Garland Caudill - Kingsport, TN ex-KB4JTA

This picture is old. My rig has changed. I am no longer hirsute. I'll come up with a new photo soon. I hope.
I grew up in a remote mountainous area which barely had electric power. I did not know anyone with any electronic knowledge and I certainly was unaware of any such a thing as ham radio.

As a boy I became fascinated with anything that had a power cord on it, and I generally wound up taking it apart to see what was on the inside.
Nothing was sacred or escaped my screwdriver and pliers - except Mom's washing machine motor. She issued an ultimatum that "if I so much as touched it there would be one less plate to set for supper".

Nevertheless, I persisted and gained enough rudimentary knowledge to repair the family's AM radio and a fewother appliances. When our much beloved black-and-white TV went on the fritz, my Dad declared that he wouldn't spend a penny to fix it.

I was able to diagnose the trouble and replace the flyback, or high voltage, transformer and restore the picture.
Such minor successes kept my interest in electronics at a high level.

It was during this episode that I found out what 'HIGH VOLTAGE' really meant.    
My first experience in two-way radio communication came in the late 50s with an old CB transceiver called a Lincoln. It had a super regenative receiver and a crystal controlled transmitter. I found out quickly that I only needed one crystal in the middle of the band to cover all the frequencies. CB radio entertained me for a year or two until I realized that it was not the kind of communication hobby that would satisfy me.

It was only after I was married and my father-in-law became licensed that I met my first ham. WB4OZX was Charlie's call at the time (now K4OZX). When the wife and I visited Charlie, I would sneak off to his shack where I would tune across the bands, listening to operators making contacts, rag-chewing with each other, and really enjoying themselves. I was enjoying it too! This is when the bug really bit me.

I found out that the local radio club was conducting a code class and I signed up for it.

Soon I had my Tech-Plus license and got on 2-meter FM where I met a great bunch of local hams. They accepted me into their group and encouraged me to grow in the amateur hobby. All I had was an old FM-144 and an antenna that I had cut to frequency , but I had a great time.

We even had an on-the-air computer net where we swapped programs with each other.
Well, all good things must end - the PLL circuit went out on the FM-144 and I retired from hamming for a while.

When my license came up for renewal, I decided to either "get in or out". I decided to "get in" and bought myself a new 2-meter rig.

I also purchased an HF station from Jim "Mr. Clark" W4HRT - a highly respected local ham. I bought his "like new" transceiver, a purchase that I have never regretted.

Also, "just for hauling it off", he made me the proud owner of an old tower and a tri-band beam. I applied a lot of elbow grease and generous coats of "Charlie's Special Never Dry Silver Paint and Preservative" to that old tower and beam.
Then the best bunch of hams I ever hope to know showed up, and despite rain, swamps and still-wet silver paint, they put it all up for me. That is when I learned about antenna parties and I since have had the pleasure to reciprocate.

My only regret that I have is that I was not exposed to this fine hobby at an earlier age so that I could have gotten involved a lot sooner than I did.

Now, I need to upgrade. I will, but I am a person who takes his time about things so, while I do it, right now I am just enjoying the hobby and learning something new every time I get on the air. As a old friend of mine once said , "As long as you are green you grow, but when you get ripe you rot"! I hope that I stay green for a long time.

Flash! - As of May, 2004 I am now very proud to be an Extra Class operator!

73 - Garland W4WFX

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When the silly jokers who did it go grow up, maybe I'll put it back again.

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