I Have been facinated with radio,t.v.and pretty much anything electronic since I was about four years old. Remember seeing "different" licence plates on some cars that started with a prefix "VO1" and 2 letters for the suffix and at that time back in the mid Sixties had a rather long whip antenna with a large spring on the rear bumper or a foot long antenna in the middle of the roof.I was told by my uncle that these cars belonged to guys who were ham radio operators and could speak to other hams all over the world via shortwave radio.I was hooked and tried to learn all I could in order to become a ham.I started out building crystal radios and that progressed into building shortwave radio kits.I had become fascinated with antennas and had wire strung all over the back yard,I even tapped into my mom's clothesline at one point,much to her dismay,but to a 12 year old budding ham,the stations just poured in and I was in radio heaven hi!! listening to shortwave broadcasts from all over the world was a great thrill,but I tired of that and began to tune the amateur bands  and hearing hams in qso all over the world,well that was it,the desire to become a ham was amplified 100%.I served for 15 years with The 1st. Battalion, Royal Newfoundland Regiment,a Canadian Army Reserve Infantry Regiment and was the signals N.C.O.,responsible for maintaining & installation of Land Tactical Communications equipt,and training radio operators.Sometimes it was quite amusing to hear police and fire communications from Southern U.S.States  blasting through the headphones of AN/PRC 77 set radios and the AN/VRC 46 radios when we were doing  military exercises in the 30.00-48.00 MHz bands that these radios covered when the conditions were good,a great way to check propagation on 6 metres,as these radios had a freq.range from 30.00-75.95 MHz.I was licensed as VO1XH on May 5th,1994. Am involved in our local club that helps the Canadian Red Cross with communications. The club is A.V.R.A.C (Avalon Radio Amateur Club)and I am one of the directors.I usually operate h.f. from the club station VO1CRC ( VO1 Canadian Red Cross ) using a Kenwood TS450S in to a STEPPIR 3 el beam on 20-10 meters and a Barker & Williamson folded dipole for 80 & 40 meters. My home station consists of a Kenwood TS570D into a homebrew G5RV dipoleVectronics VC300DLP antenna tuner ,an Icom IC290H 2m Allmode for VHFinto a 5/8 ground plane antenna.In my mobile,I use a Kenwood TM261A 2m mobile with a 1/4 wave antenna, and my other vehicle I use a Realistic HTX-202 2m handheld into a dual band glass mount antenna,and I use a Realistic HTX 404 for 70cm UHF.  Amateur radio is a great hobby and still in this new century,has an important role in emergency comms.In September 2008 past,I was appointed as an Assistant Emergency Coodinator for St.John's ARES Group.This group is comprised of members from clubs around Eastern Newfoundland and we conduct on air training exercises to practice message handling.I am an automotive parts clerk with A.S.E certification,26 years with the same company,the oldest established automotive repair and parts distribution company that has been in business for over 85 years in St.John's and still owned by the same family.

73,Don VO1XH