I was first licensed in 1959 at age 13 as a Novice, KN3JIV, and later upgraded to General and then Extra Class as K3JIV, in Philadelphia, PA. After moving to Arizona, I changed my callsign to K7JQ.

I attended Temple University (Philadelphia), and graduated in 1969 with a degree in Business Administration, major in accounting. After working in a local CPA firm for six years, I decided to switch careers, and wound up owning and operating a six-store chain of retail shoe stores from 1975 to 1992, at which time I decided to pack it in and move to Arizona for a change in pace, lifestyle, weather, and scenery. Thanks to my good friend Rick, W1HZ in Fountain Hills, AZ, the transition went smoothly.From 1992 to 2009, I worked in various retail commission jobs, selling major appliances, audio/video equipment, and Jacuzzi hot tubs. In 2009, I decided to retire, and enjoy life in beautiful Gold Canyon, AZ, about 25 miles east of Phoenix in the foothills of the Superstition Mountains (picture below) with my wonderful YL, Judy. I have a married son in Seattle, WA, and a married daughter in San Antonio, TX, with two beautiful grandchildren.

Besides ham radio, one of my other passions is health and fitness, and I work out six days a week in my home gym (picture below). After retiring, I took a course and became a Certified Personal Trainer, just for the education to augment my own personal workout regimen.

The latest picture (below) of my shack shows an Icom IC-7600 transceiver, Tokyo Hy-Power HL-1.5KFX amplifier, Heil PR-781 mic, a Heil Pro-Set Elite-6 headset, and a Kenwood TH-F6A HT. As a result of living in an antenna-restricted community, my main antenna is a Tarheel 200A-HP screwdriver, ground-mounted on a hill behind my house, with sixty 25-foot radials stapled to the ground. Fortunately, with it being so far away from any houses, I have no artificial noise level, no RFI, and it can "see" for many miles in all directions from the top of the hill (pictures below). It is well camouflaged,only visible from a vantage point up the street from my house at the end of a cul-de-sac (picture below - can you spot it?). It operates 80 thru10 meters, with an SWR of no more than 1.5:1 on all frequencies. As a backup, I have mono-band dipoles from 10 thru 40 meters in the attic, remotely switched from the shack. The screwdriver far outperforms the dipoles. I also have a Par Omniangle 6 meter antenna at 16 feet in the back yard, and a 2 Meter/440 vertical in the attic.

I enjoy contesting, DXing, and ragchewing on CW and SSB, with limited operation on RTTY and PSK-31. I'm a member of the Arizona Outlaws Contest Club, and ARRL.

Thanks for looking me up, and hope to see you on the bands, and in the contests.

73,

Bob, K7JQ