Cliff Fox - KU4GW - NAQCC # 1491
I first got interested in radio at age 14, but didn't get a ham license until 1996. Was born on may 10, 1961. Age now is 45. First licensed as KF4MPJ as a Tech-No Code in October 1996 and upgraded to Extra Class 9 months later after much studying and very much working on learning the code. I didn't use any of the commercial tapes to learn CW, but used an old tape made by Professor John Wiles of Wilkes Community College in North Wilkesboro, NC. He was deceased when I learned CW from his tapes from an amateur radio class he taught many years earlier when you still had to go to Winston-Salem, NC and take the test from an actual FCC examiner, before the VEC came to pass. I enjoy CW, phone, RTTY, BPSK31, Feld Hell, Olivia, MFSK, SSTV, public service thru ARES/RACES in Alexander County, DXing, and contesting. I am a member of ARRL, Alexander County Amateur Radio Association, ARES, RACES, SKCC # 652, NAQCC # 1491, Flying Pigs# 1183, Feld Hell Club # 62, ARRL liason for VE testing for Alexander County, NC, K4KQ "The North Carolina Contest Group", and am an Advanced Weather Spotter for the Greenville-Spartanburg National Weather Service Office in Greenville-Spartanburg, SC. I love amateur radio mainly because it has never gotten boring to me. There are so many facets to enjoy! I own 4 CW keys, my favorite is my old Lionel J38 that my friend Russ W3RAM bought for me at a military surplus auction in Wilmimgton, DE and sent to me as a gift, It just feels the best insofar as a straight key. I also own a Bulgarian military straight key I got on Ebay for 10 bucks, a set of MFJ-564 paddles, and a US Army Corps J5A Flameproof circa 1941. My HF rig is a Kenwood TS-570D and antenna is a 260 feet center-fed Zepp up 50 feet. I own an old Homebrew amp bought at an estate sale in Orlando FL that uses an Eimac 4-1000A tube and does 1100 watts on 20 mtrs with 65 watts drive.