Biography

I was a S.W.L. from age 11 to age 17 and had a Popular Electronics Magazine S.W.L. call sign certificate and was assigned SWL Call (WPE4EUK). I received my Novice Ticket in 1963 assigned call WN4OOL. Carson Deuberry K4IBZ ,(Memphis,Tenn.), was my elmer ,and was the one who peaked my interest in ham radio.He also sold me my first station , a Johnson Adventurer transmitter, a BC-348 receiver and a J-38 straight key. I moved from Memphis to Downers Groove, Illinois while my novice ticket was still current. I received the call WN9LGL and when my novice ticket expired I took the General class exam in 1964. It took me three tries in order to pass the written part of the exam but I always passed the 13 WPM code test with no problems. It was a fact back then you received no credit for passing the CW part of the exam if you failed the written part, so you had to pass the CW test each time. When I passed my general finally I was issued WA9LGL. After passing my General in 1964 I moved from Illinois back to Memphis, Tenn. and and was issued WA4YCO and in those days the FCC required you to apply for a different call if you moved into a different call district. In 1965 I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and spent 20 years moveing all over America and to some Foreign Countries. When I retired from the Air Force in 1985 I had held the following call signs: WN4OOL , WN9LGL , WA9LGL , WA4YCO , KQ5I , AA4AG , AA4GZ , DA1KV and finally through the Vanity Call Sign Program received (K4IBZ)which was formally held by my Elmer, Carson L.Deuberry. I Later found out he became a silent key in 1975.

OTHER INTEREST: I like to home brew simple tube type cw transmitters and regenerative receivers. I also like to restore old tube type ham rigs. Presently I have 64 working rigs all of which are connected to my antenna system via banks of coax switches and relays.

Equipment

My ham station consists of six decades of ham radio equipment, starting in 1945 with a Hallicrafters HT-17 transmitter and to my newest rig a Icom IC-735 circa 1990.

I will list the Brand Names of my collection as follows: Hallicrafters , Heath , Drake, Globe , Hammerlund, Johnson, Swan , National , Ten Tec , Conar , Laffeyette , Allied Radio , Radio Shack , Ransey , Meisner , Knight , Yeasue , and Kenwood.

I have two each of every rig mentioned here. Twelve home made transmitters and 5 receivers

ANTENNA SYSTEM: My antennas are: 40 meter inverted vee, an all band windom , and a VHF 2 mtr ground plane.

You may see a video slide show of my station with 28 operating positions consisting of these various rigs, plus my electronic work lab.

More about K4IBZ: You may read and see more about me and my accomplishments by simply going to any search engine or browser and type in my call sign---(K4IBZ)

VIEW VIDEO: You may also view a slide show presentation on U-TUBE of my station , work shop area , and see my ugly mug. Just type in K4IBZ VIDEO when you access u-tube.