Shelbyville. Indiana
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History: I have been legally blind xince May of 1999. I became a licensed Amateur Radio Operator in June of 1992. I had always been interested in ham radio since high school studied to get my license but never did. In 1969 I was the School Radio Club Sec/Tres. One of those things you know....discovered girls and cars. Never forgot about it though evenually getting into 11-meters (C.B.) for some time but when that got crowded with fowl language and soon no regulation I turned it off never to turn it back on again. Went through my boating days and when I had to give ithat up I needed something to do. One of my boating friend's Dad was a ham and he used to bring his hand-held radio down to the boat . My friend Brent Drake and I became interested in this mode of communication again. Bob Phares K9IJX (John's Dad) began dropping literature off at my place encouraging Brent and I to get our license.
Since becoming a Ham operator I have been President of the local radio club here in Shelbyville several times and have served as V-President and Sec./Treasurer off and on during that time. I organized our weekly nets and was named the Net manager. I later was appointed by the state Section Emergency Coordinator of A.R.E.S.to the position of Emergency Coordinator in 1995 for our county.
My responsibilities as coordinator was to be in charge of the Skywarn program which I had already established a few years earlier. Skywarn is the nations network of weather spotters for the National Weather Service. Should we have an emergency situation of any large magnitude (heaven forbid if that happens) I would be in charge of organizing the local hams for communications, safety & welfare checks and any other functions where we would be useful during that time. I also organized a couple of Public Service activities one of which is the Shelbyville Triathlon Series where the guys serve as spotters for the events sponser.
Station: My station consists of Alinco VHF/UHF gear w/TE Systems 2m amplifier for local communications. My HF SSB radio is a Kenwood TS-940SAT, matching speaker w/Heil Dual-10 Boom microphone ( no HF amplifier just yet ). Antennas include a G5RV inverted V dipole configuration for all bands except 160m. A Mosley Classic TA-33 Tri-bander for 10, 15 and 20m up 50'. On top of the Mosley I have a Cushcraft 13B 2m beam and a Comet GP-6 Dualbander at the very top. I also have a Comet GP-3 Dualbander side mounted at 35' used mainly for digital modes.
Interests: My Amateur Radio hobby consists of such modes as VHF/UHF operations for mainly local traffic, public service events and other ham radio activities within the county. I enjoy DX'ing, Contests (mainly Field Day). Satellite communications, Traffic nets and most digital communications such as PSK-31 and Packet.
If you would like more information about Amateur Radio feel free to contact me at [email protected]or visit The Blue River Valley Amateur Radio Society website at www.qsl.net/w9juq
After recieving my
no code tech license in 1992 I had been subjected to a lot of ribbing from
some of the guys about upgrading, so on October 30, 1999 I
finally passed my 5 wpm code test. And on October 28, 2000 almost one year
later I passed the General class theory test.
On February 24, 2001 almost 5 months later I passed the Amateur Extra exam. It took me 30 years to get here but I did it.
(See ya on HF)
Local VHF and UHF Repeaters - 145.480, 224.440 & 444.975
Also check out some of the cool links below.