I have been licensed as a Tech since 1973. I upgraded to a General when we retired and moved to Florida in 2013 where I then dove into HF with the purchase of a Yaesu FTdx1200 and a Buckmaster 7 band dipole antenna. I soon followed it with a GAP TITAN DX Vertical antenna. I am using a UHF Station Master for 70cm and a VHF Fiberglass vertical for 2m. My grounding system is made up of a network of ground rods around the antennas and all feeding back to this pictured nema box. The box houses 6-Alpha-Delta Arresters. Next I added an Ameritron AL-811H Amplifier and a Palstar AT2K Tuner. For 2m and 70cm I am using commercial equipment, Motorola and Kenwood mobile radios that have been programmed to our local repeaters. I am Running an Icom ID-5100 for dStar for our local repeaters and my internal Hotspot when the repeater is unreachable. My pictures of course don't do it any justice. My new addition is a 30' tower and a Hex Beam located beside my home right outside my shack. My shack is a section of my u shaped computer desk. In April 2016 I upgraded to an Amateur Extra.
Now for the explanation of the QSL card picture. I am retired and was also a fire fighter (Captain) with a total of 47 years from New York and New Jersey. I own that Engine you see parked in front of my home. We bought it from our town when it was retired from service in 2008. We go to parades and compete with other groups of owners of fire apparatus for trophies and recognition of being the best in it's class. Competiton is based on restoration of equipment back to the years of it's vintage, quality of the equipment and the aparatus itself and it's workmanship. Here I am being awarded one of many 1st place trophies in Competition. I have almost always won 1st or 2nd place when I entered a Parade or Competing. My leaving NJ has made a lot competors very happy. Next is a picture when the engine was in service and I was the pump operator/driver. The final picture is of my engine silhouetted against the Hudson River on the New Jersey side overlooking the nearly completed New World Trade Center in Manhattan NYC lighted in red white and blue to the left, and the Twin Towers Memorial Lights to the right on September 11th, 2011 the 10th Anniversary of 911.
