Hello,
My name is Jack O'Mara and my call is W4NF (Whiskey Four November Fox).
I live in Manassas, Virginia. I have been married for 19 years to a
very understanding and loving woman named Laurie. We have 2 kids, Shannon
age 18 and Sean age 16 (teenagers now) that keep us pretty busy. We
recently moved from Woodbridge, VA to our new home in Manassas. The
house is beautiful (good for my wife) but it is in an antenna-restricted
community (bad for me). Our house sits on 2 acres. Shortly after moving
in, the property that adjoins the back of our lot went up for sale.
This property was outside the restrictive covenants of my community
and was zoned as an agricultural property. After a lot of talking and
pleading my wife agreed to let me purchase the property.
My
family owns this property jointly, my Dad owns 1 acre, my sister and
brother-in-law own 3 acres and I own 1 acre where my 75 foot tower sits.Now
for a little background on my family and amateur radio (Ham Radio).
I have been a licensed amateur radio operator since 1975 when I received
the call WN4NFS. I upgraded to General Class the next year and received
the call WB4NFS. My Dad, also named Jack O'Mara was then K4HWG (now
W4AD). He helped me along and put up with my many attempts at new antenna
designs dangling from the trees around the house. My brother, Bill (then
WN4RMJ, now W4RM) received
his license in 1976 and one of my three sisters, Colleen, WD4ADZ, also
received her license. Needless to say, there was soon a line at my Dads
station for operating time. I soon went to college at the United
States Merchant Marine Academy where ham radio ended up taking a
back seat to school. I did get to operate on board ship during my two
6 month sea years as an Engineering Cadet.
Once
school was over I was able to get a small tower up and start contesting
again. This is when I upgrade to an Extra Class license and when the
Vanity call sign program started I dropped the BS from my call and became
W4NF. I
am very involved in Ham Radio Contesting and have been a member of The
Potomac Valley Radio Club since 1976, joining when I was 16 years old.
I am also a member of Woodbridge Wireless, Inc. and I am the coordinator
of our twice-annual treks up the mountain for the June and September
VHF Contests. We operate as W4IY and also during our record setting
Field Day events. I have also been on several Dxpeditions, Bermuda (during
my 10 year wedding anniversary), Montserrat where we placed first in
the world in Multi Two as VP2MFM
and most recently in the British Virgin Islands (Tortola) as VP2VW
where we placed in the Top 5 World Wide in the Multi Two category.
Professionally, I
am a Marine Engineer and a 1982 graduate of the United States Merchant
Marine Academy. I am currently Vice President of OAK Management, Inc.
where I am also a principal owner.
Visit
my company's web page at: OAK Management,
Inc.
