The new start also means a new website, having retired the old one when I had to change ISPs. I'm trying to retain some of the fun links and background that was there, but emphasize what's new here, rather than chronicle the past as the homepage. QRZ.com has a briefer overall history. One of the things that has been a useful addition to the free web tools from Google, has been Picasaweb, and its utility as an efficient way to create online photo albums. I've taken many (sometimes, too many) pictures of projects as I've gone through them, and if the project's name piques your curiosity, take a look. Some are more step-by-step, and some have been found and used by others to assist them in related projects, if only as encouragement that "if this guy did it, I can dive in too."
K4SO QTH and antennas, spring 2012. Tower and yagis may be added later. Beverages (orange) run NE and NW. Antennas (turquoise) are open wire-fed dipole (125 ft. long) at 75 feet, and open wire-fed inverted vee (255 ft. long) at 85 feet.
My Elmer - Charles F. (Fred) Killmon, N3ADT
FEW HAMS ARE WITHOUT AN ELMER, and in my case, I'd identify my Elmer as my dad, Charles F. (Fred) Killmon.
He didn't give me my novice test, and I'm indebted to the ham
(Joe Schorah, WA3KZX)
that took me and a friend I under his wing to instruct us
and give us the test, but my dad really gave me "the radio bug."
The first photo above is my dad, taken in 1945 with the flight crew of one of the B-29s he flew on as the radio operator. The next photo
is EAA's "Aluminum Overcast," a flying museum that tours the country. Knowing my dad
trained in B-17s, and not sure I'd ever get the chance to fly in FIFI, the only remaining, flyable B-29,
I took a half-hour flight on 9-10-2010
. On the flight was another guy
whose dad was a radio operator, so he sat at the operating table for takeoff, and we switched for landing.
Among many things, my dad got me interested in electronics and radio by providing a BC-348Q (basically the same model
as shown in the shot above from Aluminum Overcast) as my first shortwave radio when I was 11 or so.
He was first licensed
as WB3AFQ and later, N3ADT getting his license a few years after me.
He already knew the code from
his Army Air Force days, and worked for DuPont as an Instrument Technician Supervisor (which took care of the electronics
theory), so getting a license was pretty easy for him. The picture of he and my mother, was taken at one of the DuPont Christmas parties in the 1970s.
My Drake B-line was left home while I was at college
for the last 3 years, so he made use of it. He bought me a 1967 Triumph Spitfire and I gave him my radio gear in payment.
When I got out of school, I kept the car and he gave the rig back to me. That's typical of how he did things.
He was a hunter and fisherman, smoked cigars for many years and was a terrific card player. He especially enjoyed poker,
which he played weekly for many years. He and his friends played for small stakes, but by year's end each year, he usually
won enough to buy something for the shack. He used to say they "paid him for a poker lesson" each week.
We shared ham radio as a hobby for over twenty years, although he was much more casual about it than I was, mostly
running low power and tinkering with VHF and HF packet for a number of years. When he and my mother moved from
their house into independent living, he gave me his radio gear, some of which went to others to get them started and some
is still in use at K4SO.
He became a SK on June 23, 2004.
Other Content:
- Click here for the "Collins Corner"
- Click here for the "Drake Corner"
- Click here for the "Kenwood Years"
- Click here for my former Vintage Station
- Click here for the 1987 Tower Installation
- Click here for some background on my start and path in Ham Radio
- Click here for my 42 years of my QSLs and callsign nametags