I found Amateur Radio via the SWL route. When I was 14, my childhood friend Jim (now KS1A), already bitten by the SWL bug, got me interested too. My first receiver was a Radio Shack DX-160. Using 'longwires' on our small suburban lots on Long Island, NY, we managed to confirm 50+ countries and tons of AM BC stations while feeding each other DX spots over the phone. We were big into NASWA and its bulletin, FRENDX.
By the time I was 17, I had found ham radio. Not having any local Elmers, I studied on my own, listened to W1AW, took my General exam at the FCC Office at 201 Varick St., NYC, and was subsequently licensed as WB2PJM. My first station was an HW-16 and a 40/15 dipole. I passed my Extra in 1979, just missing the 1x2 vanity call window, and shortly thereafter traded in my way-too-long-on-CW call for KB2R, which I held for the next 18 years.
While an undergrad at the University of Rochester (NY), I spent way too much time at our club station K2ZWI, where I discovered real contesting - with yagis and a Yaesu FT-902DM. My first real contest effort was the 1978 Phone SS, with a multi-op score of 528 x 70 = 74k. We missed several easy sections but did work Yukon and the Canal Zone(!). Looking back, how did we ever log with pencil and paper?
With my new BSEE, I came to Boston & Route 128 in 1982. By a stroke of fate, I found myself working at the same place as a guy named Doug, K1DG, who introduced me to the Yankee Clipper Contest Club. In 1983 I returned the SWL favor to my friend Jim by giving him his Novice exam. For the rest of the 80's I operated with wire antennas and a TS-820S, except for a brief QRT while at graduate school at UMass/Amherst.
I returned to the Boston area in 1990, and spent the 90's scoring points for YCCC doing mostly M/M, M/S, and guest-opping at places like K1TTT, K1KP, and K1VR. In 1996 the vanity callsign program finally reopened, and I became K1NU in 1997. From 1999-2001 my QTH was Andover, MA, where my permit process for my 75' tower served as a case study for K1VR's book from the ARRL, Antenna Zoning and the Radio Amateur. In 2001 I moved to Westford, MA, where my first antenna farm consisted of 87' of Rohn 45G, supporting a T-10, two CL-33s, a homebrew 3-el 40/30 wire beam, an 80m delta loop, and a 160m Inverted-L. My new (2nd) QTH in Westford has no tower as of yet; as of this writing my T-10 hangs in the trees at 40'. I also have an 80m 4-square (W7EL feed design), a 160m Inverted-L, and a Butternut HF9V.In 2000 my (then 9-yr-old) daughter Sarah passed her 5 WPM exam, and in 2001 passed the written, to get her Tech Plus (now K1SFK). In 2002 my wife Janet passed her Tech to become KB1IMY.
Professionally, I'm a Project Manager with Foliage Software Systems in Burlington, MA. We do software development consulting for a wide variety of industries. It's a great place to work, and we're always hiring.... drop me a line if you're looking.
I am a Registered Electrical PE in Massachusetts and an ARRL Volunteer Consulting Engineer, specializing in antenna and terrain modeling and RF exposure analysis. I am also available as an expert witness for tower permit hearings and the like. See my consulting page link at the left for more information.
This page last updated on 12 October 2006