Radio has fascinated me since I was a kid a long time ago. Messing with an old Atwater Kent radio using my mom's aluminum clothes line as an antenna brought in AM stations from far away as well as giving me some awesome electrical shocks. After I saved money from a paper route, I bought a Hallicrafters S38E which opened up the world of shortwave listening from around the world. My dad was the fire chief where I grew up and once the police and fire got their GE progress line two way radios, I was hooked. Volunteered as a RACES operator at age 14 and used Gonset Communicators II and III. Got a Second Class Radiotelephone license in 1973 and a First Class Radiotelephone Operator license in 1975. Licensed as KD4EGV as a tech and I worked up to General, Advanced and now Extra.

Public saftey activities have been a big part of my life. I grew up in the fire service and became a volunteer fire fighter and rose to the rank of Chief of the Boone Fire Department and briefly as the Planner for the Charlotte Fire Department.

I came to North Carolina to teach at Appalachian in 1970 after graduate school at the University of Georgia. I have lived in and around Boone, North Carolina for 35 years but also spent six years in Chatham County, NC. My professional career involved local government management and I have been involved for more than three decades in public safety and telecommunications planning issues.  I served for twelve years as a Town Manager and as a County Manager.

Over the years, I was sporadically active as a ham. Space limitations forced me to operate on vhf and uhf but I recently bought a home and, since I retired in December 2011, I now have time and space to get into hf.

The picture on the right is the view I have from my deck when the Fall colors sweep across the Blue Ridge mountains. My house is at 3850 feet above sea level.

If you are in or around Boone, we would be happy to have you check into the Watauga Amateur Radio Club two meter net on 147.360 mhz at 8 p.m. any Thursday evening.