I was licensed as a Technician way back in 1976 at the tender age of 15 with the callsign WB5XIK. The FCC took that callsign back about a week after I received it (said they weren't supposed to give 'X' suffixes out to regular people) and re-dubbed me WB5YGR. While completing my electrical engineering degree at Miss. State University, there was no time or funds for hobbies, and I was forced into inactivity for several years. I renewed my ticket under the grace period in 1989 and was issued the new callsign of N5IBL. I quickly upgraded to General, then Advanced, and received the callsign KI5NB while flying KC-135s for the Air Force, in Shreveport, LA. In the mid 1990s, I upgraded to Extra Class and was issued my last FCC assigned call of AC5ZU. I recently acquired the vanity call of K5OLV. I obtained my first pilot's license as a teenager flying out of our local airport here in Olive Branch, MS, which has the four-letter ICAO identifier of KOLV. The new call ties in with that history and my hometown. My wife, Gayle, is a Tech (callsign N5SIE) and my 24 year old son, Ben (who is also a pilot) is a Tech as well (callsign KD5LSF).

In early 1992, after spending almost eight years in the Air Force, we all moved back to north Mississippi, putting down permanent roots in the old hometown. I am currently flying full time as a captain in the Airbus A300 and A310 for FedEx out of Memphis, TN. I was fairly active up until 2001 when multiple deployments with my air guard unit after 9/11 and losing my antennas to an ice storm, coincided with a waning interest in radios. It was just as well since family interests and all the activities associated with two teenagers needed my attention.

Now, I find myself having a new desire to re-discover ham radio. I have put together a working, but modest, station that is slowly undergoing upgrades as funds and time allows. So far, it consists of an old KW-TS440SAT used primarily for PSK work. HF/ VHF/UHF sideband is via a Yeasu FT-857D.

Both radios are switched into a 700 ft loop antenna at 25 feet that is used for 80m-6m. The rest of the antenna stack can be seen in the picture at left. Starting at the top is a Comet GP-1 for local 2m/440 FM, a homebrew 432mhz yagi, Cushcraft 10 element 2m yagi, and finally a Cushcraft 5 element 6m yagi. The feed point for the BOL (big ole loop) is just below this stack. The top of the GP-1 is at 40 ft. I hope to mount a BTV-6 HF vertical, which is waiting its turn in a box in my shop, somewhere in the back half of our two acre lot soon, but having acquired a taste for the world above 10m lately, look for me to be operating more and more in that region of the spectrum.

All in all, life is very good. I am living joyfully under God's Grace! Hope you are too!