I'm in my 60s, and been a ham since I was 15 years old.
Soon to be retired Professional Engineer (Electrical/Electronics) for local utility in Telecomm dept
University of Nebraska-Omaha campus Alumnus -- BSET, 1989
Married to my high school sweetheart, Diane, KCØDXI
Two wonderful adult children:
- Jason - Eagle Scout (BSA) & a graduate of Univ of Nebraska at Omaha
- Nicole - She's soon to be a mother of our 1st Grandson!
We have one 15 year old puppy named Gracie
My hobbies: Ham Radio (20 wpm Extra class), Bicycling (Roadie), and Music ("just a drummer")
My interest in radio started at age 12 when I saw someone operate a CB radio so I asked "Santa" for a CB radio and became "Mr. Pibb". A little later I met a CBer who knew a Ham operator that lived nearby. We visited his ham shack one day, and was given a demonstration by the owner, Tex, WAØOMB--"Old Man Baker" who ran the Central States Traffic Net for many years. I was determined to learn more so Tex gave me some old license manuals to study.
After studying the manuals I determined it was more difficult than I first thought. Then while attending a CB Jamboree
at Peony Park in 1977, I met Scott, WBØWOT at the Ak-Sar-Ben Amateur
Radio Club's booth. Scott was only 12 or 13 at the time. Maybe I could get my license after all! So I signed
up for the club's novice class. I became WDØGHA in January, 1978, at 15 years old making it to General class
at 16. I didn't upgrade again until I was bit hard by the DX bug in 1990. Finally I upgraded to Advance in 1991
and Extra in 1992 to work more DX. In 1996 I changed my call sign to KØiL when the vanity call sign program
came along.
Being somewhat inactive during college in the 1980's (women, booze, you know...), I decided to get active again
in 1990. I put a 10-meter rig in my car to use while commuting to work. My first two mobile QSOs where with CO2PX
and CX9DH. Two new ones! Bit by the DX bug I was! As I became a more active DXer, I started reading anything I
could find on DXing. Early on I read W9KNI's book "The Complete DXer" which is "the book" on
DXing in my opinion.
One tip in "The Complete DXer" is to get active in DX contests. It's a great way to pick up new mode
and band countries so I started out contesting just to work more DX. Didn't care about mults, runs, or Qs totals.
Just DX! At first I didn't send in any logs to actually enter the contests, but pretty soon I found myself sending
in logs for more and more contests. I'm now active in contests like Sweepstakes and the Nebraska QSO Party, and
I'm considered a complete Field Day fanatic! In July 1998, my dream of operating in a big multi-multi station came
true when Todd, KKØDX and I operated at K4VX's super station as W1AW/Ø with the likes of WØAIH,
K9PG, W9QA, AG9A, K9BGL, and many more class contest operators. It was a terrific learning experience. I hope to
be able to do this again soon!
As an electronics engineer for the local power company, I'm responsible for their 800 MHz trunked two-way radio
system, and VHF paging system. I'm married to Diane, KCØDXI and have 2 kids, Jason and Nicole (no call signs
yet). My other interests besides Amateur Radio are music, bicycling, and I also like to shoot some pool on occasion.
I hope I didn't bore you too much! ;^)
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