QSL via LOTW/Paper (direct or buro). I will QSL via eQSL (especially for new counties and prefixes I need to verify), but that will be AGs only. BTW the name here is Larry, not William or Bill.

30 Meter Digital Club #942, Digital Mode Club #680, Feld Held Club #839, European PSK Club #2532, PODXS 070 Club #644, 10-10 Club #71060, MARAC R4597

I was first licensed as an amateur radio operator in 1973 with the callsign WH6INU. I later upgraded to general class and spent my early ham days operating out of the world famous KH6SP (KH6 Salty Peanuts) ham shack in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, chasing DX and contesting. My elmer in Pearl was WA4GIF who I remain in contact with today (he lives in the Orlando area).

I worked at various military ham radio stations in Long Beach and Memphis on subsequent duty assignments, but due to my Navy career and a few other distractions, I really didn't have a permament ham type of operation. We finally settled down in 1993 after I retired from the Navy with the rank of Chief Petty Officer. By then I was married and we moved to Brasstown, North Carolina, in the mountains in western tip of the state.

After several years of getting my feet on the ground and adjusting to civilian life, in November 1999, I rediscovered the thrill of HF again and I have spend my shack time operating QRP, running all digital modes (I really like CW, JT9, JT65A, RTTY and PSK31), contesting, chasing new counties (working towards USA-CH) and chasing DX.

Almost all of my family are all licensed hams/radio hobbyists. They are the love of my life, my lovely wife Gayle (W4GVH), and our son Loyd (W4LVH), who lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with his beautiful wife Megan. Loyd is also an avid contester and DXer, and Gayle prowls the shortwave broadcast and VHF/UHF bands looking for weak signals to work.

Since my return to the bands I have since earned several ham awards:

DXCC Mixed (worked 228 countries/228 verified), Phone, Digital, and 10/12/15/20/40m band DXCCs

ARRL 5BWAS + 17m WAS = 6BWAS

ARRL Triple Play #1314

Worked All Continents (10/12/15/17/20/40m)

IOTA and several other neat ham awards.

I'm an avid wall paper collector and I love to exchange real QSLs, but I do have an ARRL LOTW account and enjoy the convenience of the electronic QSL. I am especially eager to receive shortwave radio listener (SWL) reception reports and QSL 100% all correct reports.

If you are a County Hunter and need the semi-rare North Carolina county of Clay, feel free to contact me and we can setup a sked (any mode is just fine here). I am slowly working towards a USA-CH which will be my primary activity as we continue to decline from our current solar cycle maximum.

I have also done very well in several contest including some of the notables below:

• 2001 ARRLSweepstakes Single Op QRP Phone 1st Place Roanoke Division
• 2002 ARRL Sweepstakes Single Op QRP Phone 1st Place Roanoke Division
• 2002 CQ WW DX Contest QRP All Band SSB #3 United State/#2 4th Call Area
• 2008 RGSB IOTA Contest 1st Place World, Single-Op Assisted SSB 24 Hr QRP Section

I previously worked at at Grove Enterprises in Brasstown, North Carolina, the former publisher of the monthly radio hobby magazine Monitoring Times (30 years of publication). My job with the Monitoring Times staff was as the assistant / technical / review editor, advertising manager, and staff journalist or the staff boy Friday.

My current job is the President of our publishing company - Teak Publishing. We write and produce listening guides and books for the radio hobby. You can learn more about those books by visiting our Internet blogs listed below.

My monitoring speciality is monitoring military and HF utility communications. In 2006, I started the Milcom Monitoring Post blog (http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/) and it now has had over 2 million visitors worldwide. If you want the latest miliary monitoring news and frequencies - then pay me a visit on the MilcomMP blog. I also have a twitter feed for real late breaking news @MilcomMP. If I find something of particular interest to a wide audience in real time you will see it on my twitter feed. I have my general monitoring blog where I post general monitoring "stuff" and it is called the Btown Monitoring Post. You can visit that blog at http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/. If you are interested in shortwave broadcasting be sure to visit Gayle's (W4GVH) excellent blog at http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/. She also has a twitter feed for late breakng info at @QSLrptMT.

When I am not spinning the dials, I participate in my other two hobbies -- genealogy and astronomy. I'm an active family historian, syndicated genealogy newspaper columnist, genealogy lecturer and college genealogy instructor. I tell me friends that I am a true "certified dead relative collector" and love to chat on the ham bands with other family historians (genealogists).

I also enjoy the thrill of seeing the universe through my Celestron 6SE 6-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.

So 73 to all and good hunting. I hope to catch you on the bands real soon de The Chief (aka El Jefe to his closest friends).