A recent amateur radio operator, as of October 2020, living in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Retired from the federal government after 41 years working with computer systems in just about every computer position imagineable with numerous operating systems, computer languages, along with various hardware and software. Truly enjoyed my job.

Always wanted to get into amateur radios.  Passed the Technician test in October 2020, my General test on January 16, 2021 and most recently, April 16, 2021 my Extra Class license test.  Purchased an Icom IC-7300 and started having some fun with FT8 and FT4.  This transceiver goes nicely alongside my IC-9700 that I purchased after the Technician test. Also, like DMR using my AnyTone AT-D878UV along with two Raspberry Pi hotspots, one that I built and one that was purchased.   Like the Kenwood TH-D74A HT and using D-Star and APRS.  Recently started researching and delving into CW.  Unfortunately, began late in life into this fascinating hobby, there is so much to learn and never enough time.  My background in electronics and computers has helped tremendously and the fact that I've always liked researching and reading technical things.  I'm a mac computer user and just purchased a Windows 10 laptop. The amount of software available for the mac is somewhat limited.  Tried running Parallels on the mac and it worked for most of the windowss software, however I ran into problems controlling my radios with some of them.  Decided to dedicate the Windows laptop for my ham hardware and software and everything is working out very well that way.

My latest purchase after having just passed my Extra Class test was an IC-705 that I'm using mostly for FT8 and FT4. Plan on using this as a portable system along with my super antenna mp1dxmax.

My first passion is photography.  Had to set photography aside for awhile anyway due to Covid-19.  Used the time to study for the two tests. Would like to get the Extra license some time this year too.  Some of my photos can be seen my on https://www.johnmaslowski.com/ and/or https://500px.com//johnmaslowski.  Hopefully, will be able to get out soon to take more photos and do a little bit of traveling.