Before WWII Vern had an F.C.C. Radio Telegraph License and worked for the West Virginia State Police. On duty, Vern had immediate contact with all of the other 47 states in our union. Using CW he obtained vehicle registrations for the State Troopers when they stopped out of state vehicles.
He operated from several world QTHs. Liked to use high towers and monoband antennas. Had 5 element mono @ 152’/51 meters on 20. A 2 element phased array @ 160’/53 meters on 40. A 12 element log periodic at 35 meters. A 5 element 15 meter telrex @ 24 meters & 5 element 10 meter telrex @ 22 meters. Wire antennas include a Super Loop running North/South at 110 feet/31 meters. He also had a 160 meter Carolina Windom at the same height running East/West.
Vern was experimenting with quality SSB audio. He used an IC-7800, a German condenser microphone, the Neuman TLM 103 with a pop screen, an Omnia ToolVox voice processor, and an Orban 9200 Optimod-AM Digital audio processor. (This is the state of the art audio processor that is used by the better and larger U.S.A. AM broadcast radio stations.)
Vern used a Tascam MD-301 MK II minidisc recorder and, if asked, would record your transmission and play it back for you. Vern optimized the dot weighting & CW waveform rise & fall time on his IC-7800 to facilitate his love of QRQ CW.
Vern also built, owned, and operated 50,000 watt and 25,000 watt FM broadcast stations with 500-foot towers, as well as AM broadcast stations and translators in Indiana and Missouri — including the first 50,000 watt FM radio station in the U.S.A. to operate 24/7 IBOC/HD Radio (digital RF).