The Utterly Zany Radio Website for A.R.S.
KK7UZ

Hi there and welcome to my Radio "HamPage" in Cyberspace.  For tonight's performance, the role of the web author will be played by Dan Camp, KK7UZ, ex N0KFY, ex KB0DTV.

First and Foremost: Ham Radio is FUN!  (Unless, of course, you start taking it and/or yourself too seriously...in which case no hobby is much fun.)

If you are interested in learning more about Ham Radio, give the good folks at the ARRL a look.

My interest in Ham Radio was piqued when I was in the 6th grade, and I did a report on "Shortwave Radio" in which I described in much detail Amateur, not Shortwave, radio.  We lived in Japan at the time, and I knew nothing of reciprocal license agreements, so I assumed that I'd have to wait till we got stateside to pursue the hobby.  By the time we got stateside 3 1/2 years later, other things, like Apple II computers, had taken my interest.

In College at the School of the Ozarks, I saw a notice on the dorm bulletin board that there was going to be a Novice licensing class given by the White River Valley Amateur Radio Society (Branson, MO; now defunct).  There ended up being only two of us in the class, but WM0P (SK) and N0DST stuck with us and we soon were both novices.  (note to self:  trying to learn CW and Greek at the same time was flat out STUPID.)  When I returned from Chrisms break, there was a nice yellow piece of paper from the FCC telling me that I was now KB0DTV.  My roomie promptly put on his best news-anchor voice and said "And now, Live from Point Lookout, its K-Bod-TV"

I never made it on the air as KB0DTV, because I didn't have a rig of any sort until after I upgraded to Tech 3 weeks later.  KB0DTV is dead, long live N0KFY.

My first QSO was with with N0DST on an Icom IC-21 that he had sold me earlier the same evening, and I stayed mainly on 2 meters for the rest of my college career.

After college I married my sweetheart, Diana, and we moved to Seven-land, the southern suburbs of Seattle. About a year and a half later I returned from the Radio Club of Tacoma swapmeet with a Heathkit HW-100 as old as I was. Stringing a 10-Meter dipole from the apartment balcony, I occasionally got on the Novice Phone portion of the band, but only sporadically.

After 10 years of chafing at the confines of my Tech+ license (and explaining that I USED to live in the Midwest, and that despite my 0 call, I was not some bizarre skip in the middle of the night), I finally got serious about studying for my 13 WPM exam. I also decided that the General written exam was laughably simple, and that I should sit for my Advanced written at the same time. So, on November 20, 1999, I attended the VE session in Renton, WA. I had to wait for the 20 WPM exams to be given, so I took and passed my General written, and then took the Advanced written. Finally, my turn came for the code exam. My first words after I took off the headphones were: "Did I pass the Advanced written?" Assured that I had, I filled out my answer sheet ("We don't use those sissy multiple choice questions here..."), got 8 of the 10 correct, and skipped instantly from Tech+ to Advanced. Why be conventional?

A week later I was granted the call sign KK7UZ. My first QSO with my new call, with W6QHD was also my first CW QSO EVER. That's right...I was an Advanced class licensee who had NEVER had a CW QSO before. As I said, why be conventional?

With the coming of restructuring, I upgraded to Amateur Extra on May 6, 2000. I also determined that Ugly Zebra sounded better on the air than Utterly Zany, so now if you hear "King Kong Seven Ugly Zebra" on the air, that would be me.

Daddy's little helper (the future W7QRM??) attempting to explain Valve Theory to an uncomprehending dad, KK7UZ.

On the less Zany side of things, I am active in the Federal Way Amateur Radio Club and am having fun being a Volunteer Examiner, one of my ways of giving back to the hobby.

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