Contributing Author 

Greetings from Altoona, Pennsylvania, the former home of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

I was once the Curator and then Director of the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum where I ran a folk-life documentation program which specialized in the oral history of the area’s former steam railroaders. Then a cultural anthropologist, then a technical writer for an art and architectural restoration firm, where I mostly stared through a microscope at paint chips and wrote reports which few people ever read!

First licensed in 1975, I continue to operate in fits and spurts, mostly CW with some occasional RTTY.

I’ve amassed a nice collection of Heathkit SB series radios over the years, though my favorite rig is probably the Elecraft K2, which I built myself.

A self-taught hobbyist machinist, my primary obsession is building telegraph keys. I live in a restored 1888 church building, which houses my metal shop, a library, and of course, a small “radio room.” At any particular hour, on almost any day, you’ll probably find me at work in the shop on my “latest” strange or exotic idea for a telegraph instrument. I hope you’ll stop by!

A Few Milestones:

• Successful completion of my first solder kit, a Heath SB-303, a long time ago!
• Rag Chewer’s Club, and Old Timer’s Club.
• Eight-band DXCC and Challenge Plaque (1000 level). All done with 100 watts and a simple antennas.

Bucket list:

• Own a real antenna (a steerable beam) on a modest tower some day!
• Get that FISTS QLF certificate on a future trip to Xenia!

The picture shows me in my natural habitat. (For some reason, the camera seems to have deprived me of most of my hair, and aged me by a few extra years!)