Dean was a Senior Assistant Technical Editor for ARRL from 1993 to 2008, specializing in antennas, transmission lines and HF propagation. He has been truly blessed by the Good Lord—How many hams can say that their vocation was also their avocation? He was the editor of the last five editions of The ARRL Antenna Book and the last four volumes of The ARRL Antenna Compendium series. He coauthored with good friend K8CH Simple and Fun Antennas for Hams (we call it the “little antenna book with attitude”). Dean was editor for ON4UN’s Low Band DXing and K1VR’s Antenna Zoning, not to mention several stints as editor of The ARRL Handbook. Since returning to the west coast in 1998 from New Hampshire, Dean was ARRL’s longest-distance full-time “telecommuter” until retiring in April 2008.
First licensed as WH6DKD in 1959 at age 12, Dean has been active in the fifty-three years since then mainly on HF—and mainly in contests, both phone and CW. The vagaries and subtleties of HF propagation and the thrill of the competitive chase have kept his interest sparked in ham radio for more than 50 years. Experience in ham radio led him to a degree in electronics engineering at Yale University in 1967, where he was active at the W1YU club station, operating (you guessed it) mainly in contests. Dean worked in the marine electronics industry for more than 25 years before joining ARRL staff.
He operates regularly at the N6RO contest superstation in the East Bay or from DXexotic locations around the world. Dean resides with his wife Rayma in the Richmond District of San Francisco, in a house that looks directly into Golden Gate Park, where he tries to run half-marathons, albeit slowly. He has two sons, four grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.
