Helping the U.S.Military for Nearly 25 Years with 2-Way Radio Equipment and Jobs

For more than 20 years, Discount Two-Way Radio has been a proud supporter of the United States Military. From providing valuable two-way radio equipment like at the RCA RBM 8958 Motorola replacement battery, the RCA RPX4600 portable radio, and RCA high noise reduction headsets at the best prices available to hiring military veterans who have served in the United States armed forces, Discount Two-Way Radio has been at the “tip of the spear” when it comes to recognizing and helping the armed forces in any way possible.

According to a recent study by the Kellogg School of Management, the United States has one of the largest active military forces on the planet earth. This includes 1.3 million in active duty and another 865,000 on active reserve. Yet, the military and its veterans makes up only a tiny fraction of the American workforce. That’s why Discount Two-Way Radio takes an active role in helping our service veterans whenever possible.

One very human example of this emphasis can be seen in one of our expert radio technicians, Wayne, a 15-year radio technician with the United States Air Force, and wartime veteran having spent time in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. Discount Two-Way Radio hired Wayne after he was unemployed for three years. Not only did Discount Two-Way Radio give him a job, but the company also provided him an opportunity to put the radio electronics skills he had learned in the U.S. Air Force to use.

Interview with Discount Two-Way Radio Technician and Air Force Veteran, Wayne

DTWR: What do you do at Discount Two-Way Radio?

Wayne: I am a repair technician. I fix whatever needs to be fixed. Two-way radios, walkie-talkies, base stations. I also make cable and build whatever needs to be built.

Wayne was is a professional radio technician at Discount Two-Way Radio. Before that he spent 15 years in the United States Air Force as a Radio Technician Sergeant.

DTWR: Tell us about your background in the United States Air Force

Wayne: I joined the Air Force in 1980 and went to radio school in Biloxi, Mississippi. After being trained there for six months or so, I got my first duty assignment at in March Air Force Base where I worked on high frequency radio communications and tactical classified systems. Then I worked on high frequency radio communications and tactical classified systems. Let me think about how many assignments I had… I was first stationed at Marc Then I was stationed at Rockville Air Station in Iceland where I worked on rivet switch radio equipment for control tower radios. After that I was stationed at Silver Creek Communications Annex in Nebraska, Tonapah Test Range in Nevada, and then McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento County. Then when the Gulf War broke out, I was stationed in Saudi Arabia twice. That was a total of 15 years and 21 days.

DTWR: How did you became familiar with radios?

Wayne: Well to be honest, I just kind of fell into radios. I do remember my recruiter telling me to do not pick something generic like ‘general electronics’, but rather pick something specific. So, I picked radios.

DTWR: Do you apply a lot of what your learned in the Air Force to what you do at Discount Two-Way Radio?

Wayne: Oh, heck yes. Every day. Every project I work on has something relation to what I learned in the military. Of course, the radios I worked on in the military were larger systems like big repeaters, and AM aircraft radios. Here, I mostly work on small digital FM handhelds sets. But their basic electronics technology is very similar.

DTWR: What did you do after you retired from the United States Air Force?

Wayne: Well I retired in 1995 and then right out of the service I went to work for a spectral lab where I worked as an environmental test technician. I basically I performed the final tests of solar cells before the final product was shipped to the customer. After that I worked as an audio technician working with PCM (Pulse-Code Modulation) audio players. Then I had worked for more than 15 years with cell phone companies installing repeaters throughout the Southern California area.

DTWR: What attracted you to Discount Two-Way Radios?

Wayne: I was out of work for three years. I mean no job at all, and I was applying to a lot of companies. This was the first company that even responded to my inquiries, and they were the only company to offer me an interview in an area I knew about. I was qualified, experienced, and a military veteran but nobody would give me a chance until Discount Two-Way Radio did. Nobody even was interested in hiring me. I am very grateful to Discount Two-Way Radio.

DTWR: Do you consider yourself an electronics expert?

Wayne: No, I do not think I would consider myself an expert. There are a lot of people in this company that know a lot more than I do because they have spent their career working on this specific equipment where I have worked on more general electronics projects. I help my manager with projects he needs assistance with like building base stations or other components.

DTWR: Are you learning new skills at Discount Two-Way Radio?

Wayne: Absolutely. I’m learning about digital radios and how to do the programming and understand that each radio has an individual ID, whereas with analog technology you don’t necessarily have to have the ID because I could just copy the program over.

DTWR: What did you learn in the military that you are applying at Discount Two-Way Radio?

Wayne: I am definitely transferring my ability to understand how radio technology works and how to quickly troubleshoot a problem with trans-receiving or transmitting, and basic electronic knowledge like reading schematics. Of course, in the military I worked on large systems rather than just one radio. So, my experience is in analyzing an entire system, but there are a lot of similarities between the two types of jobs.

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