About ARS NB9M

My name is Brad, and I am an amateur radio operator, shortwave listener and broadcast radio enthusiast.  I've always loved electronics, and was fascinated with shows like Super Car, Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and many other 1960s television shows featuring lights, knobs, switches, meters and other cool things.  The first spanking I remember, around 1959, resulted from my having drawn knobs and switches on the living room drywall with a crayon.

Dad brought home from a local auction an old, original Hallicrafters S-38 around 1972.  The old postwar receiver had a bad 60-cycle hum, but I clamped on the headphones and listened to HCJB (Quito, Equador) and RSA (Radio South Africa) every night.  Both these stations have long disappeared from the air, but I still remember the lights of the tubes reflecting on the ceiling at night through the perforated case in a glorious constellation - long after I was supposed to be asleep.

A few months later, I transmitted for the first time on a Utica Town & Country Citizen's Band transceiver at a friends.  Later, I mowed lawns all summer to get my first CB: a Metrotek Colt 23 transciever, and a Goldenrod vertical antenna.  This was long before Citizen's Band became the depraved hellhole we now have.  I wanted to be a ham, but I lived in a rural area, and couldn't find an "Elmer" (a typically older teacher) to enter the amateur radio hobby.  Jobs, marriage and kids were in the cards first.  In 1983, I finally got my first call as a Novice: KA9OWA.  A few months later I was a General, and was issued the Extra call, NB9M in 1984.

My background is in consumer electronics, avionics and software development with several disciplines, including pharmaceutical, defense, retail, manufacturing and even death care.  I am currently a senior software engineer for major contract firm. Other hobbies include writing, blogging, playing several musical instruments and raising chickens.  I also, of course, love to code: every line of it within this site is mine.

If you are interested in radio, there are lots of resources for you now that were not available when I was a kid.  If there is anything I can help you with in the radio hobby, you'll always find my email address at the top-left of this site.

In the meantime, I'll leave the Metrotek on - in case White Cloud breaks the squelch from the great beyond...

73,
Brad, NB9M

Below: My QSL card features the moon-based laboratory used by nefarious evildoers against Commando Cody in the classic Republic serial:  Radar Men From the Moon from 1952.  Cody, the "Sky Marshal of the Universe" was a square-jawed, two-fisted hero with a flying suit who - unlike most fictional heroes today - was not confused about his sexuality or constrained by moral ambiguity.  

The Radio Amateur's Code

The Radio Amateur is

CONSIDERATE...He/[She] never knowingly operates in such a way as to lessen the pleasure of others.

LOYAL...He/[She] offers loyalty, encouragement and support to other amateurs, local clubs, the IARU Radio Society in his/[her] country, through which Amateur Radio in his/[her] country is represented nationally and internationally.

PROGRESSIVE...He/[She] keeps his/[her] station up to date.  It is well-built and efficient.  His/[Her] operating practice is above reproach.

FRIENDLY...He/[She] operates slowly and patiently when requested; offers friendly advice and counsel to beginners; kind assistance, cooperation and consideration for the interests of others. These are the marks of the amateur spirit.

BALANCED...Radio is a hobby, never interfering with duties owed to family, job, school or community.

PATRIOTIC...His/[Her] station and skills are always ready for service to country and community.

- adapted from the original Amateur's Code, written by Paul M. Segal, W9EEA, in 1928

reference :   http://www.arrl.org/amateur-code

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