shack and enjoyed many of the modes of our hobby, my “Man Cave.” The kids and the XYL had a place for me to go to when I was being less cooperative!
Today’s gear: a new Kenwood TS890, TS-590SG, still have my great working FT1000mp. For the afterburner, I use an ALPHA 8410, which gets me into some of the battles. The radiators are a 42-year-old TH6dxx @ 65Ft, which has been rebuilt several times, wires in all sorts of configurations, a 4 element 6 m Yagi and variety of VHF/UHF antennas. I have gotten into C4FM/WiresX and DMR for time when you want a quiet QSO without QRM, QRN QSB and poor condx.
Looking forward to being a member of CWops. If it wasn’t for knowing the code at a young age, I would never been a US Navy radioman. I enjoy CW, however, as I am now approaching 75 years, things don’t work the same as in the past, like ears and fist.
Hope to CU all on the bands, during the various contests and don’t forget to work me during the CW-mini’s.
This biography is what appeared in Solid Copy when the member joined CWops.