Dr Alan B. Johnston got his start in electronics and radio as a teenager when he got his ham radio extra class license, call sign KU2Y. He built satellite antennas, and tracked satellites, and communicated using the AMSAT OSCAR-8 satellite.  Since 2018 he has served as AMSAT’s Vice President for Educational Relations.  He has developed the AMSAT CubeSat Simulator, a functional satellite model, which has been used in a number of high school and college classrooms to teach STEM, space, and radio concepts. He earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University.  He worked for over twenty-five years in the telecommunications and internet communications industry, contributing to IETF standards and becoming a recognized expert in Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), and Web Real-Time Communications (WebRTC). He is on the faculty of Villanova University Electrical and Computer Engineering Department as a Teaching Professor, where he is the faculty advisor of the Villanova University CubeSat Club and the Amateur Radio Club W3YP.  He has written five technical books and the technothriller novel "Counting from Zero", and holds over a dozen US patents.

Andy Mitchell, VA3CW, as an eleven year old Boy Scout, participated with his small troop in Boy Scout Jamboree on the Air, in 1974. This exposure changed the course of Andy’s life, profession, and interests. Getting on the air and working DX are the simple ham radio pastimes that contribute to his free time enjoyment.

A prolific operator, Anthony also maintains websites k8zt.com & ZTlearn.com, writes for CQ Magazine & On All Bands Blog from DX Engineering and developed an ARRL online Contesting course. A frequent speaker for club presentations. Avid QRP Contester and DXer. Serves as ARRL Ohio Section Youth Coordinator.

I am a communications enthusiast (hamradio) since I was a child. And my whole life has been experimenting in this hobby. Nowadays mostly on satellites and deep space communications. I am one of the founders of Mars On Earth Project where we are trying increase the awareness of children and young people about life in space and communications.

Bill Brown, WB8ELK, has been an amateur radio enthusiast since the exploration of the edge of space began with astronaut Jordan Kittinger in Project Highman. This exploration sparked Bill’s interest in adapting amateur radio to high altitude weather balloons, and later to smaller pico balloons. Over the years, Bill has launched more than 600 high altitude balloons, which he has tracked with amateur radio beacons that he designs and fabricates for his balloon launches. As a result of his extensive experience and knowledge, Bill has become an expert in high altitude ballooning and amateur radio. He continues to be an innovator in the field, pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved with amateur radio and ballooning. Bill’s enthusiasm for amateur radio and ballooning has inspired many to explore the same passions.

Bob Witte enjoys a wide variety of amateur radio activities, HF through UHF. Bob has taught many ham radio license classes and enjoys helping people get started in the hobby. As an electrical engineer and author, Bob has been published in QST, CQ, CQ VHF, QRP Quarterly, and on his own blog at k0nr.com. He is an author and instructor for Ham Radio School, which focuses on helping people get started in ham radio. He has a passion for VHF mountaintop radio and is active in the Summits On The Air (SOTA) program. His most recent book is _VHF, Summits and More_, a collection of tutorials and stories about VHF/UHF ham radio and mountaintop operation.

Brian Callahan is the Graduate Program Director of and Lecturer in the Information Technology & Web Science program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate NY. He is a frequent contributor to QEX magazine where he pursues his interest in designing interesting technical experiments for amateur radio operators of all skill levels.

Bruna Begali is the CEO of Officina Meccanica Begali, also known as "Begali Keys," a family-owned business that designs and manufactures high-quality Morse code keys. Bruna's father, Pietro Begali, founded the company, and she has been involved in the business since childhood. Bruna's interest in design led her to study art and industrial design for 15 years, which has helped her bring a unique perspective to the design of the Begali Keys. She has been a valuable collaborator with her father in designing new models, including the popular "Intrepid" and "Sculpture" keys. As the CEO of the company, Bruna takes great pride in providing exceptional customer service. She treats every customer like a family member and puts herself in their shoes to ensure that they are treated with the same care and respect that she would expect. Her approach has helped to build a loyal customer base and has earned her company a reputation for excellence. Despite her busy schedule, Bruna remains active in the Morse code community and is passionate about promoting the use of Morse code as a vital mode of communication. Her dedication to her customers and her commitment to quality and innovation have made her a respected figure in the industry, and she continues to inspire future generations of designers and enthusiasts alike.

Founder of the Murray Amateur Radio Club. I spend every weekend providing radio comms support for all the races/runs/parades here in Utah. I use a number of "go-kits" that I created myself and teach others how to create their own. I am an ARES AEC in charge of digital comms. I give presentations all across the US via Zoom and in-person.

**Radio Amateur Training Planning and Activities Committee (RATPAC) **comprises Amateur Radio Operators of a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. Together, we host nationwide Amateur Radio Zoom presentations twice-a-week, Wednesdays on general radio topics and Thursdays on amateur radio emergency communications. The presentation audience consists of thousands of amateur radio operators worldwide who participate directly in the Zoom sessions or with video links of the presentation and related documentation sent out after each session.

Dave Jensen, W7DGJ, was first licensed in 1966. Originally WN7VDY (and later WA7VDY), Dave operated on 40 and 80 meter CW with a shack that consisted primarily of Heathkit equipment. Dave loved radio so much he went off to college to study broadcasting and came out with a BS in Communications from Ohio University (Athens, OH). He worked his way through a number of audio electronics companies after graduation, including the professional microphone business for Audio-Technica. He was later licensed as W7DGJ out of Scottsdale, Arizona, where he ran an executive recruitment practice (CareerTrax Inc.) for several decades. Jensen has published articles in magazines dealing with science and engineering. His column “Tooling Up” ran for 20 years in the website of the leading science journal, SCIENCE, and his column called “Managing Your Career” continues to be a popular read each month for the Pharmaceutical and Household Products industries in two journals published by Rodman Publishing.

A Chemical Engineer by profession, I was first licensed as a Novice in 1973 after being encouraged by a co-worker Elmer. The Novice rig consisted of an old multi-tube Viking transmitter and an Allied (Radio Shack) shortwave receiver. After gaining Extra class, I worked up through a succession of Heathkit, Drake, and Kenwood HF gear. A DXer heart, for a few glorious years I lived on a hilltop with a tower, my beloved Drake TR-7 and an HyGain triband quad. Then came a move to the current HOA restricted subdivision and a move to stealth wire antennas. Nonetheless, persistence and flexibility have permitted me to achieve WAS, WAZ, DXCC (200+).

Dave was first licensed in 1983. His introduction to ham radio was on local 220 MHz repeaters where he met his Elmer Dave, K2EE (former WA2VKH). Dave would go over to K2EE’s shack and get on HF and was hooked since. Dave is an avid DX’er, a member of FRC contest club, and current President of the North Jersey DX Association. He is active on the HF bands. Dave is also very active with Node-Red for the Ham Radio group which leverages Node-Red to enhance remote station operation. [https://www.flexradio.com/videos/intro-to-nodered-for-the-new-user/](https://ct.klclick.com/f/a/vtUyOxJqYzzcjHbXMC2oBg~~/AASl5QA~/RgRlVoSkP4QWAWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZsZXhyYWRpby5jb20vdmlkZW9zL2ludHJvLXRvLW5vZGVyZWQtZm9yLXRoZS1uZXctdXNlci8_dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1JbnNpZGVyLU1DLVN1YnNjcmliZWQlMjBPY3QzMSUyQyUyMDIwMjImdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249RmxleCUyMEluc2lkZXIlMjAtJTIwTm92ZW1iZXIlMjAyMDIyJTIwJTI4MDFHSFlIUFI5MTZaMk5BSzFUN0JaVEFNQkglMjkmX2t4PVdzeEtCak1BMENwcXNlbE1oWTZRUXJwZEZBcWdtVUd0dUdJYWhVdXBwZmclM0QuV3pzeVVOVwNzcGNCCmNkpP9zYx5wv0JSEndvMnhAb3B0b25saW5lLmNvbVgEAAQoTg~~)

Amateur Radio Extra with an interest in HF DX, Satellite, and EME operations. Currently working away at DXCC and WAS awards on HF. As an amateur astronomer, I saw the opportunity to combine the two hobbies using telescope mounts to track satellites and the moon.

Ed Mohrman, WA7EM, holds an Extra Class license and has been a ham since 1964. His Novice call sign was WN9NDH, having passed the code and written exams in person, at the Chicago FCC office. Ed has engineering degrees from Valparaiso University and Arizona State University. Ed 1st station was vacuum tube era equipment. In the 1980s, Ed achieved his 1st SSB WAS and DXCC awards. After periods of inactivity while raising children and demanding jobs, Ed is again active having achieved additional Digital and CW WAS and DXCC awards. Ed operates both modern and vintage equipment, both fairly modest. Modern test equipment is much more affordable than in earlier years and so, Ed is able make progress in hands on learning about the classic circuits in vintage and new radios. Ed is a member of the Longmont Amateur Radio Club. Ed lives in Erie Colorado, has been married for 52 years and has two adult children. In addition to amateur radio, Ed enjoys road bicycling and construction. Ed can be reached at ejmohrman@yahoo.com

Eric was first licensed in California in 1973, an had been active on and off for 50 years. He is the creator of the QSO Today Podcast and the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo.

In my short 3 years as an amateur radio operator, I have discovered more hobbies within ham radio than I think I will ever be able to truly explore. I run net control once a month for my club's 2m simplex net. Getting my license during the recent solar minimum, I still managed to grab WAS on SSB, voice, 40m with 100 watts and a wire. I build my own antennas and can usually manage to solder components without permanently burning my fingertips. I love helping new hams on social media or in real life. Also a private pilot and 3d printing tinkerer.

I have been a ham since 1972. I have a wide variety of radio interests including home brewing, QRP, and repeater building. My current station is a Flex 6400, an Elecraft K3, and a modest 6 band vertical (6BTV) and several QRP rigs. My favorite mode is HF CW and can be found on DMR talk group 31075. I am the co-host of the Ham Radio Workbench Podcast. You can listen to over 100 episodes of our show on any podcast player or directly from our web site at [https://www.hamradioworkbench.com](https://www.hamradioworkbench.com/) I was honored to be interviewed by Eric 4Z1UG on his QSO Today podcast. You can here my story here 

First licensed as WN1JXR in 1967. Amateur Radio lead me to pursue a career in Electrical Engineering, earning BSEE and MSEE degrees from the Univ. of R.I. I have worked for Raytheon Co. on RADAR Systems for 42 years as a Senior Principal RF/uW Design Engineer. Retired end 2019. ARRL Western Mass. Section, Assistant Section Manager ARRL Western Mass. Section, Section Technical Coordinator / Specialist Long Island CW Club Leader for the “Doctor Is In” Forum and Co-Leader for the “Elmer 101” Forum and the “Antenna” Forum I’m not a Contester or chase DX, but just a “Rag Chew” QSO operator. I’m mostly a CW Operator, enjoy QRP Operation. One of the founding members of the NE QRP Club. I also enjoy refurbishing and operating the old “hollow state” boat anchor tube rigs from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Enjoy teaching ham radio license classes and giving talks and seminars on Antennas, Transmission Lines, and Antenna Modeling, Circuit Modeling and Vector Network Analyzer antenna measurements. Enjoy exposing new Ham operators to CW. The first digital mode! 73’s Greg WA1JXR dit dit

First licensed in 1969, am Kit Building editor at CQ Magazine and a contributing author for the ARRL Handbook.

Licensed 1967, Extra 1972 GROL, General Radio Telegraph licenses BS Physics, Oregon State Univ. 1960 Retired broadcast television engineer, NBC, Sony Ham Author, over 35 QST articles to date, 8 Cover Plaque Awards Radio club Zoom free lecturer, over 150 to date Other hobbies, steam railroading, pipe organs Married, KF6OEK, 3 children, 12 grandchildren

John Leonardelli VE3IPS/VE3IQ/K6WR has been a ham since 1975. His SWL and high school ham radio interest led him to pursue an electrical engineering career and degrees in Communications and Telecommunications technology. As a member of the Metro Amateur Radio Club, John obtained his basic and advanced license. John's primary interests in ham radio include: Building ham-related gadgets and antennas (he has a well-equipped electronics lab at home), restoring boat anchor radios, QRP, contesting, portable and mobile HF operation with a focus on Parks on the Air and Summits on the Air. John is also active from 51 to 1296 Mhz with a portable rover set up used in the various VHF contests typically from high points in the province. John manages the Ontario SOTA section, Toronto Baofeng Users Group as well as the Toronto QRP Society and is active in teaching radio classes as well as being a volunteer examiner. John is involved with the York Region Amateur radio Club in various management/board roles and is passionate about increasing member’s participation in activities. The past few years has been growing the hobby at the Youth level with Boy Scouts and Venturer Scouts getting licensed and participating in JOTA.

_Jon is a product manager at Viking Cloud with a true passion for information security. Jon is an amateur radio operator, lockpicker, phreaker, repairer of all things, and maker._

Kay got his Novice ticket in 1989, Extra in 2022. Kay's dad, Steve Savetz, earned his ham ticket in 1955. After he passed, Kay adopted his call, K6KJN.  Kay is curator of the Internet Archive's [Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications](https://archive.org/details/dlarc). DLARC is quickly growing to become an important archive of radio’s past and present, including ham radio, shortwave listening, scanners, and related communications. It includes thousands of amateur radio books, journals and magazines, ham club newsletters, software, and other collections. Kay is also co-host of [Antic: The Atari 8-Bit Podcast](https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/), where they have published more than 400 oral history interviews with people involved with the early home computer industry; and [Eaten By A Grue](https://monsterfeet.com/grue/), a podcast about interactive fiction.

Amateur Extra, first licensed in 1967 @ 15 years old. First balloon launch 2006. Created web site and started Near Space Ventures. AEC Platte County, ARES Author or Net Control Manager https://net-control.us

Lauren Speeth, PhD, (KK6NGE) holds a General HAM radio license and maintains memberships in Long Island CW Club, Millbrae Amateur Radio Club, and San Mateo Radio Club. As President of Elfenworks Productions, LLC, she focuses on educational media development. She holds a lifetime Community College Teaching Credential from the State of California and an Advanced Computer Security Professional Credential from Stanford University. Although she had never taught Morse Code prior to this endeavor, she had experience teaching statistics, mathematics, computer science, and nonprofit leadership, and has lectured to students around the world. Dr. Speeth is a Regent Emeritus of Saint Mary's College, a former Trustee of Mills College, a Lifetime Member of the Board of Councilors of The Carter Center, and an External Advisor for the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, where she was an architect/programmer and co-orchestrated the Center launch with a Concert for Hope. An active musician, Speeth subs on electric bass in a contemporary worship service and is a proud member emeritus of The Peninsula Symphony's First Violin section.

I'm a web developer and a ham radio hobbyist. Since I got my license I have been mostly on UHF/VHF frequencies and I am more interested in computer and digital modes - Winlink/Digital radios rather than HF.

Mark Persons W0MH has spent a lifetime in electronics as a radio broadcast engineer, building twelve new commercial stations as well as rebuilding countless others.

I an Extra class ham radio operator and have been licensed for 60 years. I recently took over the CQ DX Marathon Program, the fastest growing DX program in the world having increased participation of +32% in 2022 over 2021. I am retired today after spending the majority of my career in the power generation industry. The last 20 years of my career I served as an EVP within a major power generation supplier company. I have a degree in Electrical Engineering with an MBA.

Mark Smith, aka Smitty, has been a ham since high school, getting his Technician license in 1992. He's given presentations at DEF CON, BayCon, QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo, and several ham clubs. He likes building radios more than using them. He recently (January 2022) started Halibut Electronics, a company building Amateur Radio and Audiophile electronics products and kits.

Mark is the lead for the Project Horus high-altitude ballooning group, a sub-group of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group, located in Adelaide, South Australia. Project Horus has been launching high-altitude balloons since 2010, with approximately 60 launches so far. Mark is also one of the team that runs the SondeHub-Amateur HAB tracking website, in use by many ballooning groups around the world.

Martin (Marty) Buehring, KB4MG, was first licensed in 1966 as WN9WEX as a novice, then as WA9WEX as a Technician. Marty had a Heathkit 50 Watt CW rig and a Hallicrafters SW receiver. Ham radio became a springboard to Marty attending college at the University of Illinois and Southern Illinois University to obtain his BSEE (Electrical Engineering) degree, but he had no real time ham radio back then. After graduation he worked for Motorola as a computer designer, then for many years for Signetics/Philips Semiconductor in applications engineering. This led to a career in electronic design automation (EDA) initially with a start-up called Silicon Compilers. This technology was later purchased by Mentor Graphics, which was a leader in the EDA marketplace. Marty worked as a technical expert in various areas of EDA. Before retiring in 2022, Mentor was acquired by Siemens, and Marty was a Field Director for the Silicon Lifecycle Solutions, which focused on the testing of the most complex and advanced microchips ever made. He retested for his license in 2013 and 2014 to get an Amateur Extra class license and call sign KB4MG. He now acts as the President of the Cherokee Amateur Radio Society in Woodstock, Georgia, and was recently published in QST magazine about growing a club.

Mike was licensed in 1974 and has always loved technology.  His first ‘real’ job with IBM working on an actual Tube computer that had 64,000 tubes in NORAD that was 600ft underground at the height of the cold war. Mike started HF contesting in the early ’90s and loved it.  However, that didn’t stop him from also learning more about RF, especially FM and repeaters. He has always loved ham radio and all the parts of Ham radio.  HF, FM, Satellite, and lately how to build a better remote HF station.  Over the past 15 years, he has worked continuously to improve his HF remote station.   Mike saw the writing on the wall, aka, the next great thing, when the world moved to Software Defined Radio and how that would shape the future. Over the past 5+ years, he has been involved with FlexRadio Systems in a variety of roles including inside sales, customer education, and marketing, and loving it and all the amazing people at the company.

I enjoy thinking and doing. Not necessarily in that order!

Mike Padron, N1CC is a commercial pilot residing in Scottsdale, AZ. He is a 39 year veteran with FedEx, where he served as Managing Director of Flight and Technical Training.  Mike has been a licensed amateur radio operator since 1974. His amateur radio interests include CW and chasing DX. He is a life member of the ARRL and the Long Island CW Club, where he volunteers his time primarily in curriculum design and development. He is a member of the team that developed the LICW Beginners Carousel Curriculum, which incorporates the Elfenworks CW Chat Words at the point QSO words begin to form. Musical rhythm is introduced to facilitate the perception of those words as rhythmic sounds and positively influence learning code.

Growing up in Kenya, listening to BBC on the shortwave radio in the evenings and spending free time mountaineering and rock climbing has evolved in my later years to become an active participant in SOTA. My professional life has required international travel and I have found that travelling with an HF radio and participating in SOTA when travelling adds an amazing amount of enjoyment while visiting other countries.  Currently living in Alberta, Canada near the Canadian Rockies provides unlimited opportunities to participate in SOTA. In addition, frequent trips to the U.S., Japan and the Middle East for business have added another dimension to the enjoyment that I get from SOTA. 

Peter (VE6FPV) is a 4th year electrical engineering student studying at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. He is passionate with robotics and electronic design, and has recently become involved with Summits On The Air (SOTA). In his spare time, he assists Calgary To Space, a student-based university club that is planning to build and launch a CubeSat by 2024. He also enjoys hiking, mountaineering, ice climbing, and backcountry skiing.

Licensed since 1990 my main interest is CW and Begali Keys. I am a Begali Partner and make acrylic covers for their keys.

Randy WA0D is Extra Class amateur radio operator and enjoys working all modes, but focuses on Space communications. Randy has over 2000 contacts starting back in 1982. Today Randy is executive director for ARISS engineering team which consists of ~30 team members world wide. Randy is currently Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Federal CTO, and has co-authored two books on enterprise storage and networking technologies.

Rex, W1REX, has had a 60+ years love affair with electrons. He has over 50 years of computer programming, computer applications, field service and sales in the computer field. Rex opened one of the first APPLE computer stores in the country and spent over 15 years selling computers and developing custom applications including both hardware and software. Selling his store, he then moved on to full-time development of new microprocessor-based products. New-product development has been his main focus for the last 25 years. He re-encountered amateur radio in 1995 when he attended a local club meeting and successfully tested for a no-code tech license that same night. Rex is now an Extra and holds the call W1REX. For the last 25 years his interests involve building things (ANYTHING), creating fun things, hosting Buildathons, hawking kits, Lobstercon and developing wacky ideas that make HIM and his fellow electron lovers happy.

Co-Speaker - Bob Rose, KC1DSQ. Hams for collectively for more than 70 years. Written several articles on antennas in QST and CQ magazines. Presently writing a book on Wire Antennas from 160M to 70cm.

Bob Rose, KC1DSQ, got his BSEE in 1969 at University of Maryland. He worked at Raytheon on signal processing for fire control radars and large phased array radars. He then went to Digital Equipment Corp where he worked on graphics and multimedia chips and software and Alpha CPUs. Then, he went to Intel where he worked on several generations of XEON cpu chips, primarily doing power management. He got his technician license upon his retirement in 2015 and upgraded to general and extra class in one VE session in 2017. He wanted to stay involved in technology in retirement, so he began learning about designing antennas. He participates in the local ARES net and operates primarily on SSB and FT8 on

Rod is passionate about various aspects of the Amateur Radio hobby, including Digital, QRP, DSTAR and Raspberry Pi experimentation. Annual Dayton Pilgrim. He stands in the rain for deserving ARES events. He is a terrible contester. He promises he will _someday_ learn The Code. Professionally, Rod is a Product Manager leading a team of software developers in an Agile framework. He builds cool, useful products. He once designed / built Windows based PCs, clustered servers and networking products for HP in Cupertino. He now uses Macs exclusively.

A broadcast / video engineer by trade, Roland earned his HAM ticket in 1990 and discovered amateur television in 1993 when he learned that one of the ATV repeaters in the Los Angeles area was transmitting the NASA Select feed. After setting up his ATV receiving station, he was baffled as instead of seeing the space shuttle on the TV screen, he saw a man rocking in a chair with the callsign KA6DPS. That began a long relationship Dave - KA6DPS and with the many ham television operators within the southwestern United States that would be our amateur television "family". Today, Roland is the Digital Systems Director and Net Controller for the Amateur Television Network's "The Weekly Net" bringing many ATV'ers throughout the United States and the world to check-in on Wednesday mornings at 0330 UTC (Tuesdays at 7:30pm Pacific Standard Time). Roland enjoys sharing his broadcasting talents and ATV experience to our HAMS of our past, in the present, and to our future as our technology continues to change and improve.

I'm Sajjad, a young electronics engineer, born and raised in Iran and licensed as EP6DSP since 2020. I was very curious about radio waves and communication devices as a kid and that passion led me to become a ham radio operator. I like to get youngsters on the air by providing simple and educational kits and my favorite part of the hobby is home brewing.

Teacher, maker, tinkerer

**Tommy Henderson, WD5AGO, has operated on the microwave bands since 1985. As an instructor and coordinator of the Electronics Technology program at Tulsa Community College and an LNA designer with "AGO products", he uses amateur to help electronics students find other interest with in the hobby.**

I've been an amateur radio operator since 1997. I'm a big fan of low-power amateur radio (QRP) and performing park and summit portable activations any opportunity I have. I'm also a passionate shortwave radio listener and radio archivist. I am also licensed in the UK (M0CYI) and Canada (VY2SW).

Todd McKinney is a Master's/ PhD student studying atmospheric science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He currently holds a bachelor's degree in earth systems science. Todd’s primary focus is using balloon based platforms  to answer science questions involving air quality, atmospheric transport, and severe weather dynamics. Todd has been involved in hundreds of balloon launches, including national weather service balloons, amateur latex payloads, pico balloons, ozonesondes, venting balloons, and cut down payloads. Just recently, he traveled to German Antarctic station Neumayer III to launch pico balloons and has recently published research in the Bulletin of American Meteorological Society on how pico balloons can be used for scientific research. Todd has forged strong connections with key stakeholders such as NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the national weather service, making him a valuable asset to the balloon community.

After growing up on a farm in upstate South Carolina, Troy earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Clemson, and then moved to Atlanta in the early 90’s. Spending 30 years in Consulting, Start-ups, and Fortune 500 companies from a work perspective, a love of sailing led Troy to an interest in long distance “off grid” communications. Troy acquired his Tech and General in 2018, and his Extra in early 2019. Troy is trying to explore many of the aspects of Amateur Radio including DX, Contesting, Emergency Management, field operating, and most importantly, building stuff. He has a LOT of questions, and is always trying to learn new things from the great variety of Elmers in the hobby, both local and on line. Troy married way above his pay grade, and he and his wife Ashley have two boys, and live in Kennesaw, Georgia, outside of Atlanta.  Troy is a member of the Silver Comet Amateur Radio Society in Dallas, GA, the ARRL, and QRP ARCI. Despite his better judgement, Troy joins us on the Ham Radio Workbench to send questions our way at this QSO Today Ham Expo.

My name is Vance Martin, Amateur Extra callsign N3VEM. I am a forty something happily partnered father, who happens to love ham radio! I became aware of the hobby/service as a teenager, when I stumbled on some of my dad’s old radio books, and later when I heard hams on the air using an MFJ World Band Shortwave Receiver that I was given as a kit. I didn’t actually become a ham however, until April of 2014. I’m a self proclaimed geek, so ham radio and all the electronic fun it implies is right up my alley!

Volunteer Examiner Canada/USA. Electronics Hobbyist. Ham Radio Workbench Podcast layabout. [www.ve6lk.com](www.ve6lk.com)

Dr. William E. Keicher, KC1HTT, is a retired research electrical engineer. He worked at MIT Lincoln Laboratory from 1975 to 2012 and CBS Laboratories from 1973 to 1975. He served as an officer in the US Army Signal Corps from 1969 to 1977. His research specialties include laser and millimeter wave communications, laser, microwave and millimeter wave radar systems, and infrared and visible imaging systems. He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s Electrical Engineering Department BSEE (1969), MSEE (1970), Ph.D. EE (1974). Dr. Keicher’s amateur radio interests include HF DX chasing, VHF/UHF satellite communications, and VHF Earth-Moon-Earth communications.

Hisen, KD2TAI, officially known as Zhemin Zhang, is the president of W2SZ Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Amateur Radio Club. He is pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science dual Computer and Systems Engineering, focusing on digital communication, artificial intelligence, and wireless/IoT security.