Biography

I've been a ham since June of 1957 and I've watched the hobby go through many changes. I owned a ham radio store in Broken Arrow, OK [Derrick Electronics] from 1970-1981 where I got a chance to live the dream many hams have had.

My website at www.hayseed.net/~jpk5lad/ has quite a few pieces of information I've gleaned over the years including how to rebuild an antenna rotator, what's inside the Bird slugs used in wattmeters, information on building a high power HF amplifier, information on rebuilding and maintaining various Dentron antenna tuners, plus numerous stories from my "good old days" of ham radio.

Although I'm often asked if my ham call (K5LAD) is a vanity license, that's not the case. I was issued the Novice call of KN5LAD back in 1957 and, once I upgraded and removed the "N," I've had the same call ever since. Now I'm old and grey....... actually old and bald, and I'm still a lad. That can't be all bad since I'm maintained my youth through amateur radio.

73,
Jim - K5LAD

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

Transceivers:
Elecraft K3/100, Icom IC-756 PRO, Icom IC-7000, Kenwood TS-2000, Kenwood Twins R/T-599A, Yaesu FT-817, Icom IC-706MKII, Yaesu FT-736R(2m & 70cm), Kenwood TS-700S, IC-2720H, FT-7800, IC-490A

Amplifiers:
Yaesu VL-1000 Quadra,Dentron MLA-2500, Hm brew 4-1000A,Dentron GLA-1000

Antennas:
3-element SteppIR @70', Mosley TA-33jr w/MPK @40', Cushcraft R-7 vertical, Hustler 4-BTV verticals, 130' dipole fed with ladder-line, HyGain multi-band trapped dipole, 160 meter Inverted L, 3 element 6 meter yagi at 30', various and assorted others .....