Bob was raised as the son of an US Air Force Officer and traveled widely, finishing High School in Okinawa.

At Auburn University, Bob was Cadet Corp Commander of the USAF ROTC program and received a Regular commission and a BS degree in Industrial management.  A Distinguished graduate at both the USAF Navigator School and Electronic Warfare School, he became an Instructor in Electronic Warfare during the Vietnam conflict.  After receiving an honorable discharge at the rank of Captain, Bob entered the Securities industry. Beginning as a stockbroker and retiring 28 years later as Senior VP and Divisional Sales Manager for Manulife Financial (now John Hancock).

Bob has been married 46 years, has two children and four grandchildren.  He is a scuba diver, videographer, and world traveler, having visited 122 DXCC entities and operated amateur radio from 71.

First licensed as an amateur radio operator at the age of 14, Bob became enthralled with DXing.  He has contacted and confirmed all DXCC entities and now enjoys activating “most wanted” DXCC countries.  Thus far, he has participated in 40 DXpeditions, including 10 to “top 10” most-wanted DXCC entities, i.e. Heard Island, Bhutan, Kingman Reef, South Sandwich Islands, South Georgia Island, Peter I Island, Lakshadweep, Desecheo, Saba/St. Eustatius and Amsterdam and St. Paul Islands.  In 2012, the HKØNA Malpelo Island DXpedition ranked #12 "most wanted" set a new World Record for QSOs (190,000 contacts) for non-hotel, non-fly-in DXpeditions.

Since retiring fifteen years ago to pursue DXpeditioning more or less full time, Bob has participated in ten MAJOR DXpeditions that have made over 1.1 million QSOs.  He has ten "DXpedition of the Year" plaques hanging on his wall.

Bob is a member of the CQ DX Hall of Fame, current Chairman of INDEXA, current President of The KP1-5 Project, and former Chairman of the ARRL DX Advisory Committee (DXAC).  He is a member of the VooDoo Contest Group, FOC (First Class Operator Club), A-1 Operators Club, the Southeastern DX Club Hall of Fame.

As a part of these impressive amateur radio accomplishments, he has operated from what are now National Wildlife Refuges, public lands or environmentally sensitive locations around the world:

• Howland Island 1993 (USFWS Refuge)
• Heard Island 1997 (Australian Marine Reserve and World Heritage Area)
• Palmyra Island 2000 (before FWS Refuge status)
• Kingman Reef 2000 (before FWS refuge status)
• S. Sandwich 2002 (UK Overseas Territory)
• South Georgia 2002 (UK Overseas Territory)
• Clipperton Island 2002 (French Overseas Territory)
• Peter I Island, Antarctica 2006 (subject to Antarctic Treaty provisions)
• Agatti Reef, Lakshadweep Islands 2007 Arabian Sea (Indian Overseas Territory)
• Desecheo Island NWR 2009 (USFWS refuge)
• Malpelo Island (2012) (Colombian National Park, UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site)
• Amsterdam Island, Indian Ocean (2014) One of the overseas territories of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands