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W4FWL   ex: K4SRB IVAN L COOK 603 Fulton Road C-26 TALLAHASSEE, FL 32312-4876 USA Lookups:   1534 QRZ Member
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QRZ Record: 1426072 Login to manage/edit Lookups: 1534 (1541) Mailing Label... QRZ Admin: W4FWL Last Update: 2009-07-01 11:56:05 Class: Extra Codes: HVIE Effective: 2007-05-19 Expires: 2016-12-08 Latitude: 30.480684 (30° 28' 50'' N) Longitude: -84.291184 (84° 17' 28'' W) Grid Square: EM70ul US State: Florida US County: Leon Previous: K4SRB GMT Offset: -5 hours ULS Record: 2865569 FCC page... Admin For: (1) W4FWL

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 Hello folks,

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.

 

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 proudly call the Thomasville, Georgia Amateur Radio Club my second family.  This is a great group of diverse, down-to-earth folks who always make you feel welcome.  Thomasville is only 30 miles northeast of Tallahassee.  Through the Thomasville club, I serve as a volunteer instructor and volunteer examiner for amateur radio licensing.  Over the years, I have helped train 18 people for their first ham license and/or upgrade of their license.  I have also enjoyed being the Field Day VHF Captain in Thomasville since 2004.

 

I work for the Florida Department of Heath.  There, I am involved with licensing activities as well.  I process licensing applications for Emergency Medical Technicians, Paramedics, and Radiological Technologists.

 

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. 

 

I have recently built prototypical two element cubical-quads for 2 meters and for 6 meters.  I construct these antennas from readily-available PVC tubing & fittings, and insulated 14 AWG stranded copper wire.  I have found and demonstrated an improved method for matching the feed point impedance of these antennas to standard 50 ohm coaxial antenna cable. 

 

As of early June 2009, I have successfully built and tested three element cubical quads for 6 meters and for 2 meters.  I plan on using these antennas at Field Day this year!  I borrow from calculations developed by L.B. Cebik, W4RNL, to determine element perimeter and spacing.  Structurally, I developed a system whereby element spacing and orientation are easily adjusted, and element perimeter can be adjusted without too much effort.  In the near future, I plan to build more multi-element VHF quads and, perhaps, multi-band/multi-element VHF quads on a common boom. 

 

My interest in antennas all started with dipoles and ground planes.  I have also designed, built, and successfully tested field-deployable, temporary, 26' and 34' telescoping antenna masts.  I use different sizes of schedule 40 PVC pipe for the mast sections. 

 

I’d love to talk antennas with anyone interested! 

 

Best 73,

Ivan