Officers of the Northwest Country Cousins
Election of officers is held annually with nominations beginning the first Sunday of April and continues through the end of net on the following Saturday. Voting commenses on the third Sunday of April and continue to end of net on the following Saturday.
New officers assume their office on the first Sunday in May.
President: Rudy Schroeder, W7FCB
As told by Rudy, a brief BIO:
I bailed out of West Seattle High School in 1947. Then joined the Air Force and attended Radio/Radar school at Scott Air Force Base for 10 months. Then, off to Guam and Okinawa as Technician/Operator on SB-17 (Search and Rescue). I became OIC of WXLH (AFRS) radio station at Rycom, Okinawa, and received a field commission to second Leutenent.
Honorable discharge in 1950 -- got married -- opened radio and TV repair business -- sold business -- moved to Inglewood, California and worked at Hughes R&D labs as electronic technician in semi-conductor and Laser research for 4 years. About this time, I got my ham license: K6GTB.
I moved to Seattle in 1954 and joined Boeing as electronic engineer in BOMARC project. In 1955, transferred to Flight Test engineering certifying 707 for FAA. And about that time, I got my present call, W7FCB, Advanced class license. In 1957 transferred to BSRL (Boeing Scientific Research Labs) as research assistent to Dr. D. Mahaffy in the field of solid state physics and plasma physics.
In 1961, I got a divorce and decided to risk my life and become a commercial pilot/flight instructor. I did some "bush flying" in northern British Columbia and trained quite a few new pilots. During the years 1961 through 1967 I excelled as a ski bum, a womanizer, and all around bachelor having fun. Plus, I was a pretty good dancer.
In 1968 I joined KOMO TV as TV engineer/camera man and producer of "Exploration Northwest" with Don McCune. Won 10 Emmy's for KOMO and two personal Emmy's and five Sigma Delta Chi awards for writing.
Retired in 1988 and got my Extra Class license. I started my own production company, "American Odyssey Productions, Inc." and produced 28 RV travel adventure shows for the Discovery Channel. Made money.
In 1999 moved to Rosalia, Washington -- bought a house -- and, I do a lot of volunteering. I do a lot of studing in Quatum Physics, Cellular Biology, ancient history, and astrophysics.
Present-time, 2009: a beautiful blonde was pounding on my bedroom door last night. I finally had to get up and let her out. The rest is history.
Vice President: Lin McBride, AC7XO
Brief BIO of Lin:
Lin has been interested in radio since the late 1940s when he built his first crystal set. When he was in high school, he worked for a local hardware store in their TV repair and service department.
The Navy gave Lin a few months of basic electronics training and then they sent him to Alaska. The last few months of his enlistment he worked for the Armed Forces Radio and TV Service. He picked up his first phone commercial license in 1959 and worked for three different TV stations over the years.
In 1960, Lin and Mary Jane tied the knot and it still holds tight. They have two fine children Michael and Kristi.
In 1968 Lin went into teaching and spent several years teaching and farming. After Lin retired in 1997 he went into ham radio and has enjoyed it ever since. His station, shown in the photo, includes a tri-bander, several wire antennas, tuners, TS 440, IC 746 Pro, IC V8000, Ameritron ALS 600, and a Heathkit SB220.
Secretary-Treasurer: Jerry Crabtree, W6OVH
Brief BIO of Jerry:TO BE COMPLETED
Project Manager: Jerry Fredrickson, KA6WYX
Brief BIO of Jerry:
Jerry has been married to his wonderful bride for 47 years as of June 30th, 2009. They have one son who lives in Vancouver, Washington who, with the help of his wife, has given Jerry two grandkids, a boy and a girl, now fully grown and working in Vancouver.
Jerry enjoys ham radio (first licensed in September 1987); and, he enjoys all the people he has met over the years. Jerry says "It seemed like I was a novice class for years and wanted to upgrade and finally I upgraded to general class". Not resting from that success, Jerry went on and got his advanced class and then from there the extra class. Jerry's suggestion on taking these tests: "...so it all boils down to a simple fact, if you want it bad enough it is there for the taking".
Jerry raises exotic birds, actually parrots. It started as a hobby and over time he and his wife collected over 300 birds. Soon the hobby got expensive so they decided that they needed to breed them to perpetuate the species and fund the hobby. Jerry does have a few personal pets too. They are a Blue and Gold MaCaw, Moluccan Cockatoo, Umbrella Cockatoo, African Grey, Eclectus, Blue Front Amazon, White Eyed Conure, Latino Indian Ring Neck, and a Red Rump Parakeet. Some of these pets were rescued from people who couldn't take care of them or had to move and couln't take them with them.