You know my name but who am I?  I am an Active Duty Air Force member and (former) Taylor County Texas Storm Spotter, currently a Central Arkansas (Faulkner County) storm spotter in the advanced phases of the radio hobby  In the picture above, I am working the W5A station at the Little Rock NWS during the 2011 SkyWarn Recognition Day.

I recently changed my call sign from KE5OVE to AF5AB and now finally to AI5Z as of 0001CST, 29 Nov 2011. Sorry for any inconveinence this might cause.

My job in the Air Force is very exciting and takes me to many places around the world. My specialty is C-130 E , H1 and H2Loadmaster. I am a Gulf War Iand Global War on Terrorism, or (Gulf War II) Vet. with several deployments under my belt. Assignments: Tinker AFB, OK, 5 years, 507 CES USAF Res.; Pope AFB, NC, 4+ years, 2d Airlift Squadron;Little Rock AFB, AR, 7.5 years,62d Airlift Squadron; Dyess AFB, TX, 4 years,39th Airlift Squadron; and currently back at Little Rock AFB, AR, 62d Airlift Squadron. My"little victories"in the USAF so far has to be the Gode, Ethiopia flood/Humanitarian Airlift of 128 tons of supplies, several "hot" combat airdrops, several "hot" combat offloads/on-loads. ** (hot meaning be shot at)

Storm Spotting experience,seven years with my own real life experiences.

Education: Assoc. of Science Degree, Aircrew Operations and all weather classes offered from Embery Riddle Aeronautical University.

I can usually be found on 20m on the weekends 40m nightly and 3987.5 from 5 am Central and 5 pm Central daily.(work permitting)

Current associated clubs: Central Arkansas Radio Emergency Net (CAREN)http://www.carenclub.com/

I enjoy PSK, RTTY and other digital modes, voice, home-brewing antennas, working on towers, and helping others when able.I am learning CW, (the lost art).

In the Shack:-Yaesu FT-1000 MP Mark V with Heil PR-781 mic, Amertron AL-811H, MFJ 962D tuner into either my homebrewed 6 band (6m to 20m) KIO HEXBEAM, full size G5RV (inverted V configuration with the poles facing NE and SE @ 40 feet) or Alpha Delta DX-LB+ ( flat topper also @ 40 feet, poles facing E and W). FT-5100 dual band radio into DB-J pole antenna. Various 2m and dual band radios. APRS digipeater up and running on an ICOM IC-2200H 2m radio. Echolink: AI5Z ( 630680 )

In the Truck: Yaesu FT-8800R with APRS OT+ and 1 each 6meter, 2 meter and 70 cm each @110watt commercial radios converted to HAM bands (don't ask) .

Other: Volunteer Fire Fighter and EMT First Responder with the Vilonia Fire Department.

ARRL-VEC accredited volunteer examiner (VE).

http://www.arrl.org/ve-session-counts?state=AR

Get Your Own Visitor Globe!

AI5Z Weater station:

Current UTC Time

Current Time at my QTH

AI5Z's K4KIO HexBeam project pictures:

https://plus.google.com/photos/114853074532499644711/albums/5639450252725004465

Thanks for stopping by, come again and often.

73,

James

AI5Z ex -- AF5AB & KE5OVE