Life Member of
ARRL AMSAT QCWA Member of OOTC
E-mail W4CZ
My steps to Amateur Radio......
My father bought a Zenith "Chair Side" short wave radio at the beginning of WWII. He was not in the military due to defense related work at a local plant. During the war he called home each day at noon and mother would put the telephone to the speaker of the Zenith so he could listen to the latest news from the front. The radio band coverage was from 550 Kc up through 18.5 MHz. A 6 tube superheterodyne with an I.F. of 456 KC. This radio, it turns out, was manufactured within a month of when I was born on 6 May 1938. My father kept this radio all these years, the cabinet in the living room, the chassis in the basement. After his passing in Sep.'95, I began the process of rebuilding this radio. The cabinet is a beautiful wood and has been re-finished to its original luster (Click here for photos). My first recollection of this radio is about 1942 when I was four years old. I can still remember a lot of "WWII news" on the old Zenith. My interest in amateur radio came from listening to the ham AM'ers on the Zenith. I continued to listen to short wave stations for many years,and still do. In high school I worked long hours in a supermarket, saving my money for a "real" shortwave receiver. I was tempted many times to settle for a cheaper radio, but my mentor, Jim Litton W4LNF, urged me to hold out for a quality receiver. Finally, one golden day in 1954, I marched into the local electronics store and purchased a beautiful Hammarlund HQ-140X. I learned the Morse code in the Explorer scouts, winning a set of Emico code records in a Boys Life SWL listening contest in the early 50s.
A lot of money and a lot of radio back in 1953! I pursued my radio interests in the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) with an FCC Radiotelephone license in 1955. Following high school, I served four years in the USAF. I attended Radar school in Biloxi MS in Aircraft Control & Warning Radar. In 1957-58 I was stationed at a radar site on remote Middleton Island, Alaska. Located 125 miles south of Valdez, the island is a mere 3.5 miles long by .75 miles wide! Click photo to see a young W4CZ!
Click HERE to visit an interesting site about Middleton Island and the radar site.
After my discharge from the USAF, I became licensed in 1962 as WN4MCZ and a year later was WA4MCZ. I changed WA4MCZ to W4CZ in Nov. '96. There have been 7 previous holders of the "W4CZ" callsign which originated in 1916 with Robert C. Ashley of St. Petersburg, Florida. I'm an avid DXer. As of Dec 15, 2004, my Awards and credits are:
By profession I am an architect, registered in eight states, with certification from The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. I work out of my home office which, happily enough, is also my ham shack! In addition to ham radio, another hobby in recent years has been maintaining the ancestral farm of the Nards - my mother's family. Located at Big Stone Gap, VA, this is my favorite "get away from it all" spot. Some pictures and descriptions are HERE. See my 1968 hamshack and read about how that shack got recycled  ! Take a gander at OUR NEW QTH! 73 - Bill
Cuzzin Ziggy's Sage Woids Of Worldly Wisdom
|
Sorry - Due to malicious, pointless, childish entries
it has become necessary to remove the guestbook.