I was raised in Oregon and had early interest in radio in the boy scouts. I joined the Marines where I became a radio telegraph operator. I was licensed as WN7VLU in February of 1974 and became WA7VLU when I upgraded to General Class. I operated in Yakima, Washington for about 5 years and then became inactive until 1992 when I retested to become KE4KPM. I upgraded to Advanced class as KR4XW then to Extra and obtained vanity call N4NQ which I like for CW. I moved to Lawrenceville Georgia in 1987 when I left the Navy, where I worked for Rockwell Missile Systems for a while then for DeKalb Mental Health in computer systems from which job I retired in July of 2010. In addition to HAM radio I am an avid gardener. I am not so much good at it as I enjoy growning lots of different kinds of vegetables and experimenting with different types. I love reading mystery novels and generally read between three and five books a month.