NEW CALL SIGN OF W4EV as of 02/07/12!

My interest in amateur radio began back in the 70’s while on vacation. The owner of the RV park we were visiting was a HF operator. As a young kid I didn’t understand the dits & dahs, but I sure was amazed that he did and could communicate around the world. He also worked some phone on HF to show me what was as close as the mic if you had the interest and put forth the effort. At 7 years old I wasn’t about to earn my ticket but his kindness and demonstration of ham radio sure left an impression with me.

“Life happens” and about 30 years later my interest in amateur radio re-surfaced. In the spring of 2004 I learned that the local ARES group was sponsoring a Technician study class. I signed up for the class, tested successfully, and was assigned the call of KI4FAU on April 13, 2004.

On May 12, 2007 I passed my Element 3 exam and upgraded to a General ticket. Most of the time that I held General privileges I lived in an apartment which kept me off of HF due to restrictions. I have since moved to my own home again (without antenna restrictions!), upgraded to Extra (May 8, 2009), and am now beginning to really enjoy the HF bands.

January 20, 2012 I applied for the vanity call of W4EV and was pleasantly surprised to be granted this call sign on February 07, 2012. The call is a nice play on my surname and flows well on CW and phone. I have been in touch with the family of the former(SK) W4EV and the parallels in the two lives is downright uncanny. I can only hope to accomplish in my life what the former W4EV did in his time here on Earth.

My shack is an exercise in efficiency of space and finances so I don’t have an impressive wall-to-wall shack to show off here with my bio, but I had to include a photo of the pride and joy of my life—my daughter Kelley. She's not quite ready to study/test for Technician, but she already has a great interest in the hobby and enjoys when I let her work 3rd party.

73 de KI4FAU W4EV