W1NTL

Hi! My name is "Wintle." That's what I go by. All my life. I know it's hard to remember, but I've always disliked being called by my first name. If it really bothers you, I don't mind if call me "Mr. Wintle."

I've been a ham radio operator for over 20 years. But a nerd all my life. I'm not an expert at radio. I have a lot of electronics experience, but also, not an expert. I'm no longer working, I'm a full-time motorcycle traveler. I sold all my old radios and now only have three: a QRP Xiego x6100, a Small Wonder 40 QRP CW kit, paired with a random speaker-wire and a Gabil GRA-7350TC portable vertical antenna. My HT is an Anytone 878 and I've been playing with DMR (OpenSpot 4 / Brandmeister). I'm more into tech than ragchews. Now I just have to dust off the old Morse skills I had to learn for my Extra exam, so I can stop being limited to SSB and digital modes. :)

I was a computer network engineer (especially datacomm), and system support specialist for software development companies for my 35 year professional life. My great joy has been working with small companies to do what people say is impossible with a tiny tech budget. In college I was Chief Engineer (then later the General Manager) at the Rutgers FM radio station (1350 Watts ERP), despite being graduated with a BA in Humanities. Life is strange, right? :)

I've done a lot of volunteer work over the years, including EMS and being a docent at the Thomas Edison National Historic Park in West Orange, NJ. Twice a year I travel to rural areas of the Dominican Republic (on the Haiti border) to support 8-day medical missions. I built a ruggedized offline network of 28 laptops for the mobile clinic that I'm particularly proud of. The doctors, pharmacists &c use it to enter patient exam and prescription information to make for a paperless workflow for our on-the-road operation.

I've just embarked on a new life of traveling the country by motorcycle full-time. I plan to camp on the way sometimes and use hotels and couches the rest of the time. I might take little jobs, maybe as a park ranger, drone photographer, tourguide or any unskilled labor job at SpaceX or NASA. I'm hoping a little POTA along the way might be fun. Mostly I just want to explore, meet people, and enjoy the wonders of life. I live in serendipity and thrive in chaos. 

Some may call me a dilettante. I like to collect certifications. My interests include:

• Teaching / tourguiding. My specialty is making tech topics accessible to everyone.
• Life-learner. I spend most of my time watching educational YouTube videos
• Spaceflight fan (NASA and SpaceX mostly)
• Travel, especially motorcycling
• Blogging, travel vlogging
• Electronics (especially radio, computers, Arduino, smarthome)
• Drone photography (FAA licensed Remote Pilot (part 107))
• Volunteer organization management
• Volunteer EMS
• 3D printing (mostly cases for my Arduino devices)
• History (especially the history of invention)
• Movies and films (especially SyFy and RomComs)
• Music listening (all types, but especially Progressive) and dancing
• Humor. I'm an inveterate player of words and whimsy permeates everything I do.
• Dating
• Social Justice issues
• Formerly sailing, and aviation