Hi Everyone!  My name is David Fidler.  (only the State of North Carolina and the Feds use my first name, go figure)  I first got interested in ham radio back in high school thanks to one of my teachers, Bob Cooley WA4MQW.  Ham radio got put on the back burner after school due to life and work getting in the way.  I finally became a ham in 1994 as a no-code tech.  After losing interest in 1998, my interest was rekindled in 2010 thanks to the hams on AR15.com.  I upgraded to General in July 2010 and finally got back on the air with HF privileges and as Ronald McDonald would say, "I'm lovin' it!"

When I first got on the air on HF, I just threw up a random length wire about 15' up.  Since then I've built an OCF Dipole and I have it up about 30'.  The difference between the two is just amazing!  Now, I find that I can hear (and work) alot more stations.  I've even enjoy using SSB now.

When I got on HF my station consisted of a Yaesu FT-857D with a LDG YT-100 autotuner.  I've since upgraded to a Yaesu FTdx-1200.  What a amazing radio!  Now, all I need is a screwdriver antenna and the 857D will go in my truck.  In the truck at the moment is a FT-2500M 2 meter radio that I bought new back in 1996.  After having some bad caps replaced in the mic it is running like it was new.

I also enjoy using the digital modes.  I don't hang out on any particular band, I just go where the propagation takes me.

I hope to catch you on the bands!

David KE4TLB