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It all started with a Radio Shack Science Fair "Three Transistor Short Wave Radio" kit when I was 12 years old.  My dad bought it as a birthday present, and helped me put it together.  Later the matching Science Fair power supply, audio amp, and speaker kits were added to round out the setup.  What followed was a Knight Kit building odyssey, first a Star Roamer, built with the help of my dad, followed by an R-195 that I built myself, all purchased with Seattle Times paper route money.

At one point during my High School years I took a summer class on getting my novice license, but I never got the license, mostly because I couldn’t figure out how I was ever going to purchase the Heath Kit ham gear I so badly wanted.  I eventually got my BSEE, and continued as an on and off again SWL for many years, at one point purchasing the legendary Panasonic RF-2800 portable receiver.

It all changed the spring of 2008 while attending the annual Mike and Key swap meet with my friend Randy (WQ7Q).  He casually informed me the Morse code requirement was gone.  It was then that another friend Bill (AD7TM) and I vowed to get our ham licenses by the same time the next year.  We ended up taking the tests the next MONTH at the Radio Club of Tacoma, with Bill taking all three tests and ending up an Extra Class license, and me taking all three tests and getting my General.  I got my Extra Class two months later.

After shopping for a few weeks, I purchased a factory refurbished Icom IC-718, and an Icom AH-4 antenna tuner, shown in the picture above.  The antenna is a 30' high, 82.7’ total length inverted-L, made out of surplus 18 GA (41/34) insulated naval ordinance wire.  It makes for a very stealthy antenna. You can also see in the picture the five Fair-Rite Round Cable Snap-Its with #31 material (PN # 0431164281), placed over the RG-8X coax, as a bead balun.

I have had a lot of fun with every digital mode I can find, and participating in contests, particularly state QSO parties.  The state QSO parties and LoTW helped me achieve my first WAS Award within the first year of being licensed.

You will often find me hanging out with the gang on Cam Radio.  This group of GREAT people has helped me with learning the finer points of amateur radio.  Check them out.