Please QSL direct to the address above or via the ARRL Incoming QSL Bureau. NO SASE or IRCs are ever necessary. I QSL 100%.

Ham Radio History: I was first licensed as a Novice in 1961 as WV2YDG in my high school radio club in NYC. My first station consisted of a Heathkit DX-20 CW transmitter and a Hammarlund HQ-129X receiver. Novices could operate 2 meter AM then and I had a series of 2 meter rigs including a Heathkit Two'er, Gonset Communicator II and later a Gonset Communicator IV, I later upgraded to Technician, then General as WA2YDG. When Uncle Sam sent me to Fort Hood, Texas in 1966 I met my first wife and because she didn't like ham radio I let my ticket expire. Eight years later we were divorced and I retested in Dallas and again became a Novice as WN5RPU.

In 1976, the FCC permitted the use of special Bicentennial prefixes for ham calls and I operated as AK5RPU in many, many CW contests before upgrading in Dallas again in late 1976. I passed the 13 WPM code test and the General and Advanced written tests as well as the 20WPM code at the same time, but failed the Extra written test, so I left Dallas as an Advanced class, AB5RPU during 1976, then reverted to WB5RPU, which I still hold. About 1980, I joined Army MARS and worked my way up from just a member to Zone Coordinator, State Training Officer and finally North Texas State Director holding that post for 3 years.

After that I let ham radio slide, but not my license, which I kept current. At the time my station consisted of two pairs of Drake twins R4B/T4XB/MN-4's and a Heath SB-200 amp which I still have. They sat idle for over 15 years, so I'm afraid to try to turn them back on. I became active again in 2004 following my stroke which left me in a wheelchair.

At first I was only active on 2 Meters with an Icom 2200H, but I missed HF very much. My HF gear which consisted of 2 pairs of Drake Twins (R4B/T4XB/MN4) and a Heatkit SB-200 amplifier hadn't been powered up in over 15 years, so I decided to get a newer rig which included the WARC bands which were not available when I was active before. After considerable research, I decided the Icom IC-736 was the ideal rig for me. It puts out 100 watts on all bands 160 thru 6, has an internal CW keyer, internal antenna tuner, and isn't bogged down with 100 imbedded menus.

I now operate a 100 watt Icom IC-736, HF/WARC/6 Mtrs which I got on eBay and a G5RV wire inverted V which will tune on nearly all bands but is very inefficient on 160 Meters. I recently purchased an MFJ 160M Inverted V and Harold, KB5SXV installed it for me.

I'm active on all bands 160 thru 2 Meters. I can be found almost daily on the 3905 Century Club nets on 40 (7.178), 75 (3.902) and 160M (1.892) SSB. Although I used to be most active on CW, my stroke in 2003 has made it very difficult to manipulate a straight key or keyer paddle so I'm almost strictly on SSB. I occasionally enjoy chasing DX during contest weekends. When I was active before I confirmed 98 countries toward DXCC. I have since gotten several more, but haven't yet applied for the award.

On 29 July 2008 I had several glasses of wine to loosten up (without thinking of the consequences) and went ahead and filed with the FCC for a vanity callsign. I have wanted a "K" call since I was first licensed. While the "K5" callsign with my initials was available, I decided to go ahead and apply for it. The FCC granted it on 16 August 2008, when I became K5PRT. Now I'm left with lots of work (my website, other website user IDs and passwords, etc). Not to mention about 750 WB5RPU QSL cards, a baseball cap and several T-shirts with WB5RPU on them, Ham name tags, plus much more. But it was worth it.

Life History: I was born in Bad Aibling, Germany on 16 April 1946. My dad was born and raised in Futok, Yugoslavia as was the rest of his family. My mother was born in Vienna, Austria. My parents, along with my father's living family (Sister, Father, Mother and Grandmother) traveled to the United States in 1947 with me in tow right after my birth. We embarked for the U.S. aboard the SS Ernie Pyle, a converted troop ship, but the ship broke down halfway across the atlantic. We were all transferred to another vessel (don't know the name) and arrived at Ellis Island on 01 April 1947. My family settled in the Bronx, New York City where I grew up. I attended Our Lady of Solace grade school and Mount Saint Michael Academy High School, both in the Bronx. I then began a degree program in Electronics at Bronx Community College. I dropped out of college in 1964 to take a job with New York Telephone Co. I served as a Frameman, Test Deskman and an Installation and Repair Technician on Times Square, NYC.

I lived in NYC until I was drafted into the U.S Army on 24 December 1966 (Greetings: Merry Christmas ! ). The Army sent me to Fort Jackson, SC for induction station, then on to Fort Hood, Texas for Basic and AIT Training. It turned out I spent the entire 2 year draft enrollment at Fort Hood and was trained as a tank crewman on the M60-A1 battle tank. I qualified as "Expert" on all tank weapons as well as the standard tanker sidearm, the M1911-A1 .45 cal automatic handgun. To my knowledge, I'm the only one to ever "total" a tank driving it off a 35 foot cliff (long story, but not my fault).

I permanently moved to the Central Texas area in January 1971 and have been here ever since. I applied and was hired as a frameman (at $2.37 per hour) on 25 January 1971 with Mid-Texas Communications Co. in Killeen, TX. The company was later bought up by Central Telephone and Utilities Corp (CENTEL) and then by Sprint Corporation. I later served with Centel as a C.O.E. Technician on Step-by-Step mechanical Central Office Equipment (Stromberg-Carlson XY and ITT SXS) in Copperas Cove, Florence, Lometa and Kempner, TX. Then spent a couple of years as a Central Office Engineer responsible for converting all Centel offices in South Texas to Northern Telecom (NorTel) DMS-100 Digital C.O. Equipment. I joined Centel's Computer Department when it was formed in 1981 because they found out I had a Radio Shack Model I at home. I have personally built and configured many hundreds of personal computers, both IBM and clones. My last position was as a Data Network Administrator for Sprint Corp. with primary responsibility for building, configuring and maintaining 58 network file servers in 5 states. I also had co-responsibility for virus control on over 1,000 network file servers across the country.

I spent my evenings for 3 years (1995-1998) as a disc jockey at several Country & Western Dance Halls (Honky-Tonks) in the Central Texas Area. This was done after my regular job from 7PM until 2AM several days a week. In that time I've aquired several thousand C&W Music CD's. I loved the work but dropped the after-hours profession shortly after getting remarried.

I suffered a stroke at 2AM on 14 April 2003 which paralyzed my right side and have been in a wheelchair since then. As a result of the stroke, I was forced to take early disability retirement from Sprint Corp on 01 January 2004. We'll have to rely on disability and retirement income.