Tim Totten

If you've been anywhere else on my web site (N4GN.com), chances are you probably already think I'm a ham radio nut. I guess that's true! But I do have many other interests . . .

I live in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A.--home of the Kentucky Derby horse race, the Louisville Slugger baseball bat, and Muhammad Ali. I was born in Louisville, and I've lived here nearly all my life. The only exception was a little over a year in the mid-1980s, when I worked for a defense contractor in Cleveland, Ohio. The job was fine, but I was ready to get out of Cleveland after two nasty winters!

I'm 42 years old. In January, 2002, I met a beautiful young lady in Manila, Philippines. Her name is Joana, and she makes me very happy. Everyone who meets her comments about how sweet she is! We were married on 04 October, 2003, in Tagaytay City, Philippines. Joana also has a terrific son, Phivocs, from a previous marriage. He's really a fine young man. After nine months of immigration paperwork, Joana and Phivocs were finally able to immigrate to the United States on 16 July, 2004.

Although I've lived in the same city most of my life, I really enjoy seeing the rest of the world. I've been to all fifty U.S. states at least twice, and most of them many more times than that. I've traveled extensively throughout Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. I've also spent a little time in various parts of South America, Africa and the Pacific. Someday, I hope to qualify for membership in the Traveler's Century Club.

I consider myself very blessed to have grown up in a loving, supportive family. My parents still live here in Louisville, although they travel about as much as I do, so sometimes it can be a while between visits! My sister is married and has two terrific boys. Her family recently moved back to Northern Kentucky after living in Japan for two years. It's great to be "Uncle Tim" for my nephews a little more often now.

I earned my Electrical Engineering degree from Speed Scientific School at the University of Louisville. Now I'm a manager in the Corporate Telecommunications group at United Parcel Service. If it's a wireless system or device at UPS, chances are I'm involved with it one way or another--land mobile radios, air-ground radios, data radios, wireless LANs, satellite systems, pagers, cell phones, RFID tags, aircraft CNS systems, and so forth.

Among many other things, I am responsible for managing JetComm, a very small division of UPS that provides air-ground communications and related services to several major airlines. We operate our own air-ground radio network, which covers the U.S. and many international locations. I am also responsible for representing the interests of UPS in a wide range of wireless regulatory issues. This means that I get to spend a fair bit of time in Washington, D.C., which is one of my favorite cities. My job has two great benefits--it allows me to travel around the world and it helps pay for my ham radio addiction! For anyone who might be interested, my résumé is available (PDF format).

I am a member of Fern Creek United Methodist Church, where I serve on the Finance Committee and help out as an usher or with the Internet from time to time. It's hard to believe I've been attending here for more than 30 years now!

Before I met Joana, I was trying to teach myself Spanish. Unfortunately, I'm still not very good! I just don't have the time to practice it as much as I should between trips to various Spanish-speaking countries. Now my new priority is going to be learning Tagalog, but I find it rather confusing since Tagalog borrows heavily from Spanish at times, but often in unexpected ways. For example, how can the word "seguro" mean "surely" or "absolutely" in Spanish, but "siguro" in Tagalog means "maybe"?!