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THE MUGSHOT
NAME: Alfred
George
Burns
This is a picture of yours truly taken at my place of work on February 6, 1999.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
CLASS: Amateur - May 1976, Advanced Amateur - March 1988 ADDRESS: 1326 Lakefield Crt., Oshawa ON L1J 3Y6, Canada EMAIL ADDRESS: [email protected] PERSONAL HISTORY: As you can see from the photo above, I've reached 52 years of age. For those who are curious, the photo shows me in typical workware for the Canadian Nuclear Power industry. I work for Ontario Hydro Nuclear at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station in Pickering, Ontario, Canada. I've been a closet HAM since I was a teenager, but it wasn't until May of 1976, when I was successful at passing the 10 WPM CW test, that I finally received my "Amateur" class license. It took me 12 more years to upgrade to the "Advanced Amateur" class. In the process of upgrading, I became interested in operating CW. While I'm not adverse at a good phone ragchew, I prefer to operate CW. I'm an Amateur that thinks that Morse Code should be an intregal part of Amateur Radio Hobby and joined FISTS , which is an organisation that promotes the use of Morse Code on the HF amateur bands. I've participated in various activities over the years. I've operated "Packet" on VHF, operating "Jnos" as the principle packet operating system. I have not been active recently because the local networks have pretty much collapsed. Besides Packet, I've operated digital modes on HF. They included Baudot, RTTY, and mainly AMTOR. My TNC did not support things like PACTOR, so I was never able to operate that mode. My interest in Morse Code, prompted me to teach it to prospective hams. In the seven years that I taught the code, about 80 new hams received their Morse code endorsements. My local club, The North Shore Amateur Radio Club and our neighbouring club, The South Pickering Amateur Radio Club hold an annual Hamfest that is the largest of its kind in Canada. I participated in its operation for six years until a heart attack curtailed those activities. If you've had a look at my Photo Ablums, you'll notice that I like to ride on trains. In March of 1997, I and my son, joined the members of the Algoma Amateur Radio Club for a trip on the Algoma Central Railway's "SNOWTRAIN", that operates out of Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada. I wrote an article about the trip that was published in the The Radio Amateurs of Canada monthly magazine, TCA. In May of 1998, I was invited to participate on another rail dx-pedition which was the Polar Bear DX-pedition 98. This was one of my great highlights of being a HAM Radio operator. |
