Hello All:

I am Chuck Ehrhardt: ARRL, ARRL-VE, ARES/RACES Orange County Florida, ARMY MARS AAV4DR, AMSAT #35406, Orlando Amateur Radio Club, QCWA #30158, OOTC #3915 and 10-X #1173.

The calls that I have had are: KN9PQR, K9PQR, AFA9PQR,W4RCF, AFA4RCF and KG4EWZ then back to K9PQR.

Just a short history about myself: Herb Brier W9EGQ, Associate & Novice Editor for CQ, of Gary, Indiana was my mentor in 1958 and nurtured a love for Amateur Radio in me. Herb also helped me lay a very strong foundation in Electronics that has served me well over the past 44 years and as a result I have never been without full time and well paid employment.

I have only had 3ea employers in my working life and they were: the USAF 1961-1969, Kennedy Space Center 1969-1971, Walt Disney World 1971-1978 and back to Kennedy Space Center 1978-09/21/2001 when I retired from the contractor side of the house.

My red headed wife and I have been married for 39 years and counting. She was a Tramua-One Peds RN in a inner city Emergency Room for more then 30 years and now is a full time volunteer for The American Red Cross of Central Florida Chapter 10-029 now that she has retired. We have a grown daughter and son that are out on their own and doing just fine. I became involved in the family, left the service and allowed my Amateur License expire. Yes, I know the last one was a dumb thing to do.

In 1997 I became involved in The American Red Cross of Central Florida Chapter 10-029 after a tornado passed over the top of my truck when I was driving home from Kennedy Space Center on Florida Hwy 46 one winters day. Now that I am retired I am a full time volunteer for the American Red Cross at the Local Chapter Level and DSHR at the National Level with Communication and Disaster Assessment.

In 1999 I could no longer race cars in SCCA or bikes in AMA because of Dupuytren's Contracture. At that point in my life I became a retread in Amateur Radio and in September 1999 I took the written Elements 2 & 3A for the Technician No Code. November 1999 I passed Element 1A the 5wpm code test for the Technician Plus and started to work my code up to 13wpm. January 2000 I passed written Element 3B for the General and was at 10wpm right on track for the April 2000 Element 1B the 13wpm code test than the rules changed and in April 2000 and I took all of my paperwork to the local VE for my General Class upgrade. August 2000 I passed the written Element 4 for the Extra Class.

My long term goal is to complete the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course Level I,II&III.

I look forward to the Light Speed changes that Sat Comm, PSK-31 and Digital Voice will bring to our ever expanding and on the cutting edge Amateur Service.

Talk about coming full circle and then some!

The more things change the more they stay the same.

73 for now.

Chuck K9PQR/4 & AAV4DR