Ham Operator Highlight: This week - George, KJ2V

I know George from  the 5th region traffic net.   I am one of the Net Control Stations who was recruited by George, the net manager,  about 18 months ago.


Here is his interview:

1. What is your qth & when did you become a ham? My QTH (KJ2V location) is Lake Tansi, TN about 7 miles South of Crossville, TN. I became a Ham radio operator in 1979.


2. What or who inspired you to get involved in the hobby? My buddy and I tried to talk to each other using CB radios with 5 watts and it didn’t workout. He being BOB WB2TTS, was a MARS operator retired from the navy living about 110 miles North of me said to me “how about you learning the Morse code and then we can communicate via CW”. All I had to do was learn 5 words a minute, I said that it probably won’t work but anyway it worked out.


3. Did you have an Elmer? YES If so, who was he and what do you remember most about him? My Elmer was Lew Stager WB2PFK. He could carry on cw qso while at the same time carry on conversation or 2 with people in the same room and not miss a beat. I remember when we both went to take our cw exams at Albany NY. His was for an upgrade to extra and mine was for the Novice. He never picked up pencil and wrote down nothing. All he did was to listen to all the dits and dahs at 20 wpm. He got 100%. I sure do miss my friend as now he is a SK.


4. What equipment do you run? I run Yaesu equipment, FT-840, FT-897, FT-450 HF, FT-8800, 7800, 2500M......Ameritron ALS600..........Alinco DR135, DR635. Also have 40 mtr dipole up only 15 feet.


5. What part(s) of the hobby gives you the most satisfaction? The NTS and Skywarn by far is the most satisfaction for me.


6. What is your proudest amateur radio related accomplishment, if any? Tough question.....I guess it would be being presented with a cirtificate from ARRL as a member of The A-1 Operator Club. A person can only be nominated by 2 other members and the nominated person never knows who nominated them to start with.
-HAM OPERATOR HIGHLIGHT-

Amateur Radio Aboard the International Space Station - From their Perspective (Video)

NA1SS flies over U.S. and records what they here in this video as they transverse a portion of our country and head into the Gulf of Mexico. 

This is pretty cool.
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Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) Seeks New Members

From the ARRL: 


"“HWN members are hams who have above-average stations, are capable of effectively conducting HF net operations and are willing to commit their time to operating in support of the HWN’s mission during Net activations.” The HWN net operates on 14.325 MHz, so prospective members must be able to legally transmit on that frequency to participate."


The HWN is looking for new members with stations that can effectively communicate with Central America and the Caribbean, Mexico and South Texas on the 20 meter band.


As we head into the 2011 hurricane season, they're  looking for qualified amateurs who are located anywhere within North America or the Caribbean,”


They are  also looking for bilingual hams. They recognize that some Latin American operators hesitate to check in and make reports  if they aren’t fluent in English, so they're also interested in hearing from hams who are fluent in both Spanish and English.


When they're working storms that are either affecting or threatening areas where Spanish is the language of choice, they always try to have one or more bilingual HWN members on hand to help with reporting.”


For more information, read the ARRL Article. 


Also, find NHW Membership Information  Here, and the NHW Website Here.

While surfing the net today, I cam across this "Repeater Article" on http://w5crp.com.  I found the following paragraph should be read by lots of us ham operators. So, thumbs up to N5CRP. 

Sometimes we get carried away with our conversations and forget there may be other hams wanting to 'get in'.  Give this a read, then use the link provided below to read N5CRP's complete article.

"If you are listening to one of the repeaters and no one is talking, you can announce your presence by giving your call only, or giving your call plus “listening” or “monitoring”, plus you may add “on 06” or “on 88” or what ever repeater you are on. That way if someone is listening on a scanner, he will know where to find you. As an example you may say “ K5CNZ, listening 06”. Do not use “BREAK”. This is reserved for emergency traffic. If someone is carrying on a conversation and you want to get into the conversation or need to use the repeater urgently, simply give your call between transmissions. The hams using the repeater will usually let you in. It is always good courtesy to leave a second or two between transmissions. The repeaters have a courtesy tone; wait until it sounds and a second or so more. Don’t be a ”Quick Keyer”, allow other stations a chance to get in."

You can read the entire article HERE on N5CRP's web site.

2011 Public Safety Expo - Monroe, LA *** VIDEO ***

Heres the video I put together fro pics and footage I shot while attending  the Public Safety Expo representing the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES).

KE5UTN - Origional Music Video "Amateur Radio by Morning"

Try not to laugh too hard at my terrible singing.