Welcome to Bob and Alex's Home Page

KB3HGW

Updated 5/31/2002

Welcome to our web page. On the left is a picture of Alexander Graham Cracker VII, my best canine friend, pack leader and hiking buddy (he's pure bred Cocker Spaniel) on top of Jay Peak in Vermont during our hike of the Long Trail in the summer of 1998. The guy on the right is me diving on the Papoose, off the coast of North Carolina.


Update 10/10/02

Wow, another update.

Here is a picture of my radio shack...

Oh yeah, I mentioned this before, but I always wanted to race bicycles, so I bought myself a bike to race and joined Team Snow Valley.


I became an amateur radio operator in November of 2001. I had always want to become one, but I never seemed to find the time to study for and take the required licensing examinations. Late last year, I decided that I'd find the time to get involved in this very interesting hobby. I am a member of the Amateur Radio Relay League and the Laurel Amateur Radio Club. I'm not done, yet. I still need to learn Morse code so that I can take advantage of more frequency privelages. I prefer radios made by Icom and Yaesu. I'm also getting involved in ARES (amateur radio emergency services), so you may see me running around with a little radio someday.

Alex and I love to go backpacking, and we have hiked a good part of the Appalachian Trail, the entire length of the Long Trail, and a bunch of other stuff as well. Click on the links to see pictures of our trips and read my hiking journals.

I am a member of the Appalachian Trail Conference and the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. If you have any questions about hiking (especially long distance hiking) with a dog, email me at [email protected]. Alex and I like to use sleeping bags from Feathered Friends, backpacks from Gregory and we buy most of our other stuff from REI. If you are interested in lightweight backpacking gear or in buying some really great hiking videos, please pay a visit to the web page of Lynne Whelden.

Alex loves to swim, but he hasn't learned to dive, at least not yet. I'm also a scuba diver and I particularly enjoy wreck diving. I invite you to check out my favorite Atlantic Ocean dive charter, the Surface Interval, which sails out of the Indian River Inlet in Delaware. While you're at it, check out my favorite diving equipment manufacturers: Poseidon (makers of the best cold water scuba air regulators--just ask the U.S. Navy), Uwatec (makers of decompression dive computers), and Dive Rite (makers of most everything else that a diver could ever want). A good source of information regarding shipwrecks off the eastern coast of the United States is the popular dive guide series written by Gary Gentile.

Alex and I are hunters, and we even bag the occasional deer and such. This is my third year of bowhunting. If you don't approve of hunting, I'm sorry if I offend you, but I grew up in southwestern Pennsylvania, where hunting is still an important part of life. I guess that I should also mention that I am a member of the National Rifle Association.

Alex wants to take this opportunity to promote his favorite dog food. He thinks that this is the best stuff around, aside from freshly grilled steak, chicken, or even better, venison!


Hey look, that's Milos Holan and me in the 7/6/99 issue of USA Today. In February of 1996, I anonymously donated bone marrow to a needy person. Imagine my surprise when I found out later that my recipient was a professional hockey player!

To learn more about bone marrow transplants, or to find out how to join the National Marrow Donor Program registry, click here. Getting onto the registry is pretty easy, and you just might save somebody's life!

Picture and article copyright 1999, USA Today


For anybody who's interested, here's a link to where I work. The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulates commercial nuclear power plants and fuel cycle facilities, as well as industrial and medical users of radioactive materials that come from nuclear reactors or the nuclear fuel cycle. I answer the hotline telephone in the 24-hour Headquarters Operations Center, located in Rockville, MD. To report an incident involving radioactive materials, call 301-816-5100. We're open 24 hours, and we accept all collect calls.