Thanks to Len, NO4R, for making all these things possible.

I entered ham radio the same way so many people have in the last 20 years or so. I came in via CB radio, otherwise known as criminal band. :-) I was a cber for a little over a year and  was thinking there had so be something more. Several of my friends became hams and as I learned more about it my interest grew. Finally a good friend of mine, Len Wathen-NO4R, convinced me to try for my license. A little study, a couple of tests, and several weeks later my novice license shows up in the mail. KA4IQD was my novice call and I've never changed it. That was June 1979 and I was 18 years old.

There have been some changes over the years but not anything really major. The biggest change is that I finally got my extra class license back in '91. Thanks to Darrell, KD4GLF, for harassing me about it until I finally gave in and upgraded. I was off the air for several years in the '80's and early '90's. Darrell wanted me to teach him morse and help him study for the theory test so he could come in as a novice. That was early '91. I had never completely lost my interest in ham radio and the time spent helping Darrell got me so fired up I borrowed money and got back on the air in the spring of '91. I've been on steady since and plan on keeping it that way. Anyway, he kept hounding me about still being a general class after all those years until I finally got the extra just to shut him up. :-) At the same time I was passing the advanced and extra tests, Darrell was passing his novice. Thanks Darrell. I hope your years in ham radio are as much fun as mine have been.

My main interest in ham radio has always been morse code. It was my first love and is still my only mode of operation on the hf bands. I have done some contesting, and some dxing, but I mainly love to do what is known in the hobby as "rag chew". I love to talk with people. Long conversations are what I enjoy. I especially enjoy winter nights on 160 or 80 meters. A couple of places to look for me are between about 1800 to 1810 kHz on 160 and 3705 to 3715 kHz on 80. You can also find me on during the day but with band conditions the way they are right now I move around a lot.

Before moving to Somerset I was active in a few other aspects of ham radio. I was involved with the Bullitt Amateur Radio Society, or BARS club, in Bullitt county Kentucky. I wrote a few newsletter articles for them. I was a regular check in on the weather nets held on the BARS repeater on 146.700. I did a lot helping to track down lids jamming or interfering with the repeater. I was always available to help out the newcomers that showed up on the repeater. I was the first contact for many people on the .70. I helped many people there increase their code speed to upgrade their licenses. I even taught code to a few people from scratch that wanted to pass the 5 word per minute code test.

Since moving to Somerset in the summer of '97 some of that has changed. I don't have the time I used to have when I was single and that cuts in on the radio time. I've not been near as active on vhf is the biggest thing probably. I've been talking to some of the local hams but have yet to really get back into the things I used to do. Hopefully I'll be able to get into it a little more as time passes.

Anyone around the Somerset, Ohio area that might want to learn morse or wants help getting into ham radio please feel free to drop me an email. I'll do what I can. Lastly, anyone needing Ohio on any band, cw only, drop me a line. I'm a sure QSL and will be happy to try to work you.

Well so much for the introduction. Still awake? I'll be covering some of these things in other areas in more detail so be prepared. :-)