Hello friends and web surfers. I will start at my beginning. It was the summer of 1949. A hot summer night. Mr. Schmarder asked Mrs. Schmarder, "Do you want to go to sleep or what?". His wife and at any moment soon to be my mother was out in the other room and didn't quite hear him. She said, "what?", and that was my beginning.

I hung around the womb as long as I could, but alas it was time to come out and meet everyone. I sure liked it inside and alone. But now it was time to deal with people.

I was the second of what was to become three boys. I know that some of you are thinking "Curly, Larry and Moe". Let's get back on the subject, and that subject is me. It is my page!

So now it was mom, dad, Les and myself. That was cool. I got so I really liked my big brother.

Everything rolled along fine, until Christmas 1954. I found myself at my aunt and uncles house. I can't remember going there, but Les and I had a nice Christmas at their house. When I came home (I do remember that), I had a new baby brother, Raymond. So that rounded out our family.

When I was young, I became interested in the railroad. Trains were my thing! It was 25 years later that I took my first train ride though. Then at around 7 or so, I became interested in radio and electronics. My dad used to repair radios and I would hang around and watch. When I was 8, my dad got his ham radio license. That really got me interested in radio!

I managed to graduate from high school, and by then I had my own ham radio license. Then I studied Electrical Technology at Erie Community College aka "the high school with ash trays".

To continue with this boring biography, I ended up working for Corning Electronics Inc. I was there for 34 years. I learned a lot from Ed and Ozzie. It wasn't always electronics related either. :) Sure was a hoot!

The original 1955 Schmarder family was 5, now there just two, just Ray and I. My dad died in 1981 at nearly 63 years old, followed by my mother at nearly 62. Les passed away at 52.

Well, the years went by and now I sit, fat and bald in my little house, enjoying building crystal sets and tube radios. Other current interests include Amateur Radio and fiddling with Linux. I found that I also enjoy writing web pages. I started writing my pages in 1996.

I like using the language of my ancestors, German. I taught myself some German by listening to the Deutsche Welle on short wave. I ended up visiting the Fatherland (the kingdom of Bavaria) and was able to practice the language. Sometimes they would wince at my grammar, much like the dental patient does when the novocaine isn't working. Now I will be ready to talk with my ancestors when the time comes.

I hope this is interesting. I offer a complete money back gurantee if you are not happy with my page. Please contact my complaint department if you are in any way unhappy.

Amateur Radio N2DS