I have some diverse interests and this blog will try to cover them. I have created categories to help organize posts. Or, just read it all. You are welcome to comment or to reach out in other ways. My contact info is at the bottom of this page.
About Me
I was born in California, La Jolla specificly. My parents and one of my grandparents were also born in California…making me a third generation native Californian. I have never lived outside the state.
I was born in the mid-sixties, most of my early memories are about living in San Diego. We lived very close to the San Diego Zoo, which we visited on a regular basis as my parents and grandparents had zoo passes.
We moved out of San Diego about the time I started school and eventually settled in Costa Mesa. I lived there, with my parents, until 1987 when I moved in with my fiancé. We’ve been living in Lake Forest since 1990.
I have one son, he was in the Marine Corps and is now living on a ranch in Northern San Diego county.
Interesting Facts: I am a middle-namer,
In addition to myself, both my wife and son are licensed amateur radio operators.
Amateur Radio
I have been a licensed ham since about 1982. I’m now an Extra.
I’m mostly active on UHF – Analog, DMR, and P25. You will frequently find me on the DMR using the PAPA Chat(31077) talkgroup.
I have these amateur radio profiles: BrandMeister Profile – QRZ Profile
I do a little HF work, not much at present, but wishing I had more antenna space. I’d like to get into SOTA/POTA, but I just can’t get around that right now.
Mesh networking is my next big project, I’ll add a link to my node when I get it running.
I run the PAPA DMR Roundtable on Monday nights at 8pm Pacific time on BrandMeister 31077. This is a question answer net.
Clubs
I’m active with The PAPA System, 15 hilltops with 42 repeaters covering all of Southern California with analog, DMR, and D-Star repeaters.
I run with the MARC group (marc-hq.org) supporting Southern California bicycle charity events.
Photography
I started playing with photography when I was in Junior high. My dad studied photography in school, worked as a commercial photographer, and we had a make shift darkroom at home. Early on I learned about developing film and making prints. I stayed very active with this through high school working on both the yearbook and newspaper. As my life got busier with work and family it became harder to process my own prints. I switched over to color and had everything processed at a lab. This was great for recording events, but didn’t really satisfy my need to create.
As digital photography started to become mainstream I was an early adopter and have not looked back since. I enjoy photographing people more that landscapes or products. I picked up the street photography bug a while back and greatly enjoy this aspect of photography. I’ll be posting images, industry news, equipment reviews and more.
For reference, I shoot with Olympus cameras and lenses.
Technology
Who doesn’t love technology? I have worked most of my life as a software developer. Developer tools, testing tools, project management, regular management…it’s been good work for me. Outside of software, there are just so many things to talk about — phones, smart watches, printers, Bluetooth stuff, Raspberry Pi, IoT, and so many more. Keep your eyes on this category for a wide array of interesting topics.
Personal
This is a hard section for me. I don’t really like sharing my personal challenges, but I have gained so much from others who share their challenges and successes publicly. I’ll be talking about depression, weight loss, insecurities, successes, happy thoughts, and many more random thoughts. My hope is to show others there is a way to succeed in life.
Contact Info
Michael Rickey – 949-298-0529 – michael.rickey@gmail.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelaf6fb/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roger.michael.rickey
Twitter: https://twitter.com/michaelAF6FB