ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Welcome all new Members!!

Welcome to all you new members, you will find we are a very hospitable bunch even though there me a family spat (actually more like a lively disscussion) at times.

BTW, Paul may be a "Dastardly Redcoat" but we love him anyways.

Roger

Hey, IanR. I'm in Lake County (Lady Lake), and I work in Sumter County.

That's because I would have been with the rebels!

Since I am a fairly new member, I'm posting my background for you kind folks.

I grew up in upstate New York (Albany). I've been fooling with electronic circuits since I was 12. My uncle was an electronics technician with General Electric in Utica, NY and I became interested in the field due to his involvement. I also was a radio station engineer in high school/college and spent plenty of time "after hours" on maintenance things, more in the audio and r.f. end, but some power type electrical work.

I graduated in 1970 from Clarkson College (now University) in Potsdam, NY, just south of the border with Canada. My degree is a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. I served in the U. S. Army Signal Corps from 1970 to 1972, and was stationed in Fort Hood TX and my overseas tour was in Seoul, South Korea.

I worked for the FCC in Washington, DC for a year after returning from the Army, then worked with a private communications consultant firm (Silliman, Moffett, & Kowalski) in Washington. I then went to the FCC field office in Saint Paul, MN where I worked until my retirement two years ago.

Along the way, I managed to pick up a Professional Engineer registration (Electrical), plus take a number of communications course, plus two classroom NEC courses. I've also done a great deal of study of the NEC on my own. I picked up the P.E. when I was in my 50s which made me feel that the grey matter was still functional.

My wife & I are both retired (she, twice) and live in Hudson, WI just east of Saint Paul, MN. We're currently building our "retirement" home on a 76 acre lot that we picked up about 12 years ago; it's located about 30 miles southeast of Hudson, WI. We've got the power installed to the generator shed (POCO cost was $6000), we did get the gravel driveway pretty much finished (1400 feet), and have the hole dug for the foundation. A pole barn will also be built on the site. As a result of running afoul of some new building permit issues, we couldn't start the foundation last fall but we do have the hole dug.

We both enjoy photography, most anything outdoor (in reasonable weather), astronomy, and just trying to enjoy life.

I've learned a great deal from all the good folks on the ECN web site. I hope you can show a little patience with my questions; I realize I don't have anywhere near the experience of you folks, but I do try to read the NEC for answers before popping a question to you. I realize you get irritated with the "happy homeowner goes to Home Depot" types of questions, but please be aware that I am, at least a little beyond that crowd.

Again, I'd like to thank everyone for the access to the literally thousands of years of collective experience present on the ECN.