KZ4AP

I have been interested in ham radio since the age of 11 or 12, when I first passed the Novice exam and gained call sign KB2FEX. I was active on and off for a few years on the lower HF bands, only CW, but never got my speed much above the 5 WPM required for Novice at that time. My father had to ask ADT to install a cutoff switch in our house so that we could disable the fire alarm whenever I was transmitting. Otherwise the fire alarms would start to go crazy after a few seconds. When I was 13 I upgraded to Technician and enjoyed working the repeaters in Winston-Salem, NC. After attending local club meetings, I would patch in to make a call home so that my parents would know I was ready for a ride home. It was a different era.

I went away from home for school when I was 15 and had no time for radio. I also began to lose interest as I tinkered more with computers and with the internet, still very much in its infancy. The idea of communicating with strange people in far away corners of the earth for free lost much of its appeal when email and direct messaging became widespread. I was still very interested in science and technology though, and especially in physics. I put my nose to the grindstone, studied hard, and finally received a PhD right before I turned 30. Getting a PhD in physics takes a long time!

I have worked as a physicist ever since, first at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, CO (right down the hall from the national time standard and WWVB), then later at Georgia Tech. For almost another two decades after finishing school, work and raising a family consumed most of my time, and I thought nothing about ham radio...

But now in 2023 I've been bitten by the bug again! I'm still enamored with CW and have the goal of increasing my speed and proficiency dramatically. Ideally I hope to ragchew at 30 wpm or higher, but for now I seem to be getting by at 15-20 wpm. As a kid I only used a straight key, so I'm trying to teach myself the paddle now too. Working CW for me is somewhat like appreciating fine antiques. It isn't the latest and greatest technology, and it almost certainly isn't the most efficient way to get a message across, but it sure is fun! For similar reasons I'm interested in trying out some of the older digital modes such as RTTY. I've now upgraded to Extra, received the new call sign KZ4AP, purchased an Elecraft K3, and put up an EFHW in the yard.

Along with work and my family, I'm also passionate about running and rock climbing. Perhaps I'll try to combine these interests with radio for some remote SOTA activations in the coming years. That could be a lot of fun. I'm still waiting to see where this newly found interest in radio will take me.

My climbing adventure blog

Hope to hear you on the air!