Me and the gear that started it all.
I first became interested in ham radio when I was sixteen. I used to walk from my great-grandparents' house to a store named Coston Electronics to stare and drool at all the fantastic-looking ham radio equipment I could never afford, and to talk with all the ham radio operators who worked there and frequented the place as well. I still remember the ARRL license manuals and other booklets they put out at twenty-five cents each!
While I loved electronics and talking — still do! — I was not able to get a handle on CW until thirty-plus years later. Since then I have worked assorted contests and fallen in love with nets. I have been handling traffic for more than ten years now, taking, receiving, and creating traffic as radiograms. My first traffic net was the Indiana Traffic Net, where I checked in regularly, quickly became a Ninth Region rep and then a Central Area net. Before I knew it I was a net control station for both ITN and CAN. Central Area Net Manager at that time was Caroline, KC5OZT, and she appointed me an NCS there. I am still an NCS for Central, but we lost Caroline in May of 2019, and I volunteered to step in as acting net manager. Interestingly enough, that is a democratic position, and the net manager was up for election by NCS and members of the net — which soon meant my acting manager title became the net manager for the Central Area Net! I have been NCS for the Indiana Traffic Net for many years and seen at least three others drop that title, including WA5LOU and N1LL among others. ITN is a great net with awesome net control operators and traffic handlers, two Ninth Region operators that move our traffic in and out of the Ninth Region, as well as long-time Indiana Section Traffic Manager W9BGJ, Brian Jenks!
One Net Control Station position that I hold near and dear to my heart is the Sunrise Bible Study net at six AM EST/ESDT on 3912, where I am NCS on Tuesday mornings. SRBSG is a verse-by-verse Bible study net, and I have been an active member there for many years! All of the nets I participate in — whether traffic or Bible — all check-ins are welcome.