Newsletter - April 2008

Mike Wright, KF9NP Profile:

        Mike was born on October 18, 1944 in Tunnelton, Indiana.  His parents were William and Katherine Wright. He has two brothers, Billy Wright.(kb9ask) of Tunnelton, and Max Wright of Hillside Estate, Bedford.

        Mike graduated from Tunnelton High School in May of 1962 and married Karen Fiddler on August 3, 1962. They have two children, a son Wesley of Marengo, who is a school teacher there, and a daughter Portia Kruse of Buddha, IN, who is a veterinary technician in Bedford. They have three grandchildren, two girls and a boy.

        After graduating from high school Mike worked as a carpenter for his father-in-law, for about two years.  He learned a lot from him in the carpenter trade.  After that, he worked for the W. F. Meyers Co. in Bedford as a tool and cutter grinder for two and a half years.  He then went to work for General Motors as an apprentice Tool and Die Maker.  After working there for thirty-four years, he retired in May, 1999.  He has worked at several part time jobs since his retirement.  Those jobs included school bus driver, rural postal carrier, limousine driver, and parts manager at M & E Honda.  He is currently working part time as the Building Inspector for the City of Bedford and has held that job for about three and one-half years.

         His hobbies include Ham Radio, Tennis, and deer hunting.  He has given up tennis, and just does a small amount of deer hunting. He still uses the radio quite a bit, and loves foxhunting. He is currently the president of the Hoosier Hills Ham Club and would gladly relinquish that job to someone else.

         Mike received his Novice Class Amateur license on March 11, 1983.  His first call sign was KA9PHG. He gives credit for obtaining his license to Mike Kinser, WA9SAT.  He is a ham that moved into the community a couple years earlier. Mike Kinser asked Mike if he would like to see his station. Mike Wright always liked 2-way radios since his younger days and at one time owned C-B radios, but that had long since passed. Mike Kinser showed Mike how to make a phone call over the radio. Mike was so impressed with the auto-patch that he immediately wanted to get his license. He wanted to be able to call my home from the Hoosier National Forest where he was camping and deer hunting a week at a time. This was his motivational drive. He received his Technician License on June 10, 1983. This meant he could use his 2-meter radio the auto-patch. He was so excited that he bought a Kenwood hand held on his way home from the Indianapolis test session. He bought a small amplifier that allowed him to call home from the forest. He was content with the Technician License, but soon became envious of Mike Kinser having that General Class license. He did not tell Mike that he was going to try to get his General license. I worked hard on the code and theory and received his General Class license on October 12, 1984. Mike does not have a record of when he got his Advanced license, but he got his present call sign, KF9NP when he got his Advanced License. He wanted to become a VE (Volunteer Examiner) so he obtained his Extra Class License on February 5, 1994.

Amateur Radio License Classes: The amateur radio license classes were completed for the General and Technician classes on April 10.  Test sessions were held on April 14 and 17.  On Monday the April 14 eight people took the test, six for the tech license and two for the general license.  Five of the six passed their tech license test and both of the general hopefuls passed their tests.  On April 17 Marcie Davis passed the general license test.  So the classes resulted in three upgrades and five new licensees.

April Fox Hunt: Ray Stevens, KB9LGS, was the fox for this hunt, which was held on April 19.  Three hunters showed to track down the fox.  They were Mike, KF9NP, the Harris Team, Keith/Ann, N9KH/K9NOT, and Larry, WA9FFZ.  The fox was hidden at Tincher Lake near the junction of Highways 50 and 60.  Larry drove straight to the fox, arriving in fifty minutes, logging a hunt winning 9.5 miles, Mike came in after one and a half hours with 21.9 miles and the Harris Team was unable to locate the fox.  The next fox hunt date is adjusted to May 10 to allow many hunters to go to the Dayton Hamfest.  Starting time will be 4:30 PM.  A reminder will be sent to the fox hunt distribution list closer to the hunt date.

501C3: Keith informed your secretary that the 501C3 legalities are now completed and in place.

Forums: There is still a call for forums to be held after the regular radio club meetings the first Tuesday of every month.