I'm retired from the United States Air Force, having spent 12 years as an enlisted air traffic control radar technician and the last 9 years as a commissioned "Communications-Information Systems Officer." Upon retirement, I taught electronics engineering for a couple of semesters for ITT Technical Institute, worked for GTE doing quality assurance work on a military contract (LF communications system - "GWEN"), installed paging systems for a GTE/PageMart partnership, and was a project/construction manager for the AT&T cellular telephone buildout in Omaha/Lincoln NE & Council Bluffs IA.

Presently, I work for the civil service on Offutt AFB NE, where I wear a couple hats: Personal Wireless Communications Service manager(PWCS..think Blackberry, land mobile radio, etc.) and Installation Frequency/Spectrum Manager. Generally speaking, I get to play with the base radios all day long and get paid for it...yeah...tough job...someone has to do it...

I'm a life member of both the ARRL and the Air Force Association, and a Volunteer Examiner for the ARRL. I also do storm spotting to put a little spice into my life.

My "modern" gear consists of a Kenwood TS-2000, a Kenwood TS-480SAT, Kenwood TH-D7G 2m/70cm handhelds, Kenwood TM-V708A 2m/70cm mobile rig, and a pair of ICOM V8000 2m mobile rigs for the emcomm kit. For HF, I use a Cushcraft R6000 for 20m and up, and a Hygain 6BTV for primarily 40m & 80m. For 2m and 70cm I use a Cushcraft A270a. For mobile work, I use a Cushcraft magmount on 2m and 70cm, and a Tarheel M200 for the HF bands . 

I recently decided to build a nostalgia station, so picked up some sweet old Drake gear that all works like a charm. So far, I have a TR-4, two complete Drake B-series stations, an L-4 linear (not the L-4B, but the OLD L-4), and a host of old Drake transmatches, speakers, and power meters. Being divorced means I can now have an upstairs AND a downstairs station! (shoot, MAYBE a station in every room!)

I'd been "thinking about" getting my ticket since I first met WAØLIL (formerly WAØCBJ) back in the early 60s, but never quite got around to it until December 2005. Since then, I've managed to get DXCC with phone and 20m endorsements, WAC, and WAS with 20m and 80m endorsements. Apparently, I'm spending just a little TOO much time on the radio hi hi.