Tooting My Own Horn

May 9, 2011 By 2 Comments

Henry Huang, a Ford Motor Co. engineer, is Test&Measurement World's Test Engineer of the Year.

One of the things that I do for a living is write articles about electronics technology, mostly electronics test and measurement. I used to actually be employed by Test&Measurement World, an electronics trade magazine covering that industry.

Recently, I got a chance to write a slightly different kind of piece for them—a personal profile of Henry Huang, TMW’s 2011 Test Engineer of the Year. That’s Henry at right.

He’s not only a great test engineer, but a great guy, too. To make a long story short, he’s not only managed to have a successful professional career, he’s the father of two children and a community volunteer.

At the risk of tooting my own horn (pun intended), I think my story about him turned out pretty well. It was certainly a lot of fun to write.

Filed Under: Everything Else, Who is KB6NU?

DX Made the Ear Grow fonder

April 3, 2011 By 1 Comment

Radio World is a magazine for radio managers and engineers, but occasionally they have articles of interest to radio amateurs as well. The latest article to catch my eye was “Distance Made the Ear Grow Fonder.” This is a collection of replies to an earlier article, “AM Radio: My First Real Love.”

Both are reminiscences of AM radio in the old days. Just as the author logged all of the clear channel stations west of the Mississippi, I logged them east of the Mississippi. My favorites were WBZ in Boston and WCAU in Philadelphia. Both of those stations had talk radio shows before Detroit did, and I enjoyed listening to it. Radio was my window to the world.

Nowadays, more stations play syndicated content and there’s less local content, even on the clear channel stations. That’s our loss truly.

Filed Under: SWLing, Who is KB6NU?

Who the Heck is KB6NU?

August 24, 2005 By

I got an e-mail from a guy who noted that he couldn’t find my name anywhere on this website. I looked and he’s right. So, here’s a little bit about me. I’m going to figure out a way for a link to this post to appear on one of the nav bars so that readers can find it more easily….

My name is Dan Romanchik, and I’m just a guy who’s having fun with ham radio.

I’m 50 years old, and have been a ham for 34 years, although for most of those years, I wasn’t very active. I have been very active since the summer of 2002, after I got the bug again after working some CW at our club’s Field Day. Since then, I have:

  • made more than 4,000 contacts, mostly on CW,
  • increased my code speed to almost 30 wpm,
  • built a bunch of kits and other stuff (including an Elecraft KX1 handheld HF transceiver),
  • worked a bunch of contests and have even garnered a few certificates from doing so,
  • taught a General Class license course the past two years,
  • become president of ARROW, a club that serves ham in and around Ann Arbor, MI, and
  • been appointed Affiliated Club Coordinator for the Michigan section.

I’m no “super ham.” I don’t have a 120-ft. tower with a three-element 40m beam on it. I don’t own a $10,000 transceiver, and I haven’t yet been on a DXpedition. I am having a lot of fun, though.

Filed Under: Everything Else, Who is KB6NU?