MIA Introduction

[MIA]

I inadvertently posted my introduction into one of Gil's topics (it was very late and this old man needed sleep lol), so I have moved it to it's own topic.

I became interested in Amateur Radio in the 1960's when my parents gave me a portable radio that had short wave capability. While exploring the bands and listening to foreign broadcast station, I ended up listening to Ham Operators and it intrigued me, but it went no further. During the 70's I got involved in the CB craziness and had a blast. I kept at CB until life got too busy, and didn't even think about radio again until I had to retire. In 2000 I saw an advertisement for a Ham Radio club in the local paper, and went to their meeting that same night. They were very friendly and convinced me to take the Technician test that night, and thatnks to what I had learned over the years and from CB, I passed (barely). I studied until the next month's meeting, then took the test and passed the General. It wasn't to a year later that I finally got around to taking (and passing) the Extra test. Since then I have trained as an emergency communicator and volunteered with the Red Cross, ARES and RACES, as well as working with local and county governments. My wife and both kids are also licensed.

Up until recently, I have been active on HF, but mostly in VHF+ contesting, digital, meteor scatter and moon bounce. Also, like Gil, I became enthused by 6 meters, and have spent the bulk of my "fun operating" there.  At the moment I am semi off the air as I rebuild my antenna systems and towers following an ice storm. I have all of my towers ready to start raising, and I have replaced my HF wires, 20m mono-bander, 6m, 1.25m, and 23cm antennas. I still need to replace the 2m, 70cm and 33cm beams. I'm just doing what I can as funds will allow. We have integrated comms into our family emergency/preparedness plans, but have included several other radio services and modes besides Ham Radio, for maximum flexibility. I guess that's about it, I'm looking forward to the conversations and learning from everyone.