I retired from the Evansville, Indiana Police Department with over 30 years of service, the last 16 being the supervisor of the IT and communications unit. I know from experience that in emergency situations, such as blizzards and ice storms, public safety organizations rely heavily on amateur radio. Now I am retired and living in Marion County, Ocala, Florida and have traded blizzards for hurricanes.

I still am a strong supporter of ARES and other amateur radio organizations that provide emergency communications in times of emergencies. I am currently the ARES EC for Marion Co and a member of the Marion Emergency Radio Team - MERT.

I am the webmaster for several amateur radio sites, including www.w9cha.com, the Marion County ARES, and the ARRL North Florida website, www.arrl-nfl.org . I am a member of the Central Florida D-Star Group which advocates installation of repeaters across central Florida from coast to coast. I have two Icom ID880's, an IC80AD. and a DV AP, and Yaesu mobile and HT units.

I am a member of the Central Florida D-Star Group (www.cfldsg.org ) and Silver Springs Radio Club, www.k4gso.com . I manage the Marion Co D-Star repeater, KK4DFC, 145.460 +DUP, in Ocala, Florida.

My call, W9CHA, was my father's who was an avid amateur radio operator. The photo on this page is a picture taken in the 1930's showing his "shack" with his call sign on the wall.