I was first licensed in December 1969, so I can claim that "I have been licensed since the '60s" (by about 10 days!) . I learned basic electronics and radio theory in high school at Thomas A. Edison VoTech in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

I Served on active duty in the Navy from July 1967 until June 1973. I attended Navy Advanced Electronics A school at Great Lakes from October 1967 to June 1968. From July 1968 to December 1968 attended System C school at Mare Island, CA.

Assigned to the U.S.S. Columbus (CG-12) from January 1969 until June 1973 leaving active duty as a second class petty officer. Later joined the Naval Reserves and completed 23 years of service retiring in March 1999 as a first class petty officer(ET1).

Since leaving active duty, I have worked for various federal government agencies, which include: The Federal Communications Commission in Allegan, MI (as a monitoring Technician) and at the Field Office in Norfolk, VA as an Electronics Technician and inspector; Department of Navy - Norfolk Naval Shipyard as an Electronics Mechanic and as an Electronics Technician for the National Weather Service at stations in Lake Charles, LA, Lubbock, TX, Midland, TX, Ann Arbor, MI and presently working at the National Weather Service's Aviation Weather Center in Kansas City, MO.

I have always enjoyed my various jobs as an Electronics Technician working with Communications systems and Radar, which I can trace back to my early interest in amateur radio. I am active on all bands 160 meters. through 440 Mhz. I have a 40 foot Rohn 25G tower with a "Hazer" system and a small tri-band beam. I have individual center fed dipoles for 160, 75, and 40 Meters. My primary radio is a Kenwood TS-480 SAT. I also have an old TS-440 which no longer works on 15 meters. I have never owned an amplifier. I enjoy ragchew type QSOs but will occasionally work stations in a contest. I was a member of Navy MARS for many years but resigned in 1999 after I realized that they no longer provide a service to the fleet. Upgraded to Advanced Class license in 1989. Upgraded to Amateur Extra in October 2005. Other interests include AM Broadcast DXing, Listening to HF Utility stations, woodworking, square dancing with my wife Cecelia, Railfan and N scale model railroading (CNJ post steam), and reading science and history.(mostly military history)

Rev: WA4ILH - Mon Sep 7 18:36:39 1998