Hi from Arkansas and my "Closet Shack"!

I go by Mike and I am a retired Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employee having spent a career in the air traffic control profession. I've worked in a number of locations but the major ones are Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport (Tower and Radar Approach Control) and Houston Intercontinental Airport (Tower and Radar Approach Control). After retirement I worked as a contract instructor for the University of Oklahoma teaching radar procedures to new radar air traffic controllers at the FAA Academy.

I was initially licensed in 1960 at age 13 in Arlington, Texas as KN5EHM and within the year K5EHM. After an absence from ham radio and a change of location, I was issued AA0OP while in Des Moines, Iowa in 1993. When the vanity call sign program was implemented in 1996 I applied for and was issued K5EHM and several years later W5EHM.

I have a rather small but adequate shack. My equipment consists of a Yaesu FT-2000 transceiver and when conditions warrant, an Al-80B amplifier. The bug is a Vibroplex Original, the paddle a Begali Simplex and the straight key a Navy Flame Proof. The headset is a Heil ProSet with an HC-5 element. Due to my location on one of the golf courses, my antenna is somewhat restricted and as a result, I use a Cushcraft R-8 vertical mounted 8 feet above the ground and integrated among the trees. The 80 mtr antenna is a pair of Hustler RM-80-S resonators, in a dipole configuration, mounted in the attic. I enjoy Morse Code and, therefore, most of my activities are on cw. Normally I operate on 40, 30, 20 and 17 meters. I am a member of the Straight Key Century Club (SKCC).

My wife and I live in a retirement community about 50 miles west of Little Rock, Arkansas in a place called Hot Springs Village (Saline county). It has several golf courses available to us and we live adjacent to one. I also enjoy riding my 1993 Goldwing motorcycle throughout Arkansas and the surrounding states. If you would care to see our area, the following website will allow you to take a brief tour. www.hsvpoa.org

Thanks for your time, HAVE FUN!

73, Mike