Hi de K9JF

Amateur Radio is not just my hobby; it is a way of life! By this I mean that many of my life experiences and achievements occured because of my interest in Amateur Radio. Of course, one has to be rounded in life and outlook. Thus, melding of life's experience and achievements along with a wonderful hobby makes one more interesting and tolerant.

I was first licensed in 1959 as KN9TZH in Fort Wayne, Indiana as a high school freshman. I passed the general exam in 1960 and received the call K9TZH which I used until 1978 when I received my current K9JF call sign. During the early 70's, I served in the US Army and was licensed as DL5JF in Germany. Also in 1970, I passed both the Amateur Extra exam and the 2nd Class Radiotelephone commercial exam in Philadelphia, PA (on the same day), while taking time off from my U.S. Army Radio Officer classes at Ft. Monmouth, NJ.

My initial interest was DX'ing which continues today. I received my first DXCC at age 16. Currently, I have 367 DXCC entities confirmed and achieved the #1 DXCC status after confirming all current DXCC entities.

I was co-founder (with W9RN) and served as the 1st president of the Greater Milwaukee DX Association (Milwaukee, WI) in 1976, was president of the Willamette Valley DX Club (Portland, OR) in 1987, and the Clark County Amateur Radio Club (Vancouver, WA) in 1996. These positions whetted my appetite for amateur radio politics.  I was appointed as the ARRL Northwestern Division Vice-Director in 1999 and am currently the Northwestern Division Director since 2005. Service on the ARRL Board of Directors has been most interesting! I was appointed 3 times to the Administrative and Finance Committee as Vice Director and served as the A&F chair for three years between 2008 and 2011. I also served on the Executive Committee for one year and on the Program and Services Committee for three years. At the ARRL Board meeting in January 2012, I was elected for another term on the Executive Committee by my fellow Board members. My other Amateur Radio passion is getting young people interested and served on Scouting Committee trying to create enthuisasm for radio among the scouting community as my entry into Amateur Radio was through Boy Scouts.

My current interest remains DX'ing, contesting (as a "hired gun") from elite contest stations, and county hunting. I achieved the USA-County Award in May 2011 having worked and confirmed the 3077 USA counties. I believe my next challenge will be 6-Meters and RTTY.

Professionally, I have an BA in Political Science from Anderson University (IN), an MBA in Finance from Indiana University, an Accounting Certificate from Portland State University (OR) and am a licensed CPA. I recently retired and don't understand how my schedule continues to fill-up as I continue catch-up on "honey do's" and fit in some part-time financial consulting. So much for sitting in the rocking chair!

My wife, Shirley (W7SAF) generally supports my Amateur Radio passion and we have been married since 1972. Our two boys are living in northern WA and in the Seattle area One has his MBA and the other just completed his Dr. of Physical Therapy degree.

We hope to continue our world-wide travels, meeting people we have contacted over the years. We have had numerous visitors from all over the world and invite fellow hams to stop-by when you are in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Having just spent 5 weeks visiting Europe in September 2011. we know that this wonderful hobby has allowed us to become not just tourists but "temporary locals" in the places we visited!

73 from God's country.the Pacific Northwest

Jim K9JF