I am an Amateur Radio operator and hold the callsign WD8RIF. I earned my Novice license as a fifteen-year-old in 1978 and progressed through the Technician, General, and Advanced class licenses, eventually earning the Amateur Extra license sometime in the late 1980s. (Don't know what Amateur Radio is? Look here: www.arrl.org/what-is-ham-radio & www.arrl.org/what-is-amateur-radio.)

My father, W8EOG, was my first and most significant "Elmer". He has been a ham since 1956 and I was exposed to ham radio even in my earliest childhood (images).

I love CW and nearly all of my MF/HF operating since my days as a Novice has been using CW. I am an advocate of QRP (low-power) operation, and almost all of my MF/HF operating since 1995 has been at a power level of five watts or less.

I am the president of the Athens County Amateur Radio Association (ACARA) and trustee of the ACARA's W8UKE/R 2-meter repeater.

I am a founding member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team, a small group of hams who enjoy operating their rigs outdoors.

I belong to The American Radio Relay League, The QRP Amateur Radio Club International (#8856), The Adventure Radio Society (#58), Straight Key Century Club (#7840), North American QRP CW Club (#3005), The Internet QRP-L Club (#401), and Bicycle Mobile Hams of America.

My home station is located in grid EM89xh at 39°17'52"N / 82°03'31"W (39.297778°N / 82.058611°W), in Athens County, Ohio (photo).

My wife, Vickie, earned her license in 1999 and holds the callsign KC8MAJ. My son and daughter, both teenagers, earned their licenses in 2009. Kate is KD8KNB; Miles is KD8KNC. In 2010, Kate built and used a Small Wonder Labs Rockmite (link) 80m CW transceiver as part of a self-determined 4H project on Amateur Radio and took it to the Ohio State Fair.

---

Attributions:

cartoon by Phil Gildersleeve found in "How to Become a Radio Amateur", 1971 ARRL

The typeface used in the header-graphics on this site is "Lintsec Medium (TrueType)".
It is available at http://simplythebest.net/fonts/.