I'm currently 20 years old, and a college student at Middle Tennessee State University, working on a Bachelor's Degree in Aerospace Administration. As a part of my degree, I'm going through an FAA-sanctioned program known as the "Collegiate Training Initiative", designed to train college students for a career in Air Traffic Control, which is my eventual goal.

I grew up in suburban Southern California, and have always had an interest in various aspects of radio. Radio was a primary form of entertainment, as I either did not have easy access to television, or preferred not to watch it. My first experience with FM DXing came in my pursuit to pull a clear signal out of KFRG 95.1 in San Bernardino, CA. I prefered it over the other country station in the area (KZLA 93.9 at the time), but nearby hills degraded its signal. Eventually I worked out a way to get a fairly quiet signal, but I noticed that the signal would often be stronger at night - my first (but unknown to me) observation of tropo.

I eventually began to casually DX / listen to tropo which extended to the coast and brought in signals from Santa Barbara, CA and San Diego, CA during the summer. I also discovered AM DXing, and learned about Amateur Radio in 2004. I studied for a few months and got my Technician Class license in July of 2004, but quickly lost interest in Amateur Radio, and continued to just casually DX the broadcast bands.

I became interested in seriously pursuing FM DX in the Summer of 2008. I put up a 10-element Winegard beam, and bought a Sony XDR-F1HD tuner. I DX'ed my first Sporadic-Es opening a few weeks later (July 7th, 2008), and was instantly hooked, but due to my location, I had only a limited amount of success with DXing over the following year.

I moved to Tennessee at the beginning of July 2009. I had a handful of schools to choose from that offered the afforementioned program, and after visiting, MTSU was an obvious choice for me. I have always loved the Southern U.S., and getting the chance to move here was a great oppurtunity. Middle Tennessee is a beautiful place with a rich historical and cultural landscape, and an all-around nice place to call home. It's also a great place for DXing, which is icing on the cake.

My interest in broadcast radio extends well beyond DXing. I am fascinated by many aspects of broadcasting. In May of 2010, I spent some time assisting WTNK-AM/FM in recovering from the May 1-2, 2010 flood in Middle Tennessee. In them, I was blessed to have met a group of passionate broadcasters dedicated to small-town, community oriented radio. I am now an intern at WTNK, and began the 2-5 PM air shift there on June 1st, 2010.

WTNK-AM/W228CB-FM - Hartsville, TN

Brief history of / about Murfreesboro