See shack pictures below!

Although interested in amateur radio in my early teens, I did not become licensed until 1967 when I obtained my Novice class license. A year later I passed the Advanced class exam, and remained there for about 30 years because of the 20 WPM morse code requirement for theExtra Class. A group of locals finally made a special effort to get the Extra Class license including the 20 WPM code requirement. We were Successful. I am primarily interested in chasing DX and DXCC. At the time of this writing (December 2011), I have 356 countries worked and 356 confirmed. I am on the DXCC Honor Roll (Mixed and Phone). Other major awards include the CQ DX Award (Honor Roll), WAS, 5BWAC, WAZ, A1 Operator Club, and the WPX award (750). I am a member of the ARRL, the Magnolia DX Association, The Great Southern DX Association, and the Royal Order of the Wouff Hong. My old callsigns include WN5SUE, WA5SUE and AE5DX.

After purchasing our current home, I downsized my station, and have been watching it slowly grow back in size (and quality). Equipment currently used include the Yaesu FTdx 5000D Transceiver with a Heil HM-10 dual element boom mike as the main rig with a DMU 2000 Data management Unit. A Yaesu FT-1900R is used for 2 meters. VHF and HF backup is provided by a Yaesu FT-897. A Tokyo Hi-Power HL-1.5KFX Linear Amp with a matching HC-1.5KAT Automatic Antenna Tuner bring the power up to the 1000 watt PEP level when desired. A RadioCraft 3000 Pro Power Monitor, a Power Master 3000 Power/SWR monitor, and various accessories are also used. The primary antenna is a Cushcraft A4S yagi with 40 meter add-on kit at about 11 meters height. I also have a Hustler 6BTV Vertical for 80-10 Meters, The computer is a Gateway DX4850 with 6 GBytes RAM, running at 2.8 GHz, with an Intel i-5 4 core core processor. The computer is used for logbook functions and station control as well as normal computer functions. The program used is DX4WIN, version 8.05.

I was born in Bristol CT, and raised in Londonderry NH, until I was 10. At that time, the family moved back to CT, where we lived until I entered the USAF at age 17.

I retired August 1, 1998 (civilian employee) from the US Air Force at Keesler AFB, MS. as a Training Specialist (also known in the Air Force as a single point manager). During my career (eight years active duty in the USAF, 30 years as a civilian employee working for the USAF), I worked in the Ground Radio career field (ground based HF and VHF radio equipment repair). While in the military, I was stationed in Texas, Mississippi, Turkey, Pakistan, California, and back to Mississippi during the first four years. The next four years were spent at Keesler AFB as a (military) electronics instructor. Since then, my career (civil service) included 20 years as a electronics instructor at Keesler AFB, MS. I taught electronic principles, computer principles, and Ground Radio.The next (last) 10 years of employment were spent as a training specialist (curriculum development specialist and resources manager) (also at Keesler AFB) managing the METNAV (ground based weather and navigation equipment repair) course followed by the Ground Radio Course. I have been married since 1964, have one married daughter, and two grandchildren (a girl, aged 13, and a boy, aged 8).

I have no specific retirement plans other than to play with my radios, do some traveling (we love taking several short trips each year to Orlando to visit the various attractions there), and weekend trips to various hamfests. My wife (AA5YL) and I also like to work on landscaping our yard. Latest additions to the yard include several weeping willow trees and several garden gnomes, and a 35 foot tower to hold the A4S beam.

I teach classes (more like tutoring) to groups of general/advanced class hams desiring to upgrade to Extra Class. So far, the results have been outstanding. If you are a local General or Advanced class Amateur looking to upgrade your license, please contact me.

DX IS!