AB4PP History

Present call: AB4PP.

Old Calls, KC6BY(operator) WA2LYC, WA4IHO, W2AIR (operator)

Got licensed on Yap Island, Marianas, Western Carolinas and operated as KC6BY for a year.

Moved back to the states and used the issued call WA2LYC on several stations as M/M on

Coast Guard Cutters and several land stations. (CGC Pontchatrain, CG Rad/Sta Portsmouth,

Virginia Beach, VA; CG Air Station Port Angeles, and CG Radio School Governor's Island. I also

operated K7UGB at Port Angeles as the club station and ran phone patches for the guys

overseas from there for a year. Operated W2AIR at CG School, Governor's Island, in addition to

my call.

Got out of the service and moved to NC and have stayed there since 1972. I changed license to

WA4IHO in 72 and operated mobile in a State Highway Patrol cruiser until 1999 when I finally

retired from the NCSHP as a Master Trooper.

on to QRP and have been doing it since. I have been building rigs and antennas since then also.

I am an active member of several QRP groups and mainly the Knightlites here in this area. I am

"Sir Scribemeister" for the Lites and usually write stories about our tales and trips on QRP

events.

I have several rigs, Sierra, Norcal 40A, SMiTe (80 meter 3.686.4 rig) and an ATS-3. I am on CW

mostly with my homebrew paddles, or my Norcal, Vibroplex or my favorite made for me by

N2DAN, the MERCURY paddles.

I am constantly making antennas and have several homebrewed antennas and many modeled

after articles and ideas of others. I take them to the woods and use them with the Z11 or the ZM2

tuners and battery packs for whatever is needed.

I love to backpack, camp and go to remote places to operate. I also have a real liking for food

and love to cook. As a result when we take a trip I am usually the cook on the trips too. Emeril

has nothing on me, and I doubt he could cook ribs or a steak like I do. I have never had a

complaint.

I chase DX and have confirmed 274 countries so far, and about 125 on QRP I guess. I am still

working on putting them all into a logging program and have yet to find out exactly how many I

have as of this date. I have worked WAS twice on QRP once on SSB and once on CW.

I was active in Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts for years and finally had to lay off that to keep my

home life together. I also was an active EMT with the Rescue Squad and a Fireman with the

volunteer fire departments wherever we lived. This was all while being a State Trooper 24/7 for

30 years.

My son was a big time clogger from the time he was 3 to the time he turned 15 and we traveled a

lot for events for him to win awards and we learned how to do flat footed Appalachian clogging as

a result. We all loved that too.

So, I am now retired; but still working. I am a technician and driver for an environmental group in

Raleigh and we do air quality and water quality work with instruments we rent out to surveyors

and engineers. I am happy still working and it leaves me time to still get on the radio and chase

the DX and the rest of the awards I am constantly working on. I am always ready to chat and

ragchew, even during contests and love to get someone on there QRO and get him to try QRP or

QRP/p to show him how easy it is and convert him to a new way of communicating.

With my new ATS3 and a 9V battery or a set of AA batteries and a wire antenna I can work the

world from a tent or a park bench. I have impressed a many a person in the park that way, when

they ask, who can you talk to with that little radio and a piece of wire up in the air????????