President
Dan Larson – KD9M
Dan Larson is a graduate of Milwaukee School of Engineering and has been an Electrical Engineer for the last 23 years. He’s been a HAM operator since 2014 receiving his Extra class license in 2016.
Dan has been a member of MCWA since 2014 serving as Secretary in 2019, Vice President in 2020 and 2021, and President in 2022. Dan’s interests includes the following: Digital, SSB, DX, working to become comfortable on CW, creating new projects and writing embedded code to make things work easier.
MCWA Field Day coordinator 2021, 2022
Vice President
Wendell Smith – N9REP
Back in ’91, I helped move a friend and take down an 11-meter vertical. He said it was mine if I wanted.
Little did I know that simple act would lead to so much impact on my life!
Taking it home, I put it on my roof, hooked up my Radio Shack FM scanner and found people talking on frequencies above the CB band. A week later an anonymous letter appeared in my mailbox accusing me of getting into their TV and telling “Dumb Blonde Jokes”. They were going to call the police
and the FCC unless I immediately stopped transmitting! I called the police and made a report. The officer was understanding and asked me to contact them if any other issues arose.
I began to be interested in SWL’ing (Short Wave Listening) and went down to Erickson Communications in Chicago to buy a radio. I looked at some of the receivers and started talking to
a salesman. He then said an amateur radio transceiver would only be a bit more money, and would hold it’s resale value much better than a receive only radio.
Walking out with an Icom IC-735, I got it home, and realized that I could only use about half the buttons and knobs! I started reading more about radio, joined the ARRL and then MCWA. I finally went to the shortlived hamfest at the Holiday Inn in Crystal Lake and got my ticket!
I went to help the Salvation Army deal with the Quad City floods in ’93, driving a canteen with bad brakes up and down some of the hills (seemed like mountains). When I got back I gave a short report to MCWA. That same meeting I was asked to be President. (warning to all new hams).
Since then, I enjoy public service events, contesting and having fun with whatever station I can put on the air!
Treasurer
Bob Temes – KD9IDD
Bob first became licensed as a technician in March 2017 because of his involvement with search and rescue, emergency communications, weather spotting, and emergency management. Bob became a General in Feb 2022, and Extra Feb 2023. He is a member of the MCWA, the 415 Amateur Radio Club and the ARRL.
Bob had to take an early retirement as a locomotive engineer with the railroad system due to being diagnosed with interstitial lung disease / pulmonary fibrosis. He has since been declared 100% medically disabled as of April 2023. Bob is a USMC (Desert Storm) veteran. Bob lives in Marengo with his wife, Marie, and 2 German Shepards, Radar and Meesha. Bob and Marie are empty nesters. Bob is also the father / step father of 5 ladies. (“You can’t scare me, I have five daughters”). Until recently, Bob was a volunteer staff member and team lead for the search and rescue division for McHenry County Emergency Management. With Bob’s illness, Bob retired from EMA and search and rescue with 32 years of blood, sweat, and tears. Because of his involvement with EMA, he was also a field training officer and team lead for Illinois Search and Rescue Council.
In July 2023, Bob has become a VE and attended his first VE session on August 15, 2023. Bob enjoys working marathons, public service events, and emergency communications. Bob works mostly digital modes, due to the fact he gets winded easily and is on oxygen on most occasions. But you can also find Bob checking into HF/VHF/UHF nets or hunting POTA. Bob is not much of a rag chewer, however, he is interested in getting involved with chasing DX, contesting, satellite and digital modes. Bob spends most of his spare time learning and running FT8, FT4, PSK31, JS8Call, WSPR, RTTY, Winlink, VARA, Echolink, APRS, Wires-X, antenna building and a host of others that are ‘new’ to him. A lot of Bob’s ham radio knowledge comes from YouTube, as most of Bob’s ham radio experience has been solo without an Elmer, even though we are all Elmers.
“Ham Harder! So much ham radio, not enough time or money.”
Secretary
Andrew White – K9AJW
Andrew became licensed as a technician, a member of MCWA and the ARRL in September of 2022. A few months after that, he upgraded to his general class license and got his vanity call, K9AJW. He is currently employed as a Business Development Manager for an industrial valve and instrument company and enjoys spending time outside of radio with his wife and two dogs.
Andrew is new to the hobby, so he is still exploring all facets of amateur radio. In the past year, he has participated in several contests, a public service event and field day. He has a modest station setup at his home, and he enjoys spending time on 10m and 20m SSB. He recently started using FT8 and that has gotten him interested in chasing awards and DX contacts.
Director
Glenn Otto – K9OK
Glenn is fairly new to ham radio, just getting licensed in March of 2019. But having a lifetime interest in radio and electronics, he has jumped in with both feet. Going straight to Extra and getting the callsign K9OK.
He has been exploring several aspects of the hobby including Parks on the Air (POTA), satellite operations, DXing and digital modes such as FT8 and Winlink HF email. He enjoys portable operating and that meshes well with his other hobbies of camping and hiking.