Hi, thanks for dropping by. I have been licensed since January of 1960.  I am an avid participant in contests.  I have earned my share of certificates and scored over 1,000,000 points in many contests.  I have won certificates or plaques from all 50 states.  If you have been on any of the major contests you have probably heard me on.  I am also a long time county hunter.  I have worked and confirmed all the U. S. counties (USA-CA #698, 2/25/91).  At that time there were 3079 U. S. counties.  I went QRT for about 20 years! (1988-2008).  I have become very involved in DX since I got back on the air.  I just got my DXCC 310 endorsement in December of 2014.  I have worked 315 DXCC countries.  I have the WAZ award, including WAZ all CW. I am a QCWA member (#19396).  I earned the 25 WPM CW award from W1AW back in 1961.  I recently earned the 'trifecta': the 5BDXCC plaque, the 5BWAS plaque, and the DXCC Challenge plaque!  I have an MBA degree and I retired from the Army Reserves as a Command Sergeant Major.  I now have a real estate appraisal business.  I also have a PBA card (Professional Bowlers Association).  That's my beautiful wife in the picture with me.  

MY STATION:

Yaesu FT DX9000 Contest transceiver; Kenwood TS-430S and TS-820 transceivers (for mobile operations); Heathkit SB-220 2KW amplifier; Heathkit SB-200 amplifier; Heathkit SA-2060A antenna tuner.

MY ANTENNAS:

Cushcraft A4S for 10, 15, and 20 meters; Cushcraft A744 for 40 meters; Butternut HF9V vertical for 6, 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 30, 40, and 80 meters.  The A4S and A744 are only up about 32 feet because we live in a housing tract in which we got grandfathered in but limited on height by a permit.  And the HF9V is only up about 10 feet off the ground with about 20 measured radials.  I say this because you don't need no 'antenna farm' to get results!  The right equipment tuned properly and good operating skills and you can compete with 'the big boys on easy street'! 

Ham radio is a great hobby folks but don't abuse it.  I've heard some pretty nasty stuff on the air just in the past few years.  If everyone would just extend common courtesy to their fellow hams, we could all enjoy it even more.  And PLEASE, if you want to get involved with working DXpedition stations, read the DX Code of Conduct FIRST!!!  Way too many tuner uppers, callers, and 'cops' on the same frequency as the DXpedition station.  Invariably, they work split operations so they are listening on a different frequency!  Thanks and, if I haven't already done so, I hope to work you on the air soon!

UPDATE:  I now have 320 DXCC countries worked and confirmed.  I got my second US County Award plaque dated June 1, 2016 (#434)!  Working all 3077 US counties twice was an exhausting task.  After I got the plaque I was QRT for about 3 months!  hihi.  I officially got back on the air with the Texas QSO Party on the week end of September 24, 2016 (California QSO Party is the following week end!).  CU on the air!

3/31/17 UPDATE:  I got a plaque today from the Northern California Contest Club (NCCC) for setting a new state record in 2016 in the California QSO Party for the Single Operator, Low Power, Assisted category.  I set the Riverside County (CA) record in 2014 for the Single Operator, Low Power category.  I'm a member of the Southern California Contest Club (SCCC).