I was first licensed in July 1957 at age 15, as KN5LVB in New Orleans. The call was changed to K5LVB after I received my General license in January 1958. I kept that call until 1976 and changed it to K5ML when the opportunity to have a two-letter call with my initials became available. I started hamming with a borrowed 20 watt, crystal controlled CW rig for 40 meters, a Hallicrafters S-38D receiver and 30 ft. long wire fed with lamp cord. Back then, working Arizona or the Midwest was great DX but I had the time of my life and made some great lifelong friends. Like most young hams, I found ham radio a far more enjoyable way to spend the day than being confined in a high school. When someone asked, “How do you like school?” Mickey replied, “Closed.”

After high school, I went to college at LSU where I remained for 8 years. They finally kicked me out when I got a Ph.D. in Management with minors in Accounting and Statistics. From there I took a job teaching at the University of New Orleans where I worked from 1969-‘89. Working at UNO was a lot like being a boat owner. It’s been said that the two happiest days in a boat owner’s life are the day he buys it and the day he sells it. My two happiest UNO days were the day I accepted the job and the day I opted for early retirement at age 47. I enjoyed teaching and the students were great. However, writing mundane articles for “The Journal of Unreadable Obscurity," or serving on the Committee for the Terminally Indecisive was not my cup of tea. Universities are big bureaucracies and as Balzac noted, “A bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies.”

During my UNO years I continued to be an avid ham until late 1983. In ’83 my rig consisted of a Collins KWM-380, a Drake L4-B linear and a 4 element Cubical Quad on a 30’ boom atop a 51’ crank up tower. Working DX became so easy that I got bored with it all and started devoting more of my time to a second career that I began in 1977 as an author.

My second career as an author and speaker has turned out to be very fulfilling. I write using the name “Michael LeBoeuf" because Michael is my middle name. I have written 8 business/how to books and coauthored a 9^th that have sold a total of almost 2 million copies, been translated into over a dozen languages and adapted to produce 17 audio and video programs. I spoke to a lot of audiences and got to see a good bit of North America, Europe, Australia and Asia while being paid for it.

In May 1994 I was speaking at an American Booksellers Convention in Los Angeles when a beautiful woman named “Elke” walked up. She introduced herself, told me she had read all my books and thought that I was wonderful. After regaining consciousness, I learned that she lived in Newport Beach, CA and got her phone number. We dated via long distance for almost two years before marrying and settling in Paradise Valley, AZ, a suburb of Phoenix, where we live happily today.

In the fall of 2006, I realized that my next birthday would be my 65^th and decided to revisit the wonderful hobby of amateur radio that I had enjoyed so much. I purchased a Collins 30L-1 linear at a hamfest and later bought an Icom 756 Pro III for myself as a Christmas present. Living in an antenna restricted community, my antenna choices are limited, but not hopeless. After about 8 months of using loops and low level dipoles in stealth positions, I ordered a Zero Five 43’ multi-band vertical and ground mounted it with 44 radials. The vertical weighs only 10 lbs and can be easily raised and lowered in seconds. During the day, I remove the top 19’ of the vertical, attach an American flag to the shortened vertical and use it from 30 meters on up disguised as a flagpole. After sundown, I reattach the top 19’ and it works great on 40 and 80, as well as the higher bands. My current rig consists of the Icom Pro III, an Ameritron AL-82 linear, and a Dentron MT-2000A antenna tuner that I use with the Zero Five. You can find me chasing DX on CW/SSB or rag chewing on SSB. I’m having a ball working DX, reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. If we haven’t already chatted, I look forward to the QSO.

73,

Mickey