Okay, If you really want to know...

I started my first hobby of "all things electronic" as a kid in the fall of 1965 when I spent a weekend with my uncle who ran a TV repair shop from his converted garage. I followed him around as if my foot were caught in his sock for three days. I've been building and fixing things ever since.

In high school I helped build, the school FM radio station, with other students. (They let me hold the ladder.) At the same time, I was busy building my first computer, and studying for the FCC exam for my First Class Radiotelephone license.

My first electronics related job was repairing car stereo equipment (I put a really amazing stereo in my car back then!). At about the same time, I began designing and building my own satellite receiver because I wanted one for myself. At that time, they were not sold to the public, but the FCC had just deregulated them, making it legal for anyone to own one. The problem was that there was no equipment available to the general public, hence, the need to build my own. (Remember those huge 12 foot dishes? You know what I'm talking about!) This quickly turned into my first garage business, building and selling complete satellite receiver systems literally from scratch. Shortly after, I went to work with a better funded start-up communications business installing and repairing two-way radio, Ham radio equipment, satellite, and IMTS car telephones (this was before cellular). One of our best sellers was a portable two-way radio adapted for operator assisted telephone service on the RCC bands. We used a "2805" tone decoder board designed by Chuck Soulliard,  to make it work. (Chuck started Midian Electronics to sell the things, and has done quite well since.) I did all the technical work, installs, repairs, etc. and I was the only kid on my block with a car telephone until about 1985.

In the late eighties, I started another two-way radio business. I had contracts with US Customs, Border Patrol, Forest Service, a half dozen police and fire departments, and a good contract with a local mine. I also designed and built some test equipment for measuring something known as return loss. It was a nice little package that performed cable and antenna tests like a network analyzer, but at a much lower price. Hewlett-Packard was one of our largest customers. They packaged and resold them with some other equipment they sold at the time. I ran the company for ten years and then sold out to a competitor for some magic beans, took my wife and went to Hawaii. 

After selling my business, I went to work for a provider of wireless services using NPCS technology (paging). After working for them for about three weeks, I fell in love with the job: getting paid to four wheel drive up big mountains in a company Jeep and do what I would almost be willing to do just for the fun of it all. Unfortunately (for me), technology marches on, the paging industry has become passé, and I have had to move on.

I have recently accepted a position as a communications technician with Union Pacific Railroad. They don't let me touch the trains, and no, I don't have to swing a hammer or hold a spike! It's a mountain tops and microwaves job; company four wheeler, cool tools & toys, etc. 

Besides collecting old computers, some of my other hobbies and interests include: