 |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Click for more detail...
Years before becoming a licensed ham, Wil (that’s with one “L”) was interested in shortwave radio and AM/FM DXing. Growing up in northeast Louisiana, (you may still catch Wil at times operating portable (AI4QT/5) in Bonita in Morehouse Parish, Louisiana) he spent many evenings tuning into the powerhouse AM stations of the 1960s and early 1970s-- such as WWL and WNOE New Orleans, KXOK and KMOX St. Louis, WLW Cincinnati, KAAY Little Rock, KOA Denver, WHAS Louisville, WLS Chicago and of course, WSM Nashville.
Although somewhat new to the Ham hobby (06/2003), Wil was an avid listener of shortwave radio from about 1974 to 1985. In the mid 1980s, his shortwave listening took a back seat when the personal computer craze took hold and computer geeks started to use email and Bulletin Board Systems (BBS)--all at the lightning speed of 300 bps!!!
Many years passed before Wil finally acquired his amateur radio license, which he did in Cleveland, Ohio (June 2003) while attending a NASA education conference at Glenn Research Center. He states that he doesn't know why it took him so long to get into ham radio-- unless of course, it was having to learn code. Wil says it was probably wise the FCC dropped the code requirement for the first entry of ham radio (and now for all classes of ham radio). Otherwise, he doubts many newcomers would be drawn to the hobby. Wil equates learning code to trying to learn Roman numerals in the 21st Century. Wil states, It’s quaint to know Roman numerals, but does knowing Roman numerals make a difference in learning, for example, mathematics? Likewise, does code make one knowledgeable of electronics? But having said this, Wil did upgrade his ticket to General when code was still required--albeit only 5 WPM—(January 2006) and to Extra Class (August 2006).
Wil is very pleased to have joined the ranks of other radio amateurs and he will gladly mail QSL cards to those that request--even contacts on two meters and 70 cm.
Radios that he uses are the Yaesu FT-840, FT-857D, FT-950, FT-450, FT-817ND, Icom 703 plus (Wil really enjoys the challenge of making contacts with "mega-low" power of 2.5 to 5 Watts), and Kenwood 480 HX running barefoot on all and depending on band and conditions using either a G5RV approximately 30 feet above ground level, 80 meter double bazooka, Hy Gain Vertical AV-18VS or an assortment of dipoles.
Two regrets Wil has though are that he didn’t start earlier in this most enjoyable of hobbies and that his late uncle (W5CYF, Silent Key 2000) never knew that his nephew took up his favorite pastime.
BTW, the pix is Wil flying down to Lafayette, LA from Huntsville International Airport for a NASA Explorer School visit. While airborne he was able to make several air-mobile contacts on 2 meters. The aircraft is a Gulfstream II.
***************************************** SHARING THE STARS - NASA EDUCATION - July 2006 http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/k-4/features/F_Sharing_the_Stars.html NASA EDUCATION
Last modified: Fri Sep 11 20:48:52 2009 Does this page contain inappropriate content? If so, Report this page... |
||||||||||||||||
