Introduction
"We" are actually a singular person. And most likely a hobbyist just like you.
There's just one person at the helm making the decisions and running this site.
That would be one Richard J. Wells, N2MCA.
A licensed, FCC amateur radio operator, I've been interested in radio since my
mom bought me one of those 300-in-1 RadioShack electronic lab kits back in the
early 70s. That kit and its endless, fascinating experiments, along with a
healthy dose of computers and video games (who remembers Pong and the Atari
2600?) helped launch me into college for Computer Engineering.
While in college the radio bug really hit and by the time I had graduated I
knew just what electronic gadgets I wanted to buy with my new-found paychecks!
Radio monitoring (or 'scanning' to the layperson) bit me hard and I haven't
looked back since!
While this hobby did provide hours of entertainment, the launch of the Internet
back in the early 90s proved to me that we were only at the start of a long and
enjoyable journey.
This web site, of over 400 pages, actually started as a single page. It was one
page amongst a few others I kept on my personal web site over at QSL.net (where
you can still see my personal pages).
Back then I was getting about 20 or so hits per day when this single page grew
into about 10 pages. The hit counter began to rise quickly back in late '96 so
I decided it was time to break from the mold and explore new territory. That's
when I plunged headlong into registering my own domain name and thus Strong
Signals was born on March 17, 1997!
Hitting The Mainstream
The Internet is an amazing achievement, not just from a technological and
operational point of view, but from its inherent ability to share information
with people around the world and almost instantaneously.
By personally creating and maintaining Strong Signals, I wanted to share this
hobby with anyone and everyone who stopped by. My goals were simply to provide
the most up to date hobby news, useful information for everyone from the
'newbie' to the professional and a forum for serious hobbyists to interact
within.
And I'm pleased to say that I think I've done just that. It hasn't always been
easy but I've had great help from hobbyists and professionals alike who share
my enthusiasm and help me to provide the world's leading source of information
when it comes to our great hobby.
My passion and dedication to the radio monitoring hobby is obvious as can
plainly be seen by the amount and quality of content on this site. We're not
like others who have started out strong and then fizzled out 6 months later
when you go to click on their page and find they are no longer there. Year
after year we're still here and growing strong. And we will continue to do so
as long as you, the reader (who might be a hobbyist, a professional or
radio-related company), take an active part (even if it's a little one) and do
what you can to contribute to Strong Signals and its goals.
Where We Go From Here
Like they say, the sky's the limit! The only limitations we have are those we
place, or allow to be placed, on ourselves. Don't let yourself become placid
and uncaring. Keep the fire burning and help our hobby from going the way of
the dinosaur!
Visit this site often. Involve yourself with the message boards, chat room,
surveys and other areas of reader feedback. Submit news and your own reviews!
Tell us what you'd like to see. Give us new ideas and fresh avenues of
exploration to help keep us all focused! Become part of this online community
which will help it and our hobby to grow and prosper.
Individually we can achieve a lot. I hope I have proved that from my efforts at
creating and maintaing this site. But I need your help. When combined, our
collective efforts can mean so much to all of us and helps to lure others into
our ranks.
So spread the word and help keep our hobby alive!
Thanks for listening, and I look forward to meeting you and working together
to build a stronger radio monitoring community!
Rich Wells,
N2MCA
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