Time does fly when you’re having fun, and I’ve certainly had some in my ham radio experience. It’s simply amazing to me—to consider I’ve been licensed 52 years now. Being qualified officially as an “OLD OLD TIMER” truly brings me back to my radio roots, when I was the youngest member of the Medina County (Ohio) Radio Club. While it seemed (at the time) just to be a social group, there was amazing camaraderie among its members, whose interests spanned DXing, high speed CW, building, ragchewing, mobiling, 160M and VHF—truly the best introduction to the hobby anyone could have asked for or wanted. I was inspired by W8AQ, W8IA, W8SGH, W8GDQ, W8LCY, W8PTT, and many others, who never ignored the kid who had to be driven to their meetings. I’ll not soon forget many of these men….
In 1996, I managed to acquire the callsign of another ham personality—Lyman Rundlett, who was W3ZA, W6ZA, K4ZA, and maybe some other calls. You can read about his exploits during the Gus Browning heyday, for example, in Gus’s published accounts of his DX-pedition travels. I gladly share his moniker of “Rundy” among close friends.
Contesting remains my primary interest in the hobby, something that started when my first license arrived during the annual Novice Roundup. I was all set to ragchew, but these incessant CQ NR calls intrigued me. I had no idea one could “compete” using the radio. All these years later, I’m still hooked! I’ve enjoyed some success, winning the ARRL 10M Test twice here from N4ZC in North Carolina, and having lots of M-M fun, there, too. Without a serious home station, I mainly operate at W3LPL these days, where I’m comfortable in either mode, any band, et cetera, but I prefer CW. My ham awards include 5B-WAZ (all CW), 5B-DXCC, Honor Roll, 160M WAS, A1-Operator Club, and assorted Top Ten contest certificates throughout the intervening years.
I’m a Contributing Editor to the NCJ, writing the “Workshop Chronicles” column. I’ve published a number of radio articles in most of the ham magazines. Those articles lead directly to the ARRL asking me to write Antenna Towers for Radio Amateurs, which they published 1n 2011. I’m a long time member of the Contest Advisory Committee. A past president of the PVRC (when I lived in MD), and current trustee of the club, a member of the Carolina DX Association, OOTC, and an ARRL Life Member.
I’m married to an understanding and patient wife, Marti, who works at UNCC. Professionally, I spent 30 years in film and video production, as a lighting cameraman/Director of Photography, doing mostly corporate work. My ever-increasing “side interest” doing tower/antenna construction and maintenance continues to expand, as this web page aptly demonstrates.
