I went into the service in '70 to do something in electronics and was assigned to be an Automatic Radar Repairman (303x3) in the Air Force. After basic training I went to school at Kessler AFB in Biloxi, MS. I did so well in school that I had the opportunity to became an instructor and stay awhile 80 miles west of New Orleans. I was told I had a great time at the 2 Mardi Gras I went to.
I taught the computer portion of the "Auto Track" system along with the closed circuit television system. The computer system was an analog computer using summing amplifiers, inputs from sine/cosine cards attached to the radar antenna, and lots of tubes! (1960's high tech) This was all used to plot a line on a X-Y platter to show where the bomb would drop if the officer on the ground says "now".
I went to Elgin AFB in Florida after that and that system had a digital computer, big calculator with some memory, 4K, to add more into the plot like the release time of the bomb holder on the aircraft.
I went to Gila Bend AFB in Gila Bend, AZ which was part of Luke AFB in Phoenix. There the role of the radar changed. It went from friend to foe. I was now a bad guy and having a ball doing it.
I got to sit in the desert and from my air conditioned radar van, lock onto US aircraft, and hit a switch that would light the black box in the A/C to let it know it had a missile or gun locked on it and watch through a periscope/prisms system as the plane hit a high G turn to try to get out of the way.
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| Site at Gila Bend. Radar on left, Maintenance Van on Right |
While I was at GB, I came out of one of the maintenance vans and the ladder slipped from under me and I broke my right ankle in two places. This helps in 2002.
From there I went to Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, NV. I started as a contract observer for the Air Force's first ACMI system (Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation). This is the same system as seen in the movie Top Gun. I learned more about programming here and what actually was involved using tapes and big bulky disk packs.
That gig didn't last long and the next thing I was doing was playing bad guys again but this time in Tonopah and Beatty Nevada while still being stationed at Nellis.
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| "Clanky Tank" This was a mobile fun toy that roamed the desert |
I got out of the service in '78 and got a job as an electronics technician for Raytheon Service Company. I started to work on circuit boards for a Navy system a for surface (ship) to air missiles system. The job was get a board, the associated test procedure for the board, the required test equipment, the test rig, and set it up at your station. The procedure was very step by step, with all the tolerances spelled out. You followed the steps and when you found a problem, you looked at the schematic of the board and figured out what part failed. You went back to the stock cage and got the part, and the put the part and the board in the area to get replaced. When the assembler finished replacing the part to mil specs, you got the board back and then repeated the test. When the board passed, you sent it back to get all mil spec'd up with coating and stuff.
It then came back to you and with an inspector at your side, you did the test and he stamped off the report.
I learned the different varieties of cards rather quickly as troubleshooting is easy for me to do. Pretty soon I was promoted to Night Lead. While working nights I got a taste of the RF work area and some of the assemblies. Next thing I know I am Supervisor of a retro-fit project for a system. This would required boards coming in, mods mode to the boards, and then the testing process.
It was when I was on this project when I acquired my first computer, A Bally home entertainment system. I liked the fact the I could have 4 player football one moment then put another cartridge in and have an 8 bit machine that you could program in basic and the ability to save your programs to cassette tape. The true geekness is starting to awaken deep inside...
When this project wound down I went to the high voltage area working on big power supplies that needed a lot of respect when worked on. It was here where Raytheon tried to blame me for an supply mistake for a non spec part used in a unit. Well I gave them 2 weeks notice, which then they apologized and wanted to mend things, and I got a job with NH Research.
For this electronic technician position, I worked on precision AC power supplies that were used in gyro test stations. I am talking 0.0002% tolerances! One supply had two DC 150 +/- 0.005% outputs along with it's AC output.
The specs required this hold this tolerance for 72 hours. You know how fun it is to be working on something then have to break away, grab a meter, and take some readings. Not fun at all. I was looking at the meter that I was using and it had a switchable rear input. OK, this was better, but what is this IEEE-488 connector used for? RTFM Bert! Oh this is used to send commands from a computer to control the meter and read back the readings. Now what is this PAL computer with the whacked out keyboard? And this cable hanging on the outside with an IEEE-488 connector on it? Oh that goes to a printer, piggybacked with a cable with an empty IEEE-488 on the other end that is long enough to reach the meter.
It took me a while to work out the bugs, but before to long I had a working little basic program that went out every 15 minutes, took the readings, printed them out, and flagged the reading if it was out of tolerance. I was working on a unit one day when my boss came up and asked how this one order was doing? I walked over to PAL, glanced at the screen, 3 hrs 22 min to go, took a peek at the printout, saw no errors, told her "3 hours to go, looking fine", and went back to what I was doing.
She looked the the computer/meter/printer/unit setup and left. She came back with the VP of Engineering and they starting talking in hushed tones. After lunch they told me I was working in the new product line, PowerTest. This is an automatic power supply test station that is controlled by an in house built Z80 computer with double sided 8.5" floppies! Ahh technology in the mid 80's.
I was their field service engineer and it was good. But then a big company with better bennies had an opening and I was working on a PowerTest for Hughes Aircraft in Irvine. I went to a trade show and was interested in a controllable O'scope so I filled out a contact card. The company who contracted me was 3H Industries based out of San Jose. They were the reps to the Analogic device I was interested in. It seems they were using this device in their automatic power supply test station. When I told them I used to work for NH and on production unit number one until I left, they wanted me to fly to San Jose on their dime a week from Sunday, not Saturday as that was Sabbath for two of the 3H's. They gave me an offer I could not refuse and stayed there until the company got bought by Analogic and reorganized.
I finally got stable again at Leaming Industries as a bench tech, working on analog satellite communication receivers and the bis product line, MTS generators. Before digital cable, stereo TVs required a special signal to light the Stereo light on the TV and get the correct audio. The device I worked on took the left and right channel analog audio then took the difference signal and sent it through a special DBX circuit. It then combined this and the sum signal together and sent it on it's merry way, on the 4.8MHZ "light" frequency.
I listened to a lot of CD's then as I had a production schedule that kept me tied down to that workbench for hours! I saw an ad that the
After the project was wearing down, I went to another part of the base where I wrote a database that tracked bunker inventory.
When this was done I went to the public works department where I got the geek bug fully. I was working on a Novell network. The first day my boss showed me how to get into the system and have me create my user.
I learned networking by experience and I like the fact that I was needed, needed to connect drives, find files, etc. I have found my niche as a network administrator.
Things were going fine until Clinton decided to reduce the military, and my job.
I was out of work for a bit until I got a job at WetSeal and there I met Marvin as he was a consultant. We hit it off and became friends as I worked long hours for little pay at the woman's clothing company.
Marv left his consultant gig and became director of IT at Centon Electronics. He called me up at the Seal and wanted to know if I wanted a job. Needless to say I became the Network and Systems Administrator for Centon. I had a good 5 years there until they, the owners, decided to lay off people, including me. Oh well it was a good run with good money. Learned Windows server so I got mre experience there.
From there I was out of work when I got a call from TRG saying that they heard of me and wanted someone to fill in while the other techs went on a fishing trip. They liked what I did so they said they would hire me if I got my MCSE.
Remember my broken ankle? Well that caused my VA disability and they sent me to school and I got my MCSE and got hired at TRG.
I was at TRG as a consultant where I had a lot of differtent clients, 2 of which I still have on the side.
One day I got a call from my now boss. GHary, and he wanted to hire me. I find out that the President of TRG gave Gary the green light to hire me as he knoew my position was going away.
I am now a network administrtor for Ganahl Lumber and I am a geek!
