My current station (2010) in Sumter, SC

      My current station consists of the Flex 5000A and the Icom 756ProIII. Antennas are an inverted V for 75 meters, an elevated vertical for 40 meters, and a log periodic 8 element beam for 20, 17, 15, 12, and 10 meters.

      It's a pleasure to be a member of Jokers net which has so much history. I am a native of North Carolina, born in 1935 in Salisbury, NC. The family moved to Lincolnton, NC in the early 40's where I graduated from high school in 1952. There were two adult hams in Lincolnton who helped me get a general class license and I made my first contact in January 1950 using CW at the tender age of 15. My call in those days was W4PZG. The picture showing

I was already an "experienced" operator in 1951 when this photo was taken.

the early shack was probably taken in 1951. In 1952 I went off to the University of North Carolina where I promptly joined the ROTC program to stay out of the Korean War. We had 500 members in the freshman ROTC class and when I graduated in 1956 there were 38 of us left. Most dropped out of ROTC when the war ended. Anyway I went on active duty in the Air Force in 1957 with no intention of making it a career, especially since I was ejected from flying training for being too tall. Twenty Nine years and four months later I retired from the Air Force. Most of the career was spent in communications electronics. As it turned out I enjoyed the experience immensely (most of the time). Since I couldn't fly for the military I joined various aero clubs and got my private and commercial pilot licenses.

      I lost the W4PZG call because of inactivity while in the military. I did resurface in Germany during the 70's when I saw a Yaesu FT-101 for sale at the audio club. I had to start over and get another US license and then a German license, DA1GP. I had a lot of fun operating as DA1GP for several years. It was the first and only time that I was able to create my own pileup.

My new tower and LPA Beam (2008)

      When I retired from the military and settled in Sumter, SC in 1986 my calls had all expired again. I tested for the general class and was assigned N4XXJ. I got more active and finally obtained the extra class license as AB4ZI. Finally in 1996 I obtained the vanity call W4RG.

This is the RV-8 kit I built. It took four years to complete.

      I finally did something I always wanted to do... that is building an experimental aircraft. The project took four years to complete and I first flew it in March 2002. The RV8 has been a very popular kit, which is designed and marketed by Van's Aircraft in Oregon. I recently sold this aircraft and am pondering building another kit.

Click here for all the details about Van's Aircraft