| About Me |
| I live in Statesville, NC about 35 miles north of Charlotte. I am originally from Hickory, NC and I've been interested in radio ever since I was a kid when I found that I could hear far away stations at night on my bedside AM broadcast radio. My interest in radio was really pumped up when I picked up a stack of old, mid-60's copies of Popular Electronics and Elementary Electronics. Back then those magazines had regular columns and articles on shortwave listening and ham radio. I decided then that I needed something to start listening to all of this stuff I was reading about. In 1973 I bought my first shortwave receiver, a used Knight Star Roamer II purchased from the Lafayette Electronics Store in Hickory, NC. I hung a longwire antenna in the back yard and spent many nights listening to shortwave stations such as HCJB in Ecuador, Deutche Velle in Germany, Radio Australia, etc. I soon started sending out reception reports and before long (well it seemed like a long time to me then) I was receiving shortwave broadcast QSL cards from all over the world. I was also listening with great interest to the ham operators, particularly Richard Moser (now K4DJ) W4REZ whose signal would peg my S meter. I found out later that Richard only lived a few miles from me and was a well known DXer. Be sure to check out Richard's website on my links page; it's full of really neat history and photos about North Carolina hams. Shortly after that I met my first "real" ham, Rodger Adams. Rodger was a "new kid" at College Park Junior High School and I noticed he had his QSL card on the cover of one of his notebooks. His novice license was getting ready to expire (in those days the novice license was non-renewable) so we decided that we would study together and get our technician class ham ticket. My scoutmaster, J.E. Yount, WA4NPR, although an inactive ham was also encouraging me to get my ticket. In the summer of 1975 we met Joe Hardy WB4AVG (now KC4G) and the ham radio adventure began. Joe administered our 5 word per minute code exam (I still remember listening to my Radio Shack morse code training record one last time before riding my bike over to take the test). We both passed, he signed the paperwork and it went in the mail to the FCC. A few weeks later we were back at Joe's house sitting in his living room and taking the written test. After what seemed like an eternity (this was in the middle of the CB craze and the feds were still in the CB license business and were quite overwhelmed) my Technician license arrived in the mail in November. I was now officially WB4CMR and Rodger was WB4HIR. We still go to hamfests together as we have for the past 30 years. Over the years my radio activity has ranged from totally inactive to very active. I still listen to shortwave, work 2 meter mobile and HF SSB & CW from home. I am a member of the American Radio Relay League and the Quarter Century Wireless Association. In 1998 I changed my call sign from WB4CMR to my current call, W4KTL. Look for me on the 3905 Century Club nets. I also collect radio broadcast memorabilia and vintage shortwave receivers. |
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