Previous Calls: KN8CVJ, K8CVJ, AD8CVJ, WA2RGW. Applied for & received K8BL in 1977 (NOT a Vanity Callsign).

DX calls: VP2EOH, ZL0AAE, VK4BTL + K8BL/ over 30 different DXCC Entities on all Continents (except Antarctica).

First licensed in 1961 as a Junior in High School, 2011 was my 50th year in Ham Radio!!

Operation is about 80% CW, 10% SSB, 5% RTTY and 5% Misc. and on-air time is about 1/2 Contesting and 1/2 DX'ing.

CW Operator's Motto - "You can take my CW Key when you pry my cold dead fingers off the Paddles!"

ARRL Member 40+ years. AMSAT #6593 (since 1979). Member of Northern Ohio DX Assn. and Lake County Amateur Radio Assn. TEN/TEN #4995 (since 1972). ARRL Volunteer Examiner. ARRL VUCC Awards Manager. Member of North Coast Contesters and Contest Operator at K8AZ Super Station. License Trustee for Club Call N8BC and 3 Club Repeaters N8BC/r.

DXCC Honor Roll Mixed/CW/Phone, DXCC-Digital, 9BDXCC, 5BWAS+160M, 5BWAZ, ARRL Triple Play, 6M & Sat. VUCC, Diamond DXCC.

Retired after 44 1/2 years from AT&T as Senior Technical Manager (Tech Support - Data Communications). During those years I worked for Ohio Bell Tel. Co., Western Electric Co., Bell Laboratories, Ameritech, SBC and AT&T, but all my service was bridged throughout the entire period.

Picture above is from my recent trip to VE9/VE1/VY2 and VT/NH/ME where I saw the World's Highest Tides at the Bay of Fundy (50 ft.) and drove to the top of Mt. Washington (scary, windy, snowy). These locations were items from my "Bucket List".

In the mobile, I run an ICOM IC-706MKIIG with an automatic antenna tuner and 8 foot whip with 8 foot "stinger" on HF/6 and a base-loaded dualband whip for 2M/440. The HF antenna can be seen laying on the ground in the picture below - hihi.

At home I have an ICOM IC-7700 and IC-2KL with AT-500. Backup rig is an IC-775 which is too nice to EVER part with. Antennas are a 4 EL TET Tribander for 20/15/10 at 55 feet, a homebrew 17/12 VEE at 45 feet, Double-Bazooka Inverted Vees each for 80, 40 & 30,an Inverted L Bazooka for 160 (25mV/15mH) and a 3 EL 6M at 40 feet. Also, there is an IC-820H for 2m/440 with a 5 EL at 40 feet. I occasionally take the IC-820H out for Satellite QSO's and Grid Expeditions as shown below.

I enjoy exchanging QSL Cards. But, with the cost of mailing these days, you MUST enclose return postage IF you would like to receive mine. Buro is OK, but I prefer LOTW above all.

NOTE: On-Line QSL'ing (LOTW & E-QSL) is ONLY for Home-QTH QSO's. ALL PORTABLE operations such as Satellite Grid Expeditions and DX-Peditions will be done via physical QSL's w/SASE ONLY. It's too much of a hassle for me to set up the On-Line sites for numerous portable Calls and for Registrations and Certificates, etc. I'll be quite happy to QSL any/all confirmed PORTABLE QSO's via mail or Buro.

This picture is from one of my Satellite Grid Expeditions. It's on 9/16/2011 in VE1 in Springhill, Nova Scotia, in FN75 during an AO-51 pass.

During this trip I activated FN55, FN64, FN75 and FN85 on AO51 and AO27 using an ICOM IC-820H and Arrow handheld antenna.

(The picture was taken by one of four High School boys who were watching me from a distance and trying to figure out what I was doing. They finally got the nerve to come over and talk to me. They thought I was tracking some kind of animal!! hi-hi I gave them an overview of Ham Radio and Satellites and they were quite impressed.)

In November 2011, I did Satellite Expeditions in EL39, EM20, EM21, EM30, EM31 and EM44.

In January 2012, I did Satellite Expeditions in EL59, EL86, EL87, EM44, EM50, EM51 and EM70.

In February 2012, I did Satellite Expeditions in EL39, EL59, EM20 and EM50.

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As of 30-APR-2012, my DXCC Credits are as follows:

                     CURRENT      TOTAL

MIXED=                   339       350      (Need P5 !!)

PHONE =                336       346      (Need BS7, FT/Z, P5, FK/C)

CW =                        336       345      (Need  FR/G, P5, ZL9, ZS8)

RTTY =                     246       249      (Need plenty!!)

CHALLENGE =     2350     2404

(Another Submission is now being processed to add more.)

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