God Bless America

73rd Year
Since
October 7, 1952

County Hunter Awards

Master CH Award (Bingo) #248)

7/29/04

5/13/08

6/14/19

3/30/22

USACA # 1069 via CQ Magazine.  Others by Mobile Amateur Radio Awards Club (MARAC)
All County Hunter Awards above require contacting all 3077 counties using different requirements
Total number of counties worked in center column.

Click on awards to see certificates

County Hunter Mobile Pictures

ARRL Life Member
MARAC R-2962
DXCC: 311 Countries worked - 9/30/2023
272 confirmed!

Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club - W4AMC/W1VOA/W4UHS
Ham Chatter (18 years) and web site Editor (23 years) for BARC

Computer and station - July 2001 Updated many times since. Click on picture to see operator.

Check out the WHAT'S NEW page.   This page has links to items about Amateur Radio,  aviation, space, and other interesting sites.

The  W4YDY Mobile page was added 1/16/03. A new mobile radio was installed in September 2002 consisting of an Icom 706MKGII and a Tarheel screwdriver antenna. Page was updated August 2004 with Little Tarheel HP screwdriver antenna.   Updated again January 2010 with Tarheel Model 75A.   Traded cars August 2015.  Radio not installed.

Lemmie, W4QI, (Silent Key), my first cousin, encouraged me to get my Amateur Radio License. He passed away in 1997. He was licensed in 1931 and held the same callsign for 66 years. In 2002, relatives and friends organized the Holland Amateur Radio Society and his old callsign, W4QI, was issued to the club on 5/28/02 with W4YDY as Trustee. See the Internet page I made about him.

W4YDY was the first station contacted from the South Pole (KC4AAA) using PSK31 on November 5, 2001!  QSL card received December 31, 2001. (QSL card back side).

BARC HOTY

Named Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club 2020 Ham of the Year.  Had same honor in 1997, 2001 and 2007. 

BARC Life

Presented with Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club Honorary Life Member award at the 2007 BARC Christmas party.  Bios featured in Meet the Member columns in October 1998 and December 2003 issues of BARC Ham Chatter.  Click on plaques for larger version.

BARC Meritorious Service Award

Presented with Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club 2011 "In Recognition of 14 years Meritorious Service" as Ham Chatter Editor and Web Site Editor.  The award was presented at the January 2012 meeting since I was not able to be at the December 2011 Christmas Party.

Icom IC-756PRO

Station
Connected to a custom computer (put in service 9/13/11) using a 3.1 GHz i5-2400 quad core microprocessor, is an Icom IC-756PROIII transceiver and Collins 30L-1 amplifier for HF. An Alinco DR-610 is used for the 144 and 440 MHz bands. Also at the operating position is a Collins KWM-2 transceiver and 321B-5 station control. Modes of operation used are CW (12/25/52), AM (4/11/53), SSB (6/22/57, FIRST in Raleigh, Wake County, NC), FM (8/24/70), RTTY (4/5/79), Packet (11/25/86), PSK31 (9/8/00), MFSK (12/28/00), PSK63 (2/16/11), FT8 (11/6/17) plus other digital modes. (Dates are first contacts with that mode)

W4YDY and WN4YDY licensed October 7, 1952, first contact December 25, 1952. Second station call signs: K4IWJ (4/16/56 to 12/8/82) and K5NC (4/12/77 to 12/8/82). Repeater call sign: WR4ACH (7/20/73 to 12/8/82).

Also, check out the page with 49 callsign auto tags starting in 1956.

Picture on left painted and presented to me by my wife.  It's Ham! The picture is displayed in the shack. 
Click on the picture for large version.

At the right is a 60 foot Rohn foldover tower with a Mosley TA-33 (bought and first installed in 1960) with the12-17 Meter modification (installed 12/99), a 3 element 6 meter yagi and a 11 element 2-meter antennas up 70 feet.  At the 40 foot level is an inverted vee with 160, 80 and 40 meter elements.  The inverted vee also works good on 30 meters!  (Click on picture for larger view. Opens in new window.)

November 1971 - North Carolina Governor Bob Scott issued an executive order designating W4YDY as an Official Radio Amateur Station of the Governor's office for the 1971 Holiday Season.

(Click on certificates for full size view. Opens in new window.)

December 1971 - North Carolina Governor Bob Scott conferred to W4YDY The Order of the Long Leaf Pine with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary, the highest honor bestowed to citizens of the state. Quote from the Raleigh, NC News & Observer when NASCAR race driver Dale Earnhardt received one, "The award is the highest one given by the governor.  It is for individuals with a proven record of community service, extra career efforts or service to an organization. Past winners of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine include Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, and former U. S. Sen. Sam Ervin." Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Henry Shelton received the award in 1999.

My WITN-TV History - For my story in 1955, go HERE. It was an experience!

AMATEUR RADIO

The Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club is located in Greenville, Pitt County, North Carolina. I am the former Editor of the BARC Ham Chatter (18 years) and the BARC Internet site. The monthly newsletter Ham Chatter, is also on the BARC site.

American Radio Relay League- Noncommercial association of Radio Amateurs.  W4YDY Member since 1952 - Life Member since 1968.

Amateur Radio Links - Over 70 links to Amateur Radio Internet sites, some with thousands of links.

AUTO TAGS with callsigns W4YDY, K4IWJ, WR4ACH and K5NC. A page with 49 images from 1956 until....

Received CQ Millennium award for 2001 and had article in CQ Magazine.

My primary computer log is PDA LOGic.  Over 145,000 QSO's have been entered and it keeps track of QSL records, contests, DXCC, States, Counties and any other award you want to track.   Also it prints out any type of report you may require and QSL cards.  You may design your own reports and QSL cards.  Send CW, works with PSK programs, control radios, control rotor, FCC callbook with weekly updates, Logbook of the World, eQSL., telnet windows, any contest interface, world map, DX spotting windows and many, many other features. Instructional videos.  All of my QSO's starting on 12/25/52 are in the database.  Over 10,800 QSLs confirmed by QSL paper cards, over 2,000 DX and over 8,700 USA.

For county hunting, I use the MARAC Roadrunner Logger.  It does an outstanding job of keeping up with USA counties for the CQ USA-CA award and dozens of awards administered by the Mobile Amateur Radio Awards Club.  It generates reports quickly for submitting awards.  Only MARAC members may purchase Logger and updates are available only to CURRENT MARAC members.  

All logs, fixed and mobile, starting with July 1992 are uploaded to Logbook of the World and eQSL  As of May 2023, over 140,000 records have been uploaded to LoTW and eQSL.  Over 22,000 LoTW conformations and over 9,000 eQSL conformations are approved.  No records before July 1992 have been uploaded because of the many locations.  Have over 9,000 QSL paper cards with over 10,800 conformations.  Paper cards cover December 25, 1952 to present.  

Over 99% of the contacts are recorded in ARRL logbooks starting with the first contact on 12/25/1952.   Presently have 12 logbooks for mobile and now on logbook No. 109 for fixed station.  Each logbook will hold 1250 records.  Although the FCC does not require paper logs as they did years ago, I still record all QSOs.    

Weather Links

World wide weather, radars, cameras, forecasts

Aviation Links

My experiences with a Piper Cub J3 crop duster in 1951.
(9 Pictures)

AirNav.Com Airport info, Navaid info, find frequencies and other information

Also links to web sites that have hundreds of links to airports, airlines, flying information, FAA and NTSB sites. The FAA site has links to the latest FAA regulations.

Miscellaneous Links

A page of Useful Internet sites. US Post Office ZIP code and address lookups, genealogy links and US Tax Code. You might find something that will help you!

FAMILY - Home page addresses

Susan - Daughter - WA4AKB - Amateur Extra. Passed 20 WPM code test and written for Amateur Extra 2/18/00. Her home page has links to NASA.   Her husband, Dale, WA4JCK, upgraded in September 2011 to General.

W4QI (SK) - First Cousin - Lemmie's page with pictures including some from his Amateur Radio station in the 1930s.