John D. Swapp, K7CXJ Ex KF7UO, AL7DK, W7FKM

My ham radio ticket arrived in March 1958 when I was 16 years old. The Novice call I received was KN7CXJ and the first QSO, outside of my hometown of Overton, Nevada was with WN6JTW in Glendale, California. I remember trembling with excitement! Nevada was a rare state in the 1950's and I oftened received post cards from Hams who wanted to set up a sked to work Nevada for WAS. The gear was a Heathkit DX-35 transmitter and a Hallicrafters S20R receiver. Current rig is a Yaesu FT-990, Ameritron AL-811.

One of the most exciting things I have ever done in the hobby was to operate from the Midway Islands as KF7UO/KH4. It was a great experience to be the cause of fine "pile up".

I've also had the good fun of operating from Tafuna, American Samoa as K7CXJ/KH8 and as Maritime Mobile on the high seas on three occasions.

I operated from WH6CYF Honolulu (The City in the Middle of the Sea) from 1994 to 1998.

My wife, Joy, and I have been married since 1965 and we have two sons who have "grown up to honorable manhood". My other interests are travel, geography and amateur astronomy.

I retired as a Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer in April 1998 after 30 years service. I've been working as the Evidence Technician for the Redmond, WA Police Department since 1999. It is great to be settled down. I can usually be found on the Mercury NW Net on 3965khz Monday at 2100 Pacific Time...the Mercury Western Net on 7228khz Saturday at0715PST. Also on the ERC International Net on 14289khz at 0500Z Saturday (Friday evening Pacific Time).

73. ~John~

Rev: K7CXJ - Sun Nov 8 1:29:48 1998