Shack Shots

Shack Shots

Here's your chance to show off that collection of fine Ham gear.
Send us pictures of your latest and greatest, your boat anchor collection,
your antenna and tower collection, and anything else you'd liketo show to the rest of the club.

Send a picture of your shack, along with information about your ham and non-ham interests,
to the Webmaster and I'll add them here.

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	K5MET Background info: I was born in 1943 in Athens,TX. Lived there through 2nd year of college. Introduced to ham radio almost 50 years ago by Charles Logan Dietz, W5PR and Novice tested by Ken Gibbs, W5DLQ at an early age. Was helped along by numerous hams in East Texas. Moved to Dallas in 1963 to attend Arlington State College. Worked for Sun Oil Co. Production Research Lab for 5 years. Met Bob Bellar, K5AHT, in '65 and helped put on one of the first repeaters and the first auto patch in Texas in '66. Married Becky, WA5ZSR, in 1969. Worked in the communications and mobile phone industry from 1968 to present. For the past 25 years I have been involved as a consultant to NBC, GE and Motorola and have served as Communications Director for 6 Presidential Inaugurations, 7 National Political Conventions, 2 Campaign Trails for the Presidency, 2 World Economic Summits, 4 Olympics, 1 Superbowl, 2 Goodwill Games, 1 Breeders Cup Race, 24 PGA Tournaments and the Dallas 2012 Olympic Bid Committee. My wife and I have traveled extensively with the Olympic Games and spent a considerable amount of time in other countries. Ham radio has provided me with friends too numerous to mention for nearly 50 years now.
	KE5EOT I became interested in Ham Radio about the same time I figured out what Ham Radio is. I don't have any clue about my age at that time. My first ham license was WD5DFP in 1979. I started as a Novice, but getting married in 1980, starting a family, and moving forward with a career took all of my time and I didn't have time to advance my license. The interest never left and after a few (too many) years I studied and passed Tech, and shortly after that, General. I'm now KE5EOT.
	40 YEARS GETTING MY AMATEUR RADIO LICENSE, BUT BETTER LATE THAN NEVER… My name is Randy Johnson. When I was about seven I began hanging out at a local TV repair shop near Harlem and Grand Avenue in Chicago. The owner was very kind and patient with my many questions. Dick was also an amateur radio operator. The mobile rig in his Chevy was amazing to me. His call sign was W9SDI. My step dad accepted a new job downstate in Decatur in 1959. I lost my mentor with that move, a major set back in my quest to become a ham. At the age of 15 (1964) I bought an ARRL handbook and some other study materials to get my license, but without a mentor I got stuck on the code and just didn’t get the job done. About the same time I started to hang out at a nearby radio station and became friends with a couple of the engineers on the evening shift. The station, WSOY, was a very well designed AM FM station built in the late 40’s. I joined a Junior Achievement company that had a Saturday morning program at that same radio station. I was one of three that took a trip to Indianapolis to take the test for a Commercial Radiotelephone License. I could now sign the station logs. At the age of 18, I got a job at that station while working on an Industrial Engineering degree. My engineering career has led me to Wisconsin, back to Illinois and finally to Texas in 1980 where I have remained to this day. One of my hobbies is home theater and I have collected many great movies. In 2002, three of my favorite movies were Contact, Phenomenon and Frequency. These three movies all have an amateur radio content in them. These movies and the desire to be capable of helping with emergency communications after 9-11 revived my desire to get my amateur license. I decided to try again, this time at the age of 53. The theory was easy for me, Morse code was not. This is where I got stuck almost forty years ago and I seemed to be stuck there once again. Luckily found a code course that really helped. It is called Code Quick. I highly recommend it. I went for my test one Saturday. I had studied for the Technician license with code. There was a good crowd, mostly storm spotters testing for their Technician license. The VE gave us the Technician test. I got a perfect score. He kidded me about “over studying.” I was waiting for them to get set up for the code test when the VE suggested that I try and take the General test too. I declined because I hadn’t studied for it. They still weren’t ready for the code test! Then I thought, why not try, I had nothing to lose. I went back up and asked to try for it. Well, you guessed it. I passed! Finally, the code test equipment was ready. I was the only one taking it. Everyone else that day was going for Technician only. They stuck around after their test to watch me. Just what I needed, an audience. The test started. Oh no, I locked up, everyone was staring at me as I was going down in flames! “God, this isn’t what’s supposed to happen now”, I said to myself. I started to recover. “Steady … OK … that’s better. It’s coming now.” I passed with a couple of minutes of perfect copy. “Thank you Lord!” Wow, elements 1, 2 & 3 in one day. The VE asked if I wanted to try for Extra. I decided that would be a bit presumptuous. Later, in 2005 I did get my Extra Class license. I haven’t mentioned it yet, but my wife's folks were both hams. They got their licenses in the early 50’s. I thought it would be great to get my late father-in-law’s call sign. I sought and got the help from his widow. She was most gracious and sent me a very nice letter, which I forwarded to the FCC as soon as I received my license. In another couple of weeks I was W5WZY. 2006 has been a great year! In November my wife got her Technician license. She now has her mother’s call sign, W5WZZ. And a month later my 10-year-old daughter, Rachel, got her Technician license too, just a day before the Metrocrest Amateur Radio Society’s Christmas party where she was recognized for her achievement. Rachel is now KE5LTB, the youngest licensee in the club. As my wife says… “The whole ham family.” The picture is from public library on Field Day '05. Rachel typically helps guests hear their names in Morse code, something she picked up during a three-hour automobile trip from a study tape when she was seven. I would like to stress to everyone, don't under estimate your importance as a mentor! If you don’t help others, someone might never get his or her license that really wants it.
	N5PTW My name is Patrick Ware but all my close friends call me Bear. I am a Dallas native of 54 years and I currently live in Coppell. I have two beautiful adult children Michael 24 and Kelly 20. I have tried to get them interested in HAM radio and flying and failed at both. I am still holding out hope for my wife but I'm not going to hold my breath. I am currently a Captain for Southwest Airlines and fly three different models of the Boeing 737 aircraft all over the country. I have been flying large aircraft for over 30 years and have both a civilian and military flying background. Having flown all over the world in the USAF and witnessing first hand the tremendous power and dynamics of fast developing weather along with seeing my first tornado at the age of 5 years old is what has driven my interest in severe weather which in turn, developed my interest (hooked me) in HAM radio. Aviation has given me a practical foundation in meteorology, and operating jet aircraft at high altitude has given me a perspective on weather dynamics that most storm chasers and spotters, much less just regular people ever get to see. As I near retirement from flying with the airlines, I have decided to continue studying severe weather but this time from the ground. It is much more difficult on the ground and requires much more planning with the constant reminder that I cannot run to or from a storm at 525 mph anymore. My plans are to one day have a tall tower with a beam antenna and spend my day DXing and working on Ecomm. I completed my Extra Class License in 2.5 years and I am also a VE with ARRL and W5YI. I love Ecomm work and planning and have recently completed the ARECC Levels I II and III along with most of the FEMA courses for Emergency Management. I recently joined the Carrollton MARS group after having been an officer in Coppell RACES and ARES. and I must admit that there are some great and really talented people in this group. Becoming a part of this club has been the best decision I have made to date in Amateur Radio. I currently hold a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Science and Electronics and a Master of Arts in Theology. I have over 20,000 flight hours and hold and Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) rating , a Certified Flight Instructor and Instrument Instructors rating (CFI/CFII) and I am type rated in the Lear Jet, Cessna Citation Jet, and Boeing 737. I am very lucky that everyday I get to spend some time talking on the radio to someone be it Air Traffic Control or my new friends at MARS. I just wish I could use my contacts with ATC for my WAS award from ARRL. I have a website at http://www.warewebs.com which is dedicated to Ham Radio and Weather operations. Please drop by and read some of the interesting information regarding storm safety.
	K5KDA My name is Devon Wroblewski. I was first licensed in 1961 as KN9CGP in Michigan City, Indiana. I am very active on the HF Bands. I especially like 10, 15, 17 and 20 meters. I enjoy DX and rag chewing. I am an ARRL Extra Class VE and a member of ARRL, ARES, SATERN, OMISS(#4752), Metrocrest Amateur Radio Society and the Denton County Amateur Radio Association. I am also a 32nd degree Mason and a Shriner. I live in Corinth, Texas. The shack consists of a Kenwood TM-G707 dual band for VHF and 70 cm. and an ICOM IC-756PROII for HF and 6 Meters with an ICOM SM-20 microphone. The HF rig is fed into an Ameritron ALS-600 Solid State Amplifier then into a LDG AT-1000 Autotuner. As for antennas I have a KLM KT-34A 4 element beam for 10, 15 and 20 meters, a Cushcraft A50—5S 5 element beam for 6 meters, and a homemade 6 element beam for 2 meters along with a Lakeview DBB-5 dual band ground plane for 2 meters and 440 all of which are atop a 40’ Rohn HDBX tower. The beams are turned with a Hy-gain Ham V rotor and a CDE control box that I converted to digital; I also have an inverted V dipole for 80 meters and a home made double bazooka for 40 meters. My mobile rig is a ICOM IC-706MIIG and a Screwdriver Antenna for HF and a Daimond antenna for 2 meters.