(The Russians had purposely chosen a beacon frequency for Sputnik close to an amateur band, so that thousands of hams could confirm the orbital nature of the signal.) Rusty listened to the beep-beeps from near space, and was hooked on radio, to the good fortune of the NCDXF and amateur radio in general.

Rusty was fortunate to have John Laney K4BAI was his Elmer; how nice to learn from one of the very best! Rusty's competitive nature showed early, with an entry in the Novice Roundup as KN4BVD in 1959. He earned the first of many contest awards by submitting the top score from Georgia in his first year as a ham.

Rusty's amateur career took a back seat to his educational pursuits in the Sixties, while he earned a degree in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Masters in Business Administration from nearly Harvard. Amateur radio was never far from Rusty's thoughts, however, as he earned his Extra Class amateur license during his studies, with the call sign K4BVD.

In the late Sixties, Rusty moved to Northern California, and began an extended career as a "guest operator". during major contests. Jim Maxwell W6CF recruited Rusty into the Northern California DX Club, for which he would serve as president in the future. Over the next few years, Rusty was a regular in Top Ten listings for contests, especially as WA7NIN from Nevada in Sweepstakes, a contest he finally won in 1986.

Rusty fully appreciated the advantages of being on the receiving end of pile-ups, and became an active DXPEDITIONER, with some impressive countries to his credit. In addition to some multi-operator entries from Curacao, Rusty managed a couple of second-in-the-world finishes with simple stations as KV4HW and 4M4AGP. In 1974, Rusty was one of the members of the Palmyra/Kingman KP6PA/KP6KR operation. Rusty was immortalized in a book and movie about a double murder on Palmyra, into which Rusty stumbled, fortunately without adverse consequences.

Rusty led the effort to establish amateur radio on an official basis in Nepal. Father Moran 9N1MM had operated for many years on the personal authority of the King. Working with Father Moran Rusty and others made the first official operation by foreigners in Nepal, in 1982 as 9N38. Never one to pass up a challenge, Rusty signed up for DXpeditions to Clipperton FOØ in 1984, '86, and '87. (He only had to actually go to that unpleasant location twice; one trip was canceled when the ship captain thought better of the idea of sailing to the remote atoll.)

While winning radio contests and making thousands of contacts on DXpeditions, Rusty was also active in local and national amateur radio organizations. He was one of the founding members of the Northern California Contest Club, was an early advocate of the DX Packet Spotting Network in the San Francisco Bay area, and served as Section Communications Manager for the San Francisco ARRL section.

Rusty understands the importance of volunteer efforts for the success of amateur radio (and other) groups. He has put his money where his mouth is, so to speak, and has served as president of both the Northern California DX Foundation and the Northern California DX Club. In recognition of his contributions to the latter organization, Rusty was selected as the NCDXC’s DXer of the Year. More recently, he was named to DX's most prestigious honor: membership in CQ's DX Hall of Fame.

In other contributions to amateur radio, Rusty was one of the organizers of the popular North American Sprint contests, and served as that contest's administrator for more than 10 years. He was the Chief Judge in the 1990 WRTC competition, and was Publicity Chair for the 1996 running of that event.

In on-the-air operating, Rusty has earned that most difficult of amateur radio's awards: Five-Band Worked All Zones. (He eagerly awaits the last couple of cards, showing again that "getting 'em on the wall" can be as great a DX challenge as working the stations.) His next radio goal is to work 100 countries on all five traditional bands, on both CW and SSB. His other achievements include 5BDXCC and DXCC Honor Roll #1 (although he was bumped along with almost all other DXers out of the number 1 slot, thanks to the limited P5 operations.)

In yet another illustration of Rusty's innovative and meticulous efforts on behalf of DX and amateur radio in general, he volunteered to organize the stateside QSLing of the mammoth ZA1A and YKØA operations. He demonstrated that a well-organized team can provide very fast turn-around on QSLs, even when the cards arrive by the thousands at a time.

Recently Rusty has retired from his successful career as an corporate attorney to run a restaurant: Give Pizza Chance. He devotes what little spare time his radio duties allow to play competitive duplicate bridge at various venues around the country.

Given his many awards and honors, one might think that one of these was Rusty's most cherished accomplishment. However, the one operating achievement for which Rusty is most proud in a simple ARRL CW Code Proficiency certificate. However, as befitting an amateur of Rusty's skills and stature, it is not just any Code Proficiency certificate. On Dec. 10, 1974, the ARRL included 40 words per minute in their official transmissions for the first time. (The previous top speed was a plodding 35 wpm.) Rusty was one of only two amateurs to earn that 40wpm certificate on the first transmission, sharing the honor with K2KIR, no CW slough himself.

Rusty's numerous contributions to the Northern California DX Foundation and amateur radio in general have had a profound, positive effect. The members of the NCDXF thank Rusty for his efforts and support, and look forward to our relationship continuing to be mutually beneficial in the future.

(Thanks to NCJ and John Crovelli W2GD for background information.)