![dan_koellen_400_400.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/096da0_b2498332c1c649aa88fd1ffc64223b60~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_44,y_0,w_311,h_400/fill/w_183,h_234,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/dan_koellen_400_400.jpg)
Interested in learning more about Me?
Listen to the Hamdom Thoughts podcast by AD6DM interviewing me about Ham Radio, Making, Hacking and SOTA
Dan Koellen AI6XG
I have been an electronic hobbyist since I was young. Tearing apart old tube radios and televisions was a fascinating past time for me in my early teens. I then discovered shortwave radio and eventually got my amateur radio license in high school.
In middle school I discovered a newly published book that explained what integrated circuits were. That is when I knew I wanted to build integrated circuits, not just use them in circuits as a career. That set me on course to study STEM before it was known as STEM. In undergraduate and graduate school I studied solid state device physics and electronic materials. The engineering aspect I had already learned from my electronics hobby and ham radio activity.
While I was working in the semiconductor industry I was able to experience and contribute to the design, fabrication, testing, marketing and sales of integrated circuits. A fascinating journey for me. After retiring from industry I drifted back to ham radio and electronics as hobbies. I obtained my extra class license in 2017 after a few decades of lapsed license.