My interest in radio goes back to when I was about 10 years old, when my mom had this 5 tube table top radio in her kitchen that could only receive three local stations. One day while experimenting with it, I managed to log a new station and got all excited. One day, the radio stopped working, and it became my job to open the backside of the radio, remove the five tubes along with noting the locations of each tube, going to the local drugstore to test them, buying a replacement, and then putting it all back together. Much to our excitement, it worked. Other radio milestones include Christmas 1964 when receiving a transistor radio from "Santa Claus", summer 1967 when Dad brought home a portable solid state AM/SW/FM receiver, and February 1968 when earning my first QSL card from shortwave broadcast station CFRX in Toronto. Now, over 40 years later, I have over 400 stations logged on MW, over 160 on FM, over 200 on longwave, and over 100 countries (57 verified) on SW all from a single location..

I became an Extra Class op on April 30, 2007 and I would like to publicly thank all the Elmers who have helped me along my way, either through their technical expertise or their words of encouragement: AB8XF, K2FO (SK), K4BRU, KC8HMJ, AK8I, KD8DLV, N1LF, VE3KXO, and my late uncle, Conrad Bappert - an electrical engineer - with whom I could discuss antennas. Special thanks also goes to W1RV who rekindled my interest in amateur radio several years before taking that first step.

The picture above includes myself (l) and my cousin Martin Foltz (r) a noted SWL listener.

My affiliations:

• 3905 Century Club Net ( http://www.3905ccn.com/newsite/index.htm ) member
• ARRL Life Member ( http://www.arrl.org/) and Michigan Section Affiliated Club Coordinator
• BARTG #8443 ( http://www.bartg.org.uk/index.asp)
• EPC #11591 ( http://www.eu.srars.org/)
• eQSL ( http://www.eqsl.cc/qslcard/Index.cfm) Authenticty Guarenteed
• Feld Hell Club #FH2912 ( http://sites.google.com/site/feldhellclub/)
• Oakland County Amateur Radio Society ( http://www.qsl.net/w8tno/indexa.html ) former President
• PODXS #1244 ( http://www.podxs070.com/)
• Ten Ten International #75942 ( http://www.ten-ten.org/)

Amateur radio activities:

• 2, 6, 10, 15, 17, 20, 30, 40 & 80 meters
• special event stations
• DX contests, especially RTTY
• state QSO parties
• county hunting (1,736 as of 7/1/14)
• good old-fashioned rag chews
• digital modes: PSK31, RTTY, Hellschreiber, others on request
• working portable whenever I can
• non-directional beacons (198-429 kHz) if you are interested in this mode, pse call my friend and elmer AA7U)

QSL information:

• If you contact me through the 3905 Century Club Net and are NOT good in their bureau, please initiate the QSL and I will return direct - postage is not needed
• Direct: I respond 100% to paper cards. SASE is appreciated but not necessary.
• DX: BURO (DX stations:if you send direct, I will return direct, no return postage required)
• LOTW
• DCL (through the LOTW and/or eQSL interfaces)
• eQSL
• QRZ

Equipment (HF):

• Icom 7410, includes a built-in digital interface
• LDG AT-7000 autotuner
• Hustler 5BTV antenna, ground mounted with 32 radials
• Heil ICM Microphone or Heil Headset
• Samlex SEC 1235M Power Supply
• Sony CFM-25 portable radio converted to an external speaker
• (the 5 inch 4 ohm speaker really does sound good!!!)

Equipment (VHF):

• Kenwood TM271A
• Jetstream JTB 2 antenna approx 30' in height
• Jetstream JTSP7 external speaker

Equipment (mobile):

• Yaesu FT-2800M with Jetstream JTSP7 external speaker
• Yaesu VX-170
• Generic 1/4 wave magnet mount antenna

Listening post for LW, MW, SW, FM, VHF monitoring:

• Sony ICF-2010 with Radio Shack Loop Antenna
• Grundig Satellit 800 Millenium
• Realistic DX-160 (used occasionally)

Awards:

• DXCC #44396 Mixed with 10, 15, 20, 40 meter endorsements
• DXCC #2918 Digital
• 5BWAS #3300
• WAS RTTY #888
• CQ WPX Digital #51

Publications:

Radio Television Experimenter, August-September 1969

Closing comments:

Many thanks and a big 73 to all who have sent their QSLs, uploaded into Logbook of the World and/or eQSL.

My family includes my wife Irene, daughter Monica, our granddog Cali. Our very spoiled cat, Sammy, passed away in February 2009 but his memory lives on. He is pictured at http://www.universal-radio.com/catdir/cuscat47.html .

I graduated from Michigan State University W8SH, and with a Masters from Colorado Technical University, and am registered as a Certified Public Accountant, where I work in healthcare finance.

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Socialists, therefore, by endeavoring to transfer the possessions of individuals to the community at large, strike at the interests of every wage-earner, since they would deprive him of the liberty of disposing of his wages, and thereby of all hope and possibility of increasing his resources and of bettering his condition in life. (Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, 15 May 1891)

Socialism only works in two places: Heaven where they don't need it and hell where they already have it." (Ronald Reagan)