SBARC- September 17, 2004 Meet "Mr. ICOM" – Tokuzo Inoue - JA3FA

By

Sam Vigil WA6NGH

On a recent business trip to Japan, Sam Vigil, WA6NGH, visited ICOM Headquarters in Osaka, Japan and interviewed Tokuzo Inoue, Founder and President of ICOM. He also visited and photographed one of ICOM’s factories. The talk will also include a glimpse of Japan’s famous bullet trains and other high technology wonders. The full text of the CQ article that WA6NGH wrote on the interview is on the ICOM website:

http://www.icom.co.jp/world/info/p-interview/

Sam Vigil, WA6NGH, was first licensed as a Novice in 1961. His first rig was a Knight-Kit Receiver and 50W CW transceiver. He joined the Navy Reserve in 1966 and served 3 years as a Cryptologic Technician Third Class and then 4 years active duty as a Cryptologic Officer in Washington, DC and Puerto Rico. He served an additional 22 years in the Naval Reserve and retired as a Commander in 1995. He spent much of his Naval Reserve career based at the Santa Barbara Reserve Center. He is active on 40 M SSB and 2M VHF. His rigs include a Collins KWM-1 and an ICOM 706 MKII. He is also interested in ARDF and was a participant in the 2004 US ARDF Championship. He has written nine ham radio articles for CQ, CQ VHF, QST, and World Radio magazines. In "real life" he is a Professor of Environmental Engineering at Cal Poly. He is also a member of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Search and Rescue Unit and is certified as an Emergency Medical Technician.