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AF4K Brian J. 'Bry' Carling Sanford, FL QCWA # 37181 Chapter 45 |
Greeting! I'm originally from England. Now living in sunny Florida.
Brian "Bry" Carling - first licensed in 1968 as G3XLQ. I started SWLing in about 1963 with an R1155 receiver from a World War II Lancaster Bomber. The AC power supply for 230V AC mains to 250V DC and 6.3V AC, was home made on a round cake tin! My first time listening to American amateur stations was on 20m SSB. I also listened to plenty of CW and AM back then from around the British Isles. Especially on 160m AM. I learned a lot from my elmer, Fred Taylor, G3RFP in Cottenham, and the other chaps at the Cambridge and District Amateur Radio Club.
My official RSGB issued SWL callsign back then was A4941. It was hand painted on the door of my "shack" which was literally a shack - a 5 foot by 7 foot shed. The sign had an ARRL style logo in red with ground and antenna symbols. The antenna was a 20 foot steel water pipe vertical which soon became an inverted L.
I operated for a year or so in Smyrna, Georgia as G3XLQ/W4 around 1968 -1970. Rigs then were a Knight T60 and a Hallicrafters SX99 receiver; later replaced by an EICO 753 which got stolen (thankfully!) and was replaced by a fine DRAKE TR4 transceiver. I made ham friends there in GA and through ACK RADIO in Atlanta with local hams, some of whom I still know today. I also operated at the Georgia Tech Amateur Radio Club. I lived back in England from 1970 - 1972 and was mostly QRT. I played bass guitar in a local band in Reading called Lazy River which was fun.
I moved permanently to the States in 1972, and was inactive again until 1975 returning to the air as WB4FPH, and later in 1978, I was assigned my Amateur Extra callsign AF4K.
I have worked in medical electronics for over 30 years. Prior to that I worked in musical electronics servicingguitar amplifiers, audio equipment and musical instruments in Nashville for several years. I also taught electronics for three years in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. I designed audio mixing consoles at Harrison Syste,ms for three years and became the international service manager.
I now play bass guitar in Orlando, Florida. Currently working in several bands
http://af4k.com/bluelynx.htm
I also play in a blues-rock band with my very talented friend Dave Hillebrandt, W4CI.
AF4K CRYSTALS Co. is a supplier of popular FT243 and hc6u crystals also hc49, hc25, FT171B, crystals etc. for the amateur radio bands. Order on line at our web site!
http://af4k.com/crystals.htm
I am a member of the SKCC Group - with good old Straight Keys and bugs for CW!
It is free to join SKCC and I hope you will sign up and become active with a bug or straight key! http://skccgroup.com
I also enjoys building homebrew rigs, restoring tube equipment, and am a frequent CW operator. Also I use OLIVIA Hellschreiber and MFSK16 digital chat modes. If you are tired of how SLOW JT65 and JT9 are, how about joining me for an OLIVIA contact? You will sometimes find me around 7073 - 7075 and 14.073 to 14.075 MHz using Olivia 8-500 mode. E-mail me for a sked!
73 and see you on the air soon - Bry, AF4K
Web Site: http://AF4K.COM
September 21, 2016