Thanks so much for having enough interest or curiosity about me to look up my Bio page !

I celebrated my Sixty-third birthday in July and have been a Ham for nearly 40 years, now. I guess that qualifies me as an "O.T."

I was involved in a nearly fatal automobile accident which pretty much put an end to my career. No more driving the expressways for this guy. I'm quite happy to be alive, and have many things to do to keep myself busy, which I will tell you about in a minute.

I was a Professional Broadcaster and held an F.C.C. 1st Class Radio-Telephone license for several years before becoming a Ham. My past jobs have included being the Chief Engineer for a medium market FM station, and Assistant Chief Engineer for a medium market UHF Television station.

My last job was as a Technical Specialist working for a large Satellite Internet and Television program provider. I worked in the R & D Labs as a prototype builder/modifier for the outdoor ground units for the new era in Broadband Services provided by GeoStationary Satellites. I used microscopes and very tiny tools to fabricate circuitry using 0402 and smaller SMD components.

My first license was a Novice and I went directly to an Advanced class license after building up my code speed. My original call was WD9IJO, issued back in Illinois.

Just a few weeks before moving out to Maryland, I passed my Extra Class ticket, but decided to wait until I got here before getting my "Two by One" .

AG3Y is the original FCC issued call, and even though it is not a "vanity" call, I still get people asking me, occasionally, what the significance of the letters is. When I first went on the air with that call, many people thought I was a "bootlegger" and I had to prove to them, usually by sending them some 20 wpm CW that I was legit! HI

I have an older Son who was a professional photographer for an advertising company. He specialises in Computer Enhanced still photography and many of his photographs have won awards in regional and national Professional Photographers Association exhibitions. He was named the "Photographer of the year" in the state of Maryland by the Professional Photographers Association.   Times have been difficult, and he has switched careers.  He is now a Manager at a local Wendy's fast-food restaurant.

My daughter graduated from High School in the upper 10% of her class as a member of the National Honors Society. She loves animals, and is a professional animal trainer for a national pet and supply store ( PetSmart ) She has a small "zoo" in her apartment.  She is attending Bible College at this time, and wants to become a Missionary.

My Wife works very hard as a Licensed Nurse's Aid, in a "Special Needs-Dimentia" unit of a local Nursing facility. She is also very heavily involved with the youth programs in our local Church.

When I am not spending time on the Ham bands, you might find me playing around with my computerized vinyl-restoration project. I have been taking many of my treasured Classical Music recordings and transferring them to CDs, using digital "click and pop" elimination software. The project is extremely rewarding, but also very time consuming. Hardly anything gives me greater pleasure than to hear a recording from 25 or more years ago, come forth with a clarity that rivals the sound you can hear on a newly produced CD !

You will also find that I am very interested in Astronomy and own a couple of telescopes and binoculars. My pride and joy is an 8" Celestron with a fairly complete set of eyepieces ranging from 25mm to 4.5mm. I am a past president of the Tri-State Astronomers, a group of amateur astronomers from around the Hagerstown, MD. area, and am currently the Editor of "The Observer" our monthly newsletter found on our webpage. The URL is

http://www.tristateastronomers.org

My greatest interest completely away from electronics is my music. At one time I was studying to go into classical music as a professional instrumentalist, but decided to go into electronics as a career, instead.

I have recently renewed my interest in RC Model Airplanes and am re-building and restoring some of my older ones to airworthiness. I have started experimenting with electric powered aircraft, and finding the learning curve to be rather steep.  But a challenge is always good for the brain and body!

One of things that also brings great of pleasure to me is getting a note of "thanks" from someone whom I have been able to help on qrz.com or some other discussion forum. I love to share the things I have learned, either from many years of experience, or from new information I can glean from the internet, or various books at my disposal. I always look forward to the discussions and feel almost as if we are in the same room, bouncing ideas and thoughts off of one another. I hope I can answer your questions correctly, and perhaps learn a thing or two from you as well. I sincerely believe, as I have said in my signature, that "No time is ever wasted that is spent LEARNING something ! "

I am an avid reader, and love History, Aviation, Photography and Astronomy, and will be more than happy to ragchew with you about any of those subjects, and more, any time we meet on the air or through EMail.

73 as always, and keep in touch!

Jim AG3Y