My Radio Journal
Where I tell the stories behind the signals.
It’s a mix of amateur radio adventures, lessons learned, equipment discoveries, emergency communications, DMR and APRS, Coast Guard memories, and the occasional strange or funny moment that comes with a lifetime around radios. Some entries are practical, some are personal, and some are simply stories worth telling—but they all come back to the same idea: radio is ultimately about people, communication, and the connections we make along the way.
The Phone Patch That Saved a Life
A Coast Guard helicopter was on scene, but the crew could not find the man in the water among the many boats and other objects in the bay. Then I remembered an old idea from ham radio that connected the eyewitness directly to the aircrew.
A Phone Call for Seaman Apprentice Parker
A brand-new Coast Guardsman aboard USCGC Tamaroa receives an impossible ship-to-shore phone call—and soon finds himself in dress blues on the fantail, waiting for a boat from Cape May that will never arrive.
THE 0400 MAYDAY CALL — A Coast Guard Memory
A quiet 0400 watch at Coast Guard Group San Francisco suddenly erupts with a clear Mayday call—and turns into my favorite almost-case.
These journal entries are written with assistance from ChatGPT.
The thoughts, experiences, and final editorial choices are my own.