QSL Info: LOTW and/or Direct (Self Addressed Envelope with postage required--stamp for US or either one IRC or one GS for DX) No BURO please

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Biography:

I was first licensed as Novice KN7IPZ in summer 1959 when I was midway through high school in Tucson, Arizona. I upgraded to Conditional Class (remember that one?) soon thereafter, borrowed an AM rig from my Pastor/Elmer, and got on AM phone. Phone was fun then--you could work anybody on 10 meters with fifty watts (input) and a vertical. But I found that CW was more challenging and rewarding, and so I built a CW station and returned the AM rig.

College at the US Naval Academy followed by Polaris Submarine duty brought years of on-and-off activity. In the 1970's, graduate school at U. of Arizona in Tucson afforded some "spare" time for CW traffic handling, some DXing, a couple of Field Day outings, and FCC exams (remember those?) for upgrades to Advanced and Extra Class tickets. I became K7IA in 1977. I dabbled in RTTY for a while, enjoying the sounds and fragrances of a Model 15. Ribbons and rolled paper weren't easy to find, so, like others, I used both sides of the paper, and I used ribbons until I could hardly see the print. No "glass teletype" in those days!

I finished a PhD in Nuclear Engineering in 1978 and then worked as a technical staff member at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque for a few years. I built an IMSAI 8080 computer and learned Assembly, writing a number of routines that married the computer to the radio: logging software, sending/receiving CW and RTTY, etc. Those programs did the job, but they were quite primitive compared to what's available today!

In 1980 I tossed away my spare time and started medical school at U. of New Mexico in Albuquerque. At 36, I was the oldest guy in my class. The radios once again gathered dust, this time for eight years of schooling plus residency training in Radiation Oncology. I got enough operating time to satisfy the activity requirements, and I kept my ticket intact.

Now I'm retired and after five years of building our "dream house," just a few "little" things remain unfinished. My wife, Erin (KB5ZKE), and I live in the New Mexico outback, "off the grid," an hour due east of the Silver City Wal Mart. I homebrewed a large photovoltaic system that satisfies Erin's requirement that she "does not have to live like a pioneer!" The solar electric system (by day) plus diesel electric generator (by night or in cloudy conditions) allows for QRO hamming.

The "dream house" is not in a ham's "dream location," however. Instead of on a hilltop, it's in a canyon, away from most of New Mexico's stiff winds. Had I been a contester before purchasing this property, well, so much for foresight!

With dwindling house construction projects, there's more and more time for hamming. In August 2011, I added a 92 foot tower to the modest antenna farm (a 4 el SteppIR at 52 feet, a ground-mounted SteppIR vertical [66 radials], and vees for 80 and 160 at about 50 feet). The new tower carries a 2 el M2 yagi for 40m and an old but refurbished TH5 tribander at 60 feet.The 160 meter vee that used to occupy the SteppIR tower is now at 85 feet, just below the 40m yagi, and the new tower is now shunt fed for the CW end of 80 meters.  In late March 2012, Milt, N5IA loaned his considerable expertise to raise the SteppIR tower from 50 to 80 feet in height, and the SteppIR plays even better than ever. What a difference!   Antenna work is never finished, and at this writing I am planning a ring rotator for the tribander (awaiting the first production run of RingRotors designed to mate with Rohn 25) and an an additional shunt feed of the 90 foot tower for 160 meters--two separate shunt feeds of a single tower (and one radial system!).  I'm also considering an unterminated V-beam for 80 meters covering EU and ZL/VK.

Thanks to the many who have kept amateur radio exciting over the years!

73, Dan