I first got interested in Ham radio and SWL back in the early 1970’s. I fondly remember listening to The Voice of the Andes out of Quito Ecuador on my Realistic DX-150. I loved that radio and spent many late nights listening to far off points of the globe over the airwaves. However I seemed incapable of learning code so I just kept listening and did my talking via CB radios. I worked for a company that sold electronic parts as well as antenas and CB radios. So, I talked them into letting me install a CB in my truck to demo and advertise our CB offerings. Those early days of CB radio were fun. If you were around Jacksonville, FL in the late ’70s you may have heard of the Ghost Rider. Back in those days it was common to make up and use a “handle” to identify yourself on the radio and I used Ghost Rider as my handle.

Eventually, military service, marriage and family took my interests in other directions.

Fast forward until 2006 when I rekindled my ham interests and I got my Technicians license.  Then in the summer of 2007 I set for my General at a hamfest in North Carolina while my family waited in the van (we were on vacation).

I have had several HF radios over the years since as my main interest is in HF. I have been involved in the local 2 meter repeater scene along with some time spent with ARES in Saint Johns County. Currently I monitor the local repeaters more than I talk on them and I have dropped out of ARES for now. My career kind of got in the way for a few years but now that I am retired I am back on the air. I’m still working on getting my shack set up but my main radio in the shack is an Icom IC-7300 with a Yaesu FT-891 for backup. I am having fun getting some wire up in the backyard and deciding how I am going to configure my ham shack. I know it will have HF as well as 2 meter and DMR capabilities when I finish. Is a ham shack ever finished?

I have developed a love of QRP and I am working to build out my QRP toolkit so that I can do SOTA and POTA activations; I own the QRPguy.com and QRPguy.net domains along with a Youtube channel so that I can document my QRP adventures.

My Interests:

• POTA
• SOTA
• IOTA
• QRP
• NETS
• DX