I'm KF5END/Ted. I have officially been a HAM since January 2010 when I passed my Technician exam. Over the course of the next year, I passed the General and Extra.
I have always been around electronics and have owned a scanner since the late ‘80s. I never had any interest in CB and did not know what a HAM was until a HAM explained it to me.
I spent many summers at my grandmother’s and would always run across various tubes, capacitors, resistors, and other various components. I always enjoyed playing with them but did not have any real idea what they were, other than their names. My grandfather had passed before my arrival and I later learned that he was a EE and often worked on radios and televisions, though no one can verify if he was ever a HAM.
The love of playing with the components led to a career in IT, where I currently serve as the Director of Information Technology for the Texas Treasury. My being an Eagle Scout and trying to always BE PREPARED, meant that I always had a scanner nearby. It wasn't until meeting KE5CDE that I learned what a HAM was and what I had been missing. He became my Elmer until my training wheels were removed.
Once becoming an Extra, it always bugged me that there was a distinction between a coding HAM and a non-coding HAM. I decided in 2013 that it was time to remove that stigma and with the help of K5LN and his hands-on, in-person CW course, he took me from 0 WPM to 20 WPM in about 3 months.
My shack consists of a YAESU FT-950 HF, Elecraft KX2 QRP rig, Signalink, Astron 35 power supply, Ameritron 811H amp, a GR300 Repeater setup for GMRS, an OpenSpot2, DV4Mini, APRS DigiPeater, and a 1500W MFJ Tuner. My antennas include a pair of TRAM 2m/70cm, AV640 HF, G5RV, MFJ Cobweb, 20m dipole, and a GMRS 70cm. The mobile has a YAESU FT-7900 and either my YAESU VX8DR, FT2D, FT3D, or Kenwood TH-D74 are usually with me in my day bag.
My YL is KG5GHR and my son is KG5NZX, still working on my daughter, but she has actually begun to study!
I currently participate in the following activities: ARRL VE sessions run by W5HS, W5YI VE sessions run by AC5KW, Williamson County ARES when possible, STX Scout Coordinator, and Advancement Chair for Troop 97.
STX Scout Plan
- Contact each Scout Council within STX to source Radio Merit Badge (MB) Instructors and develop a database
- If none exist, source a HAM willing to go through the required BSA background check/training to off Radio MB within their Council
- Contact each STX HamFest to access willingness to host a Radio MB session at their HamFest
- Coordinate local Radio MB Instructor
- Contact each STX Scout Summer Camp to encourage Radio MB inclusion in their schedule
- Coordinate local Radio MB Instructor to work the session
- Contact each STX Scout Council to encourage the inclusion of Radio MB in their Merit Badge University
- Coordinate local Radio MB Instructor to work the session
- Coordinate a Scout Station at more STX field days
- Ensure equipment and Elmer's are available to demonstrate and assist with QSO's
- Organize a D-Star, Fusion, HF or linked repeater Scout Net either within STX or wider
- Possibly create a D-Star or Fusion node/room
- Investigate the possibility of a yearly STX Field Day style camp or an afternoon set up at an existing camp for demonstration purposes
- Promote JOTA within STX
- Promote to councils that ARRL's "When All Else Fails" is in line with Scouting's "Be Prepared"
- Promote how APRS or Fox Hunting can relate to Orienteering
- Develop an inventory of Radio MB Instructors throughout STX deep enough to facilitate preventing volunteer burnout