KA1IOR

   My Amateur Radio career began in 1981 when I discovered a copy of the Radio Amateur's Handbook at the college library. After practicing morse code for a year in my spare time with 2 children under the age of three, I passed the Novice exam on my second attempt at the written element.

   Holding the call of KA1IOR ever since, I spent the next 14 months upgrading to Extra, making repeated trips to the FCC's Custom House in Boston. On the first attempt, I upgraded from Novice to General. When I looked at the materials for Advanced and Extra, I decided to just do them both. I passed the Advanced theory test and the 20 wpm code, but missed the Extra theory by just a few questions, and passed it on the next session instead. I have enjoyed the privilege of serving fellow Amateurs as a Volunteer Examiner since the inception of the VE system, and I am a Life Member of the American Radio Relay League.

   It was my privilege to serve the community in August of 1991 as Net Control in a coordinated response with Falmouth's Office of Emergency Preparedness during Hurricane Bob, which left many of the roads impassable with downed trees and much of Cape Cod without electricity for over a week. The storm was responsible for 18 lives lost (3 on Cape Cod), and damages were 1.5 billion dollars. Over 2 million homes lost electricity. I also currently serve the community in another public safety related capacity.

   I have served as Net Control and elsewhere in the Falmouth Road Race to support the emergency medical service needs of this world-class running event since 1984, and ran the seven mile course as a participant in 1997 in less than an hour. Not exactly a world-class speed, but maybe respectable enough for a non-runner. I have also served as Net Control for the Cape Cod Marathon, and spent a few years helping in the Safety Launches during the Head of the Charles Regatta.

   In 1988 and 1991 I placed first in the Eastern MA High Power CW category of the November Sweepstakes contests. In the SSB portion of 1991 I worked a clean sweep, contacting every section in the U.S. and Canada in less than 24 hours of operating time. I have served as Secretary for the Falmouth ARA for over 5 years and as Field Day Leader in 1991 and 1992.

   I was one of less than 700 lucky operators to successfully uplink one-way via Packet Radio to Ron Parise, WA4SIR during the flight of Space Shuttle Columbia's STS-35/ASTRO-1 mission in December of 1990. Later in 1992 I made a complete two-way QSO among less than 1000 others to successfully make a contact with Jay Apt, N5QWL and Mamoru Mohri, 7L2NJY aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour during STS-47. Photo courtesy of Jay himself! More recently, I made a two-way voice contact with the International Space Station, NA1SS in December 2008.

   My current activities center mainly on HF/VHF/UHF, serving at exam sessions, and helping out at Field Day as needed. CW is still my favorite mode, and my HF contest operating is finally recovering to normal activity now that I am no longer subject to a landlord's restrictions.

Please feel free to leave me a message.