First licensed the summer of 1971 as WN9HRP in Milwaukee Wisconsin. My initial interests in radio began years earlier with a Zenith Trans-Oceanic shortwave receiver , which I still have, that my dad purchased for my brother Ken. Ken did quite a bit of SWL work, CB (back when they used call signs) and later ham radio. He has held the calls WN9VIC, WN9GYP, N0FGZ and KG0SV, the later two from the Denver area. Ken recently moved back to Wisconsin with his family and is operational with the call W9KWB. So I really owe my early radio exposure to my father and brother.

At twelve years of age I was given the Novice test by my junior high school teacher Bob Petruna, W9OQF. Bob was a great teacher and garnered respect from his students. I'm not to sure how good Bob remembered his morse code at the time. He just asked me to start sending, and that I did for several minutes. Stopping me with the statement "that will be enough" and he signed the paper work. If memory serves me we had to send in the document that indicated I could do five words-per-minute and then wait for the FCC to send the written test back to Bob. Code was one of my strong points and I still love tuning around 80 meter CW at night using my vintage National SW-3 regenerative receiver. The SW-3 for those who haven't seen one was just a little square black box regenerative receiver that requires an external power supply and audio is supplied via headphones only. Even today I can see why it was such a popular receiver from the early 1930's well into the 1940's. Back to the test, I do remember Bob reading over some of the questions that were causing me problems on the written exam. I'd never admit that he out right gave me any answers, but he was one of those great teachers who could lead you along in your thinking by asking questions so that eventually you'd determine what the right answer was. I believe it's called the socratic method of continually asking questions so that the answerer will learn to think. The Novice station utilized a Heathkit DX-60B transmitter and a Hallicrafters SX-101 III receiver to separate antennas consisting of a long wire for receive and various dipoles for transmit.

About six months after receiving my license I became involved in a Ham Radio Explorer Scout post in Milwaukee. Never having been involved with Cub Scouts nor Boy Scouts, the Explorers offered me something that the others couldn't. Basically it was a ham club for teens and young adults. In those years peer pressure can make-or-break a future. I was blessed to have been involved with Explorer Post 373 and through that organization have met and continue to associate with many fine men and women to this day. It was through their direct influence that moved me toward engineering school and my resulting career. Continued involvement with the post through high school and to a lesser extent college, eventually in the role of an advisor. In later years it became harder and harder to get youth interest in the post and the ham radio activites and for the most part it was disbanded. However, it does live on in-form via The Miller Valley Amateur Radio Club in Milwaukee. Although now just a ham club, it still tailors activities and efforts toward the Milwaukee area youth. I couldn't conclude my writting about Post 373 without passing along my thanks to all those who I have had the privilege to know from the group, including Art McGlothlin WA9AWJ who was the driving force behind the establishment and continuation of the post during all my years of involvement. He continues to this day with the Miller Valley group.

In 1973, having passed my General at the traveling FCC office in Milwaukee, my dad purchased me a SSB radio. So, a used Swan 350 soon occupied the center spot in the shack. By March of 1975 I worked my way up to the Extra class license. These were junior and senior high days so I had alot of time on my hand to play and study radio. Couldn't imagine finding that kind of time today. In 1977 I received my current call sign N9OO.

Through the years I've always managed to stay in touch with the ham radio community and activities. Although there were times when activity was low, I still kept up with what was going on via the ham magazines. Been a life member of the ARRL since high school and also a life time subscriber to 73 magazine from around that same time frame. For what was paid back then, they both have paid for themselves many times over.

Recent history has brought me into two major areas of interest in ham radio. In 1989 I got bit by the VHF and above weak signal (SSB & CW) bug. Picked up an older Yaesu FTV-250 2-meter transverter and wired it up so it would function with my ICOM IC-745 transceiver. Added a homebrew gasfet preamp and a 160 watt brick amp to it and have been playing with this setup ever since! Achieved VUCC on 2-meters and have around 35 states confirmed. I try to stay somewhat active in the VHF and above activities.

I must admit that my actual building and operating activites have been down on the VHF and above bands. Have equipment and parts to get me on through 1296MHz, but only have the 2-meters alive and well. What has kept me away from the VHF & above stuff, you ask? Well, read on!

In February of 1994 I picked up the equipment that has held me captivated since seeing them in the old QST's read when I was 10 years old. I'm talking Collins here! My station was now home to a Collins S-Line (75S3, 32S3A and 312B-4). What joy this equipment is. This is what started my adventures into the world of vintage ham equipment, called boatanchors (BA's) by those in the know! I won't get into all the equipment purchased since being infected with the BA bug, but if you look thru my station pictures here on my website you'll see it is very addicting.

I figure that I have enough refurbishing and building to do on all the BA's and VHF equipment I've aquired in the last 7 years to last me until the year 2020 or so. You'd think that would keep me away from the swapmeets.... yeah right! I can't even keep up with my online pictures do to the ever changing station aquisitions.

On the bio-professional side, received a 1980 BSEE degree from The Milwaukee School of Engineering. MSOE played a very important part in the early years of radio communications in Milwaukee. For more information on MSOE's radio history click here!. After graduation, I spent a few years in sunny California (LA beach cities) having fun and even fooling a couple of employers into thinking I was there to do real work.... Hungout at Hughes Aircraft designing test systems for the F/A-18 jet fighter radar system. Two years after that I was at Mattel Electronics designing integrated circuits for add-ons to their Intellivision video game system. Mattel was loosing money big time and stayed in business for only 10 months after arriving. It was fun while it lasted! The next six months were spent enjoying the sun and living off of unemployment insurance. All-in-all California was a great time and I have fond memories of those days. I stay in contact with many of my friends who are still there via email.

In 1984 I moved back to the mid-west and went to work for Advantest America. Advantest is a Japanese based company that manufactures test equipment for the RF and optical field. In addition, they are the worlds largest manufacturer of test systems for integrated circuits (IC's). I work in their IC tester division (ATE) and currently manage the Parts & Repair Center located in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. I am, however, still a cheese-head since my home QTH is Kenosha, Wisconsin, which is on the south-east corner of the state on the Illinois-Wisconsin border.