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-