USA
KD8HLY George J McVicker 5957 Murnen Toledo, OH 43623 USA Lookups:   368 Ham Member

QRZ Record: 1544096 Login to manage/edit Lookups: 368 (373) Mailing Label... QRZ Admin: KD8HLY Last Update: 2009-10-22 10:45:41 Class: Extra Codes: HAI Effective: 2009-02-17 Expires: 2017-12-12Apply for a Vanity callsign... Latitude: 41.723817 (41° 43' 25'' N) Longitude: -83.627945 (83° 37' 40'' W) Grid Square: EN81er US State: Ohio US County: Lucas GMT Offset: -5 hours ULS Record: 2969587 FCC page... Admin For: (1) KD8HLY

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I guess it's time I updated my story.As long as I can remember,Ihave been interested in radio & comunication.

In the late 60's I was in the army, they trained me to be a field radio mechanic. From there, more school's &

promotions brought me up to "comunication chief ". After manny "adventure's" (and a tour in Viet Nam) I came

back home to lead a somewhat "normal" life.I was involved in C.B. radio in the early 70's, had a big "tube" set,

a 50 ft tower and a "quad" antenna.I had a lot of fun, until they dropped the license requirement and "ruined" CB

forever.

  Well,to continue,I married a great gal named Joyce, and stayed that way for the last 35 years.I worked as an

auto mechanic,and became involved in auto racing,first on dirt track's,then,to asphalt.I like dirt best,always will.

Then, just when evrything was going great,I had a massive stroke.At the hospital they told me it was a "bleed"

type stroke.I didn't know much about strokes, but I sure do now.The stroke took out the left side of my body,

evrything over there is numb, like a massive dose of novacaine.

That all happened in april of 2007 I spent a month and a half in "rehab" at the hospital,learning how to do all the

basic everyday things.Like sit up,stand,dress myself,ect.

Then, came the boredom,there is only so much TV I can stand. At this time,along came a friend, Gerry, KC8LBO

he got me talking about radio's and the next thing you know,I was studying for the technician test.I passed the

tech test on December 20 2007 .After that KC8LBO set me up with an older motorola business band radio

"modified" to work a local repeater.It works great and gave me a door to the "outside"world.I also have a

scanner(bearcat) so that I can listen to all the other repeaters in the area.I also bought an ICOM T7H HT to play

with,along with some other "toys",A speaker-mic and a larger antenna.

Now, comes the fun part,in march of 2008 my friend Gerry took me to the Toledo Hamfest! It was great! Except

for the weelchair,I hated that part, I saw a notice about a class for the general license in april! I discussed it

with my friend Gerry KD8LBO, He said it was a good idea and explained that he was an amateur extra.I took

that as a challenge,plus I wanted to see how manny brain cells were lost with the stroke.

The general class was given by Stacey NS8W, on May 4 2008 Ipassed my general, in june 2008 they came

out with the new extra class book,and I started studying, I tried the test in November 2008,missed it by 3

questions,I kept studying, and on February 14 2009 I finally made amateur extra! I feel much better about

myself now .I am improving more now as time passes.I can walk now (with a cane)and I am learning how to

use the computer.  Thanks for taking time to read my story  .

 

George, KD8HLY   73.