I earned my first Amateur(ham) Radio license, a Novice Class, while attending DeVry Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois, in late 1977.  While still in Chicago, I upgraded to a Technician Class license, in early 1978.  My callsign at that time was WD9IKF.  I currently hold an Extra Class license, and my callsign has changed to N9GHZ.

When I moved back up to Northcentral Wisconsin in Spring, 1978, I became active with a local Amateur Radio organization(club), the Black River Area Radio Association(known at the time as the Taylor County Area Amateur Radio Club).

Over the subsequent years, I served as both the secretary, and president, of that club.

During that time, I also joined(and belonged to) the American Radio Relay League(ARRL), a nationwide organization of Amateur Radio operators.   I subsequently was appointed as an ARRL Public Information Officer(PIO) and an ARRL ARES Emergency Coordinator(EC) for both Clark and Taylor Counties.

During those years, I was involved in organizing and overseeing Amateur Radio support communications for the annual Abbotsford Christmas Parade, the "Tombstone Pizza 10" fun run(Medford), the Medford Kiwanis Club "J.A. O'Leary Memorial Bike Race & Tour", the "Perkinstown Tramp" showshoe races, and many other activities.

I've also been very involved as a SKYWARN storm spotter for the National Weather Service(NWS).

I've also been a volunteer instructor of Amateur Radio license exam preparation classes and, over the years(going back at least to 1982), I have helped dozens of people, including many young people, prepare for, and pass, the exams they needed to earn their own Amateur Radio licenses.  In later years, when the FCC turned responsibility for administering those examinations over to the Amateur Radio community themselves, I became an ARRL-registered Volunteer Examiner(VE).  As a VE, I am authorized to assist with administering those exams.  I have been a VE since at least 1989.

One of the highlights, thus far, of my Amateur Radio "career", was making 2-way radio contacts with Owen Garriott(W5LFL), an astronaut(and ham radio operator) aboard the space shuttle Columbia(STS-9), in late Fall of 1983, and with Alexsandr Volkov(U4MIR), a cosmonaut(and a ham radio operator) aboard the Soviet space station MIR on April 12, 1989.

Another highlight, for me, was when one of my "former students", Scott Young(N9FZS) was awarded the ARRL's Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial annual award at an ARRL Central Division Convention in St. Charles, Illinois, in the Fall of 1987.  The Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award is given annually to a licensed radio amateur under the age of 21 and their accomplishments and contributions to both the community of Amateur Radio and the local community should be of the most exemplary nature.  Scott was in competition with other individuals from across the country.

Scott took an Amateur Radio license exam preparation course that I taught, and passed his first exam for a license, in approximately 1984, while he was still living in Colby, WI, and a student at Colby public schools.  After graduating from Colby High School in 1987, he went on to attend, and graduated from, the Milwaukee School of Engineering, where he studied electrical engineering.  Scott now lives in southern California, where he was part owner of a company that designed control panels for other companies.

To this day, I am still somewhat active in Amateur Radio, although, after having suffered a stroke in June of 2010, and my speech impediment(which causes me to stutter and stammer quite a bit), which followed, I have slowed down my activities drastically.  For one thing, I no longer teach(instruct) Amateur Radio license exam preparation classes.