[FADCA] Introduction

[Burt wizeman]

Hey folks,

I thought I would formely introduce myself.  My name
is Burt Wizeman and have been a licensed ham for over
23 years.  My call history is KB4BPP, N4IEP, KI4FH.

I am from NY, moving to Florida in '79 and originally
held residence in Tampa.  While there I worked for
Heathkit Electronics and do I ever miss those days!
It was during my work at Heathkit that I found Packet
for the first time, my first TNC being the Heath
HD-4040, it was the Tapr TNC in Heath's clothing.  I
built 3 of them!  During that time, around 84 or 85, a
ham whose name I have forgoten from Port Charolette,
Don Deem of Bradenton-KB4LLO and myself visited a Lake
Wales tower.  The unknown ham and myself climbed up
and installed the antenna for the first cross-state
digi.  We mostly typed qsos.  Played around with some
BBS Software and broke .com files into octel text to
be sent then reassembled at the recieving site.
I still remember sending a packet around the world and
getting it back at my home system in a matter of about
a minute!  Neat stuff.  Gwyn Reedy was building his
first Pacomm TNC's then and we started a Packet club
in Tampa that might have lasted about 3 meetings. 
With TAPR growing quick we decided that we were
duplicating effort.  
It was a very exciting time to be in our hobby.
I left Heathkit about 1 year before they closed.  
I performed Stand-up Comedy and maintained my interest
in technology but pretty much dropped out of Ham
radio.  After securing a job with Arthur Andersen in
Sarasota in '96 I had already begun to bury myself in
Linux, networking and the Internet.  
I regained my interest in the hobby in 2002.  It was
during that year that Arhtur Andersen began their
demise and I would be out of work by December.  I went
on the road performing comedy for about a year and
upon returning to Sarasota, I kicked into gear with
the hobby.  This occured just before the 'Canes came a
knockin' on the shores of our state 4 fold. 
As you know, it was wild time for our hobby and a
great feeling to be able to serve.
This synopsis brings me up to the current day.  I want
our area to have solid digital communications and will
do whatever I can to assist.  It looks like this
Saturday we will be getting the 2 meter port for FPAC
back up and running or at the least, identify the
issue.  
A lot has changed since I sent my first beacon on the
HD-2020.  I am learning as much as I can about what is
available in the digital domain and am very excited to
be able to help out here in Sarasota.  I look forward
to meeting you or at the least, seeing you on my
MHEARD list.  I will be joining FADCA via snail mail. 
I was suprised to see that folks still use that! 

73,
Burt Wizeman
KI4FH
941-587-1205
Sarasota
APRS 144.390