My name is Ivan Cook. I live in Tallahassee, Florida and I have been an amateur radio operator since 1998. W4FWL is a new call sign as of December, 2006. Many of you know me as K4SRB, and a few might remember my first call sign: KF4YLN. The FWL in the new call sign stands for “Full Wave Loop” … one of my favorite antennas.

I was born in 1958 in Birmingham, Alabama. I graduated from Vestavia Hills High School (just outside of Birmingham) in 1976. I attended Jacksonville State University in northeast Alabama, and graduated from the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB) in 1980. I received a B.A. in the social and behavioral sciences (sociology major / psychology minor) from UAB.

In 1981, I moved to Tallahassee to do graduate work in sociology at Florida State University. I specialized in social psychology and marriage & families. I also gained valuable experience in statistics, research methods, and teaching.

My “first” career was as a research associate for various agencies in the Florida state government. I shifted over to my “second” career, electronics, about the time I got into ham radio.

I am proud of my accomplishments in ham radio and electronics. I went from first opening my novice-tech license preparation manual to earning my 20 WPM Extra Class license in 16 months. In June 2003, I completed a program of studies in electronics technology at the Lively Technical Center in Tallahassee. Along the way, I’ve earned a few of the FCC commercial licenses: Marine Radio Operator Permit, General Radiotelephone Operators License - with the Ship Radar Endorsement, Global Maritime Distress and Safety System operator and maintainer license, and the General Mobile Radio Service license.

I am proud member of the Thomasville, Georgia Amateur Radio Club. This is a great group of diverse, down-to-earth folks who make you feel welcome and like family. Thomasville is only 30 miles northeast of Tallahassee. Through the Thomasville club, I serve as volunteer instructor and volunteer examiner for amateur radio licensing. Over the years, I have helped train 16 people for their first ham license and/or upgrade of their license.

I have been involved with various amateur radio nets. From 1999 until 2004, I was the Friday night net control for the Northern Florida Phone Net (NFPN). This is a traffic/message handling net that meets every evening at 7:30 p.m. eastern time on 3950 kHz in the 75 meter band. I was the founder and a net control of the Seven Hills Two Meter Sideband Net and the Big Bend Six Meter Net. From time to time, I check into South Coast Amateur Radio Service Net (South CARS) and the Capital District (Tallahassee area and surrounding counties) Amateur Radio Emergency Service Net (ARES).

Folks around Tallahassee and Thomasville know that one of my favorite ham radio activities is designing, building, and testing wire or copper tubing antennas. I have successfully built and tested full wave loop antennas for use in the 10 meter, 6 meter, 2 meter, 1.25 meter, and 70 centimeter bands. Other successful antenna projects include omni-directional horizontally polarized turnstile quads for 6 meters and 2 meters, and a waveguide-type antenna for the 23 centimeter band. Of course, I have successfully made half wave dipole and quarter wave ground plane antennas for a variety of amateur radio bands.

Currently, I am working on a broad-banded and durable copper tubing loop for 2 meters and a multi-use connector for HF wire antennas. I have also designed, built, and successfully tested a field-deployable, temporary 34 foot telescoping antenna mast. The mast is made from readily-available PVC pipe. I’d love to talk antennas with anyone interested.

73

Ivan