[OKDXA] I Have a Gavel Sitting on My Desk...

[Kim Elmore]

I'm honored to have been selected as the new OK DX Association 
President. I want to personally thank all the past officers: they've 
left me some  mighty big shoes to fill.

I brief introduction might be in order so here goes: I'm 61 years old, 
grew up in Tulsa, OK, and was first licensed as WN5CLC late in 1970 when 
I was 14 years old and I've been continuously licensed ever since. I 
earned my Extra when I was 18 and, shortly afterward, the FCC opened up 
the first 1x2 calls to Extras that had been licensed something like 2 
years. So, I threw in my request for all the Really Cool calls, (K5KW, 
N5CW, W5AM, etc.). We could list up to ten requested calls and, the 
first one that wasn't already taken was assigned. My last choice was 
N5OP only because I liked the rhythm in CW, and N5OP is what I received. 
As a bit of a romantic and an amateur musician (I play violin in a 
community orchestra and string quartet), I've always liked CW and use it 
almost exclusively.  Knowing CW came in handy as I took flying lessons 
because I could copy the ID of any navigation beacon without looking it 
up. With my Wife (N0MGC) we own a 1946 Cessna 140.

I've always been fascinated by communicating with someone else far away 
on nothing more than rarefied air interacting with sunlight. My dad was 
a ham (W5JHJ, now SK) and a physicist, and so I was introduced pretty 
early to the "Kennelly–Heaviside layer," more popularly known now as 
simply the ionosphere. He gave me my first lessons in theory and 
electronics and I've built on that since. I maintain the very first rig 
I ever operated: A World Radio Labs Globe Champion 350 and a Hammarlund 
HQ-170 receiver, both purchased new by my dad in 1959.

I was always interested in DXing, but it was very tough at my house: we 
had noisy overhead utilities running through our back yard on a suburban 
lot and my dad insisted on a vertical with few radials. Any DX was rare 
and exotic. But, shortly after my wife and I bought a house in Longmont, 
CO, in a neighborhood with underground utilities (quite ones at that), I 
put up my current tower and antennas and the magical world of DX was 
gloriously available. I learned about the Mile High DX Association, 
found that DXers (and contesters) were among the more technically astute 
hams, and was happy to join. While I lived in Longmont working at the 
National Center for Atmospheric Research, I wound up as president of a 
couple of clubs the: Boulder Amateur Radio Club and the Longmont Amateur 
Radio Club (not simultaneously!). So, I have a bit of experience.

I hired on to OU as a research meteorologist at the National Severe 
Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in 1995, was encouraged to enter the Ph.D. 
program in 1998, earned my Ph.D. in meteorology in 2000, and moved from 
near 104th and Anderson Road 5 mi southeast of Tinker AFB to my current 
QTH in 2006. My station remains rather modest by Big Gun standards. 
Antennas consist of an HDBX 48 tower with a Cushcraft 40-CD2 at ~49 ft, 
a Cushcraft DW4 at 52 ft, and KLM KT34A at 60 ft, all rotated with a T2X 
controlled by a Green Heron controller. I have a F12 Sigma 80 for 80 m, 
I shunt feed the tower for 160 m using a home-brewed L-match and a 
motor-drive vacuum variable for matching, and have an Array Solutions 
K9YA loop system for low band receive. Radios are a TenTec Orion II 
fully decked out with all the roofing filters, auto tuner, and the 
optional RX-366 second receiver with roofing filters (possibly the last 
one ever built), and a mint Kenwood TS-930S I bought new in 1984 with 
auto tuner, all the filters (INRAD), INRAD roofing filter, and PIEXX 
board, the previously mentioned boat anchor gear, an AL-1200 amp with HV 
upgraded to 4 kV and internal QSK-5PC QSK switch, and an ATR-15 antenna 
tuner (almost never needed).

I still support all my toys and activities, along with two wonderful 
kids, as a research meteorologist at the NSSL in Norman. Feel free to 
contact me if you'd like to have a look at the place.

I'll work to be worthy of the OKDXA and of your trust in selecting me 
for the office. I'm also very fortunate in having an excellent, 
experienced and gung ho VP in Randy Wing, N0LD and a a superb 
Secretary/Treasurer in Bruce Burnette, K5PX. DX is!

73 and see you in the Pile-ups!

Kim Elmore, N5OP


-- 

Kim Elmore, Ph.D. (Adj. Assoc. Prof., OU School of Meteorology, CCM, PP 
SEL/MEL/Glider, N5OP, 2nd Class Radiotelegraph, GROL)

/"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in 
practice, there is." //– Attributed to many people; it’s so true that it 
doesn’t matter who said it./