CTU 2013 PROFESSORS' BIOS

CTU 2013 Professor Bios

Dave McCarty, K5GN

First licensed as WN2GAV at age 14 in 1972, Dave has been an active contester for about 40 years.  It started with handling traffic on CW in the NTS, then FD and CD parties.  He moved from NNJ to STX while still in high school, and has remained in Texas except for summers in Kansas during his college years and a recent overseas assignment in the Middle East.  He is a long time member of the Texas DX Society. With W5KU he has built a competitive single-op station for serious guest operator efforts.  He has been a top-ten competitor in domestic and international contests, both at home and abroad, including winning in the NA Sprint and setting a number of records.  He has also participated in world-class multi-multi, multi-two, and multi-single teams most recently at K3LR and A73A.  This is his first time as a CTU Professor. 

Frank Donovan, W3LPL

Frank’s contesting career began in 1959 as a 12 year old at the Providence Radio Assn, W1OP/1, ARRL Field Day two miles from his home in Providence, RI. Soon afterwards, he began to build a small contest station on 1/10 acre in a densely populated urban neighborhood.  17 year old K1LPL finished first place USA in the 1964 ARRL CW DX Contest low power category. Immediately after college, U.S. Air Force 2nd Lieutenant Frank Donovan's first military assignment was working with PVRC member W3GN and his multi-multi mentor, W4BVV. W3LPL finished first place USA single operator in four CQ WW CW and four ARRL CW DX contests from 1973-78.  His first multi-multi experience was with the 1974 PJ9JT CQ WW CW team.  W3LPL multi-multi teams started with a small entry in the 1978 CQ WW Phone DX contest.  During the 1982 ARRL Phone DX Contest, two incredible long nights of 10 meter JA runs unexpectedly produced our first USA multi-multi win.  Our multi-multi teams have completed nearly one million QSOs and achieved 45 first place USA finishes (so far) out of 137 consecutive entries (without a single missed entry) in the CQ WW and ARRL DX Contests. Frank is a member of the prestigious CQ Contest Hall of Fame.

Ed Muns, W0YK

Ed entered CW and SSB DX contests initially in the early 1970s as a way to work new band/mode-countries for DXCC.  His interest evolved from DXing to contesting as his early learning came from multi-multi experience at K0RF.  Today, CW and RTTY contesting dominate Ed's operating time.  His local contest club, the Northern California Contest Club (NCCC), mounted an effort for the club competition gavel first offered in the 2004 ARRL RTTY Round-Up where Ed reluctantly (kicking and screaming) learned how to setup RTTY and ultimately won the Pacific Division SOHP plaque.  He ironically enjoyed that induction into RTTY so much that he now includes all the major RTTY contests in his contesting schedule.  With his P49X call sign, Ed holds the world SOHP record in ARRL RTTY Round-Up, having broken the record three times, and the world SOHP record in CQ WPX RTTY, having broken that record five times and the world SOHP record in CQ WW RTTY.  Ed is the contest manager for the NCJ NA RTTY Sprint and the contest director for the two CQ RTTY contests, CQ WW RTTY and CQ WPX RTTY.  This is his fifth year at CTU delivering the two RTTY presentations.

Randy Thompson, K5ZD

Randy has been licensed and active in contesting since 1973 at age 13. He is an accomplished contester, having multiple single-operator wins in the ARRL Sweepstakes, CQ World Wide DX Contest, and the CQ WPX Contest, among others. He has also competed in four World Radiosport Team Championships. In addition, Randy is a past editor of the "National Contest Journal" (a post he has held three separate times) and a co-founder of the eHam.net website. Randy was the Director of the CQ WPX Contest from 2008 until 2012, and is currently the Director of the CQ World Wide DX Contest. He is a member of the CQ Magazine Contest Hall of Fame. When not in front of a radio, Randy is in technical sales for an Internet software company.

Doug Grant, K1DG

Doug has been licensed since 1967. Over the years, he has managed to collect plaques for first-place scores in single-op, single-op-assisted, multi-single, multi-2 and multi-multi categories from his own station and numerous host stations. In addition, he was a competitor in 5 WRTC events, winning one gold and two bronze medals. He is past president of the Yankee Clipper Contest Club, past member and Chairman of the ARRL Contest Advisory Committee, member of the CQWW Contest Committee and has chaired the Dayton Hamvention Contest Forum for over 10 years. He is a Director of Contest University and the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation, and Chairman of the WRTC2014 Organizing Committee.

Joel Harrison, W5ZN

Joel was first licensed as WN5IGF in 1972. His first contest was the old ARRL CD Party in 1973. His interests later turned to VHF contesting, finally breaking into the top 10 in the ARRL June VHF contest in 1993. In June 1996 he won first place in the single op category, setting a new world record under the callsign WB5IGF. In 1998 he returned to the June contest as W5ZN, once again winning first place single op, breaking his record set in 1996. In 2001 he won first place, single op in the ARRL UHF Contest, setting a new Delta Division record and placed 2nd in the Rover category for that contest in 2000. In June 2009 Team W5ZN entered the Limited Multi-op category with a 6th place finish. W5ZN also has HF contest interests as a regular in the ARRL 160 Meter Contest and ARRL International DX Contest – CW. In 2006 in the ARRL DX Contest he set a new 80 meter record for the W5 call area that held until 2009. In 2010 his claimed score reclaims that record. Joel was President of the American Radio Relay League from 2006 until 2010. More about Joel can be found at w5zn.org 

Rob Sherwood, NC0B

Rob was licensed 1961 as novice and general at age 14.  Moved to Colorado 1969 after college, and worked for KOA radio as a tech and transmitter / maintenance engineer from 1969 - 1987.  Started Sherwood Engineering 1974 offering Drake R-4C mods, and then started testing receivers and publishing the results in 1976.  In a way, invented the concept of a CW roofing filter for a multi-conversion radio in 1976 to fix the R-4C.  He has published several articles in "ham radio magazine", and have had the pleasure of speaking at Ham Conventions at Dayton, New Orleans, YCCC, W0DXCC, W9DXCC, and will speak at two Texas conventions in 2010.  Started building my dream ham station on 10 acres in rural Colorado in 2007, presently with 5 towers and 7 mono-band Yagi’s.  

Tim Duffy, K3LR

Tim has been an active contest operator for over 40 years.  He has hosted 120 different operators as part of the K3LR Multi Multi DX contest efforts since 1992. Tim served on the ARRL Contest Advisory Committee as a member and multi year Chairman. K3LR has been an active member of the CQ Contest Committee for over 20 years.  Tim was the Atlantic Division Technical Achievement award winner in 1998. He was moderator of the Dayton Contest Forum for 10 years and has been moderator of the Hamvention Antenna forum for 30 years. He is a founding member and past multi year President of the North Coast Contesters. K3LR serves as chairman of Contest University (7 years) and the Dayton Contest Dinner (21 years), chairman of the Top Band Dinner  – as well as coordinator of the Contest Super Suite (28 years) in Dayton. He is founder and moderator of the popular RFI Reflector (RFI@contesting.com).  He has been a guest on Ham Nation four times. Tim was a member of team USA at WRTC - four times. Tim serves on the board of directors of the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (WWROF) as Vice Chairman and the Radio Club of America (RCA) as Vice President and a member of the RCA executive committee.  Tim is President of the Mercer County Amateur Radio Club (W3LIF) and a Director of the Edmond Amateur Radio Society (K5EOK). Tim was elected to the CQ Contesting Hall of Fame in 2006. He was honored with the prestigious Barry Goldwater Amateur Radio service award by the RCA in 2010. 

Jim Brown, K9YC

First licensed in WV in 1955 as WN8FNI, then W8FNI, Jim received his Amateur Extra and First Class Radiotelephone Licenses in 1959. He received his BSEE in 1964 from the University of Cincinnati, with co-op work at WSAZ, WCAW, WLW, Pete Johnson's consulting engineering office, and RL Drake (where he tuned up some of the first TR3s). After college, Jim settled in Chicago, received W9NEC in 1964, K9YC in 2003. He worked briefly for Motorola, taught for five years at DeVry, and spent the remainder of his working life in pro audio. He is a Fellow of the Audio Engineering Society, principal author of all AES Standards on EMC, chair of the AES Technical Committee on EMC, and a contributor to the ARRL Handbook. Active only intermittently from 1960-2003, he has contested from city lots in WV and Chicago since 1957. Jim moved to the Santa Cruz Mountains in 2006, where he has been building the ham station beyond his wildest dreams, and is currently serving his third term on the NCCC board of directors.   

Bob Cox, K3EST

Bob was the Director of the CQ World Wide DX contest for over 34 years. He retired from the CQ WW DX contest directorship in 2012.  He is an accomplished operator having won many single operator awards. He has been a member of numerous multi-operator teams including W3AU, K2GL, K3LR, KC1XX, W3LPL, PJ4B, N6RO, and many others. He is a member of the CQ Contest Hall of Fame. Dr. Cox, a neurophysiologist, is retired from a position in the medical industry.

John Miller, K6MM

John was first licensed as WV2BQJ in 1958 in Syracuse, NY.  He is an active contester, collecting both individual and team awards in several categories over the last 40 years.  He enjoys operating all 3 contest modes:  CW, SSB, and RTTY.  In 1976, John’s career took him to Silicon Valley, where he has focused heavily on Contesting, DXing, and recruiting new operators into the hobby.  John is Past-President of the Northern California Contest Club, a founding member of the CW Operators’ Club, a Director of the Northern California DX Club and Director of the Northern California DX Foundation.  John also served as co-chair for the 2011 & 2013 International DX Convention in Visalia.  He is on the editorial staff of the National Contest Journal responsible for the NCJ Profiles Column.  John was a member of the 2010 PJ7E DXpedition to Sint Maarten, relay pilot for the 2012 NH8S Swains Island DXpedition and will be an operator on the K9W Wake Atoll DXpedition in October 2013.  His article entitled “The No Excuses 160M Vertical " won the cover plaque award for the June 2009 issue of QST.  John recently retired.  In addition to his four grandchildren, John's interests include website design, piano music composition, and exploring the back roads of the Bay Area on his Harley Davidson motorcycle

Bob Wilson, N6TV

N6TV aka "TV Bob" is an active CW contester and Win-Test supporter.  Licensed almost 40 years, Bob competed at the World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) in San Francisco (1996), Slovenia (2000), and Moscow (2010).  He earned numerous Top Ten finishes in the CW NA Sprints from his home station in Silicon Valley, a small suburban lot with a single tower loaded with monobanders.  Bob was an early adopter of the Perseus SDR and CW Skimmer, and has recently been analyzing signal reports using data from the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN).  He voluntarily supports Win-Test users via the Win-Test Reflector, and also helps update the documentation.  He participated with K2KW's original "Team Vertical" group (6Y4A, 4M7X), and has been a member of the multi-op teams at HC8N, K3LR, and W7RN.    

Dick Jaeger, K4IQJ

Dick was first licensed as KN4IQJ in mid 1959 and upgraded a few months later.  He is primarily a CW operator who enjoys DX and contest operation (NAQP, Sprint, Stew Perry, ARRL 160M and CQWW 160M) and is a member of the Alabama Contest Group.  He is on top of the SSB/Mixed Honor Rolls, needs only P5 on CW, and has competed 5BWAZ.  He has confirmed 254 countries and 38 zones on 160M.  Over the years he has operated from PJ4, KH6, ZL, TA, KL7, BV, VS6 and UA3.  In his other life, Dr. J. is Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Auburn University. He is an IEEE Fellow, Past President of the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society, former Editor of the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Founding Editor of IEEE Micro Magazine and received the 2004 IEEE Undergraduate Teaching Award.