Operating with 100 watts from a Kenwood TS-530S into an MFJ-945E and then to a Workman 20 meter vertical ham stick on the roof on 25' of coax.  I am most likely on 20 meters SSB with occasional tuned forays into 40 meters and 75 meters. During straight key CW ops I often participate as SKCC 516.

I am active in Baltimore County RACES and Baltimore County ACS as the Team Leader for St. Joseph Hospital in Towson, Baltimore County and a member of the Steering Committee.

My first contact with ham radio was when my father, W2AOF, was telephoned by the local RACES group to help provide communication support for the annual South Plainfield Labor Day parade. Up to that point I thought the hobby was the dusty old Heathkit HW-32A in the corner of the basement-- it never occured to me that ham radio technology had progressed so far. I knew the minute I saw that little handheld that this was a hobby I could really enjoy.

I was licensed in South Plainfield, NJ on November 14, 1996 as a Technician class operator.

After I got my license, I took quickly to VHF/UHF public service, that being what brought me to it in the first place. I all but ignored HF work and CW in favor of tweaking my VHF station and ragchewing with the local OMs. It was like that up until moved to Baltimore MD to the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Finally around October of 1997 I joined the W3EAX club and got exposed to avid CW HF operators like NF3I who encouraged me to get on the air every week and try my code.

On August 1, 2000, shortly after I moved to Catonsville, MD, I upgraded to a General Class ticket.

My three ham family includes my father Bill W2AOF and my sister Cindy KC2BIQ.

The photo above is of myself (left) and former FCC Chairman William Kennard (right). This picture was taken by Capitol News Connection reporter Max Cacas (then of the Freedom Forum) when I represented UMBC's radio station in a 1999 on-air panel discussion Chairman Kennard concerning low-power FM community radio.

Hope to hear you on the air again soon. 73, Rob