Location: Blacklick, Ohio (Eastern suburb of Columbus)

Occupation: Flight Dispatcher

Stuff about me: I've only been interested in Amateur Radio for a few years now and honestly I haven't been nearly as involved as I originally intended. My logbook is rather bare but starting here in 2012 I'm hoping to remedy that sad fact. I have signed-up for a Weather Spotter class for March and plan to pursue whatever roll I can in local emergency services.

I have two very cool kids, Finn who is 9 and Fiona, age 5. Both are homeschooled, primarily by their mother, Julie, who herself has been battling breast cancer since last summer. What an amazing job she does!

For entertainment I listen to the radio show, Coast to Coast AM with George Noory, everynight as I go to bed. It's the old Art Bell show but it's still thought provoking as ever and I seldom miss a show.

As for HAM specifics. I have nothing fancy. My antenna is an inverted dipole wire about 20 feet up in a tree in the backyard, cut for 20 meters. I use an auto tuner to primarily work 17 meters. My HF transceiver is the ICOM 718 which works fabulous in my opinion. I also have an MFJ 6-Meter "adventure" radio that I have yet to make a contact with, but I'm still trying. :)

Top: ICOM 718 with LDG Z-11 Pro auto tuner, MFJ 9406 6-Meter Adventure Radio, and a little Netbook for QRZ.COM logging and lookups.

Bottom: An old Pioneer speaker as a table to hold the power supply. Next to the speaker, in the cylinder is the Buddipole antenna, and hanging on the right is a pair of headphones, and a 2-meter j-pole antenna that needs to find it's way into a tree soon. Also on the floor is a little travel suitcase with pullout handle that accommodates perfectly the 718, tuner, wire antenna, and various bits and pieces.

Below is my back/side yard where the inverted dipole antenna is hanging. It's cut for 20 meters, I seem to find myself on 17 most often.