K4EXT Biography K4EXT Vital Statistics Birthplace: Portsmouth, Virginia (1952) First Licensed: February 6, 1968 Call History: WN9WZV, WA9WZV, KG4VBL, K4EXT QTH History: Indianapolis, Indiana Lafayette, Indiana DeLand, Florida Columbia, Tennessee Houston, Texas Hendersonville, North Carolina Kissimmee, Florida Victoria, Alabama Daleville, Alabama I was first licensed as WN9WZV in 1968 while serving time as a high school sophomore in Indianapolis. Later that same year, I passed my General exams and became WA9WZV. My first station was a Johnson Adventurer 50-watt transmitter and an Army surplus BC-348 receiver. Soon to follow was an EICO 753 AM/SSB/CW transceiver kit. Later rigs included a lot of QRP and QRPp stuff including the Heathkit HW-8 and Kenwood TS-130V transceivers. I operated 100% code for nearly 25 years. In the beginning, it was straight key CW. Later I managed to grasp the swing of a semi-automatic key (bug). In the early 1970's, I built my first electronic keyer using TTL IC's (ie, a real power-sucker). In the early 1980's, I made my Commodore VIC-20 computer crank out some serious Morse code in between games of Centipede and Gorf. CW achievements over the years include: Worked-All-States CW from Indiana QTH Worked-All-States CW from Florida QTH 25-WPM Code Proficiency Certificate QRP-ARCI QSO Certificate QRP-ARCI Net QNI Certificate QRP-ARCI Net QNI-100 Certificate MARAC Last County Certificate I foolishly let my license expire in 1995. In July of 2002, I tested again ... this time with my two sons Josh/KG4VBJ and Justin/KG4VBK. K4EXT/Mobile - 1953 That impressive set of wheels in the background is a 1952 Kaiser won by my parents on an old 50's TV Game Show broadcast from New York City called The Big Payoff. But don't be fooled by the fancy full-size automobile; I kicked some serious butt with my little red tractor in those formative years! K4EXT (WA9WZV) - 1970 Equipment pictured includes an Eico 753 AM/SSB/CW Transceiver with matching Power Supply, a surplus BC-348 Receiver, a homebrew box that probably did something important, a semi-automatic bug, QSL's, awards, and antenna coax though the window screen that surely did not have my parents blessing! WA9WZV QSL - 1968 Recently resurrected from the California vault of Bob/WA9YFP

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