Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, began short wave listening in the late 1950s. He received his Novice

license (WN9AVT) in October 1961, and selected K9LA in 1977. Carl is an electrical

engineering graduate of Purdue University and was an RF design engineer for Motorola and

Magnavox/Raytheon until his retirement in 2013. Carl enjoys propagation research, DXing (he’s

at the Top of the Honor Roll), contesting (he was Editor of the ARRL’s National Contest Journal

{NCJ} from 2002-2007), playing with antennas and restoring/using vintage equipment.

He and his wife Vicky AE9YL enjoy traveling, which has included DXpeditions to Syria (YK9A

in February 2001), to Market Reef (OJ0/AE9YL and OJ0/K9LA in July 2002) and numerous

trips to ZF (Vicky is ZF2YL and Carl is ZF2LA). He has written monthly propagation columns

for WorldRadio and NCJ, and has written solar and propagation articles for many other Amateur

Radio publications.

Carl was the Vice Director of the ARRL Central Division from 2017-2021. He now serves as the

Director of the Central Division, and is on several of the ARRL committees.

Brent Walls, N9BA, began his radio journey in the mid 1990’s listening to local repeaters and

distant AM radio stations. Brent received his technician class license (KB9NUB) in May 1996

with upgrades to General in June 2011 and to Extra in June 2013. Brent currently works for the

State of Indiana as a Deputy IT Director in the Office of Technology where he leads several

teams focused on cybersecurity.

Brent has a passion for public service and his passion has been a big part of his amateur radio

journey. Brent has served in several Indiana counties as the ARRL Emergency Coordinator.

Brent has also served as the Indiana Section Emergency Coordinator (2014-2016) and Indiana

Section Manager (2016-2018). Brent has been serving as the Central Division Vice Director

since July 2021.

I am currently in my second term serving as the ARRL Wisconsin Section Manager. I’ve been an amateur radio operator since 2004 and have been active in my local ARES/RACES organization for a few years. While ARES/RACES is where I started in amateur radio, I’ve come to enjoy other aspects of amateur radio as well, such as traffic handling, digital modes, learning CW, to name a few.

Professionally, I started an extensive public safety career in Minnesota working as an Officer/EMT in the Mankato, and Shakopee areas, and as a firefighter for Bloomington Fire Department. Later, I moved to Balwin, Wisconsin after accepting a position with the Wisconsin State Patrol. There I also served with United Fire and Baldwin EMS. Eventually, I migrated a little further east to Work with the Menomonie Fire Department and Dunn County Sheriff’s office, before finding my final destination back working for the State as the Chief of Police for UW-Stout PD.

Recently I have retired form all of that and I’m now working for Dunn County Emergency Management.

A few things I enjoy outside of amateur radio are playing a few rounds of golf, ATV trail riding, boating the lakes or rivers, and maintaining a mutual understanding with my springer spaniels, Alex-Dog and Echo-Dog.

Everything we have done makes us the Hams we are. Dennis Rybicke of Fort Atkinson, was born in Milwaukee and grew up in Stevens Point. He received his B.S. degree from the

University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point where he met his wife, Gerry. He holds a Master’s Degree in English/Education from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh and numerous

graduate credits from other universities. Dennis and Gerry, established and operated La Grange Bed and Breakfast in Fort Atkinson from 1994 to 2009 where they were recipients of the Fort Chamber’s Tourism Award in 2008.

An active Amateur Radio Operator since 1958, Dennis holds Extra Class FCC license K9LGU, has served as the state’s Section Traffic Manager for over 20 years and is an Assistant

ARES/RACES Emergency Coordinator for Jefferson County.

Dennis taught at New Holstein High School for 34 years – specializing in written and spoken communications. His extra-curricular duties included stage sound and lighting

supervision, senior class adviser, forensics coach, and adviser to the National Honor Society chapter. He was an adjunct professor with UW-Oshkosh from 1986 to 1999. Elected mayor of the City of New Holstein in 1982, he served six consecutive terms to 1994. He later served

several years as a member of the Fort Atkinson Planning Commission. As a substitute teacher, he enjoyed working with students at Fort Atkinson High School from 2001 until 2021.

Some of his occupations, in alphabetical order, have included - adjunct college professor, audio system supervisor, bean picker, city mayor (12 years), clothing store clerk, drama director, electrician, exterior / interior painter, floral shop driver/dispatcher, grant writer, grave digger, high

school teacher (34 years full time; 20 years part-time), innkeeper (15 years), janitor/custodian, microprocessor salesman, novels and documents editor, potato warehouse worker, public speaking coach, roofer, stage lighting director, and tree trimmer.

Myron Oestreich, KB9STB is the ARRL – Wisconsin Section Public Information Coordinator. He

was originally licensed in 1998 and holds an Amateur Extra license. Along with amateur radio

licensure, he holds a valid GMRS license and is a SHARES operator. He has taken ARRL’s

EC-002, PR-101 and dozens of FEMA training both in-person and online, and serves

as a Volunteer Examiner for both ARRL-VEC and Laurel-VEC as well as the Assistant

Emergency Coordinator – Public Information Officer for Wood County ARES/RACES.

Professionally, Myron serves as the Chief Medical Examiner for Juneau County. He holds

licensure in Wisconsin as an EMT-Paramedic with Critical Care and TEMS endorsements and is

an American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators Diplomat level certified death

investigator. He lives in the town of Rome, Adams County with his wife Rhea and two

stepdaughters.

Mr. Hughes has been with Wisconsin Emergency Management since January 2014. As part of the Mission Support section, he is responsible for agency communications throughout the state including deployable assets. His daily responsibilities include monitoring federal, state, and local communications, assist management with situational awareness, and provide tactical communications and training resources to all WEM customers. He interfaces with volunteers including amateur radio and private sector businesses. He functions as a point of contact for Wisconsin amateur radio leadership. He is a U.S. Coast Guard veteran working for over 14 years including deployments to Kuwait and Bahrain supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is an Eagle Scout and holds a BAS from the University of Wisconsin Green Bay.

Publisher Brandi Makuski began her career as a cub reporter for the Stevens Point Journal in 2004. She later founded the Stevens Point City Times and grew the publication to the largest print newspaper in Portage Co., Wis. Makuski now owns and publishes the digital Point/Plover Metro Wire, the only locally-owned and operated daily news source in the county.

Richard Polivka worked 24 years for ABB Motion & Drive Products and retired from there as a Principal Engineer. He provided advanced electrical power control engineering support to the solar, wind, water, and nuclear industries.

Been licensed as N6NKO since 1986. Past staff writer for the "RTTY Journal" magazine centered on packet radio communications. Primary interests with Amateur Radio are: Antenna modeling & building, off-grid operation, HF & VHF data handling and emergency communications. He also is currently the acting net manager for the Wisconsin HF Digital Backbone Net (WDBN).

I am Larry Dudzinski, I am part of the Mission Support Section and have been with Wisconsin

Emergency Management for 2 years. Some of my responsibilities are agency communications

throughout the state including deployable assets; maintaining our fleet of deployable assets and

the logistics of transporting them to the event throughout the state when requested. I also

monitor federal, state, local communications, and provide tactical communications and training

resources to all WEM customers.

In 2008 I received my tech license after the flooding in SW Wisconsin. My interest was in

emergency communication, and the hobby has taught me a lot about radio communications.

Shortly after getting my license, I became the Emergency Coordinator for Juneau County which

I served for 10 years. I enjoy playing radios and exploring all modes of communication in the

hobby.