Biography

As a boy I loved listening to broadcast radio, particularly radio shows and drama, great classical music and opera performances, and ice hockey games aired by the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC). Even though I lived in Maryland far away from Canada the CBC stations in Windsor (CBE), Toronto (CBL), and Montreal (CBM) could be heard quite well most evenings. Eventually I discovered shortwave broadcasts and in 1964 became a member of the Radio-Canada Shortwave Club. That sparked my interest in ham radio and to this day I credit my love of Canadian radio for my becoming a ham. In 1979 I earned my Novice and then Advanced Class licenses and as a new ham enjoyed rag chewing AM phone on 75, 40, and 10 meters running vintage and homebrew gear. Another passion of mine was to chase DX with 450 milliwatt QRPp and 5 watt QRP on 10 meter CW, AM, and FM with homebrew gear. Alas, I left the hobby in 1985, gave all my gear away, and took seriously my responsibilities of raising a family. After a long nap like that of Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle I woke up in October 2015 to a new and mostly digital world of ham radio. What a joy it has been to return to this wonderful hobby.

Now, after explaining how Canadian radio eventually led to my becoming a ham, a word of caution to you Canadian ham operators... my ears are keen for VE, VA, VO, VY, and CY call signs. I'll be looking for you! I try to QSO with at lease one Canadian ham operator every day, as this constitutes my daily dosage of Vitamin "C". (hi hi) O Canada!

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

I had been limited to a stealth fan dipole installed in my attic, thanks to the HOA I now live in, but (in a whisper) I now have two, stealthy 71' EFHW wires that perform quite well together. They haven't been noticed yet. One serves as a "noise" antenna that runs up to a height of 50' into a honey locust tree and the other climbs up 50' into a black walnut tree as my main antenna. The separate feed-points for the pair of EFHW antennas are each 12' above ground level and distanced 15' apart, taking off at 90 degree angles to each other. Separate signals received from these two EFHW antennas are fed and phased through an MFJ-1026 "Noise Canceling Signal Enhancer" that works quite well, especially by nulling out noise. I'm very well pleased with improved reception! As I use the "walnut" antenna for transmitting this explains why I may sound a bit "nutty" during a QSO. (hi hi)

I have two transceivers and typically transmit either 50W or 100W:
IC-7300 (Digital, SSB, AM, and 10m FM)
Kenwood TS-830s (Mostly 40m LSB with nice audio)

Arthritis now prevents me from using my straight key.