I grew up exposed to all kinds of cool stuff, computers, telecommunications technology… getting to get my hands on government, commercial and military grade equipment as a kid (all above board, of course…) It was great!

One particular interest of mine was Amateur Radio. My Dad was always on it, made all kinds of friends from all over the place and making contacts all over the world, including King Hussein of Jordan [Callsign JY1], Patty Loveless [Call ex-KD4WUJ] and I as a kid even got to talk to Astronauts and Cosmonauts on the Space Shuttle and the Space Station! Indeed, some of the oldest friends of my family, and of my own, are/were Amateur Radio operators.

Realizing I was approaching my 30s and never having been licensed for such awesome stuff, and it having played a big part of my life. Why not get in on it? Why not enjoy the fun too? This was further expanded on by my friend Emmett Plant and a group he founded called TrekFan, which gives away a “starter kit” for those who are interested in Amateur Radio. I received by Gordon West book, my Baofeng UV-5R and a Raspberry Pi to begin some Amateur Radio over IP stuff with in the future.

After a couple of weeks of study, I took and passed my Technician Class license exam on 03 June 2014, getting my original callsign exactly one week later from the FCC.

In disasters ranging from Earthquakes, to Hurricane Katrina to 9/11, when communications go down, the last line of defense is Amateur Radio.

Tomorrow will be exactly one month since I got licensed, and I’ve already made new great friends, and reconnected with other ones I knew through Dad. I’ve still got a lot of learning to do, but I’m having a LOT of fun doing it. 😀

73 from KA9PAZ   😀

I bet you know a few Amateur Radio Operators — and don’t even know it!

– FO5GJ-SK, Marlin Brando [Actor]

– EA0JC-SK,  King Carlos I [former King of Spain]

– KD5ESI-SK, Dr. Kalpana Chawla [Died aboard Space Shuttle Columbia] 

– KC5ZSU-SK Captain Laurel Blair Salton Clark, M.D., USN [Died aboard Space Shuttle Columbia]

– KC5ZTC-SK, Captain David M. Brown, USN [Died aboard Space Shuttle Columbia]

– KG4UYY,  Lance Bass [Singer]

– W5CY-SK, Howard Hughes [Business magnate, aerospace engineer]

– KB2SGD-SK, Walter Cronkite [Media personality]

– G3UML, Laurie Margolis [BBC Anchor]

– 9DRV-SK, David Packard [Co-Founder of Hewlett-Packard] 

– NY6YOS, Priscilla Presley [wife of Elvis Presley]

– K1OKI, Mickey Schulhof [Head of Sony USA]

– K2HEP, John Sculley [Former CEO of Pepsi and Apple Computer]

– KA7EVD, Donnie Osmond [Singer]

– UA1LO-SK, Colonel Yuri Gagarin [First man in space]

– VU2SON, Sonia Ghandi [Indian Politician]