HEART

At 21 I burnt out on college, so enlisted in the Army as a 13B Artillery Cannon Crewmember.   After 3 days of that, I changed MOS to 98D Electronic Warfare Signal Emitter Identifier Locator (HF DF).  I ended up learning Morse Code at Fort Devens, Massachusetts.  Morse Code is a funny thing, you either hate it and it will drive you crazy, or it’s like candy and you can't get enough of it.  For me it was candy so a few years after I got out, I was missing it and decided to get my HAM license.   I ended up testing in Middleburgh NY during the transition away from Morse Code.  They still offered the code as an endorsement, but it was no longer a requirement and I was shattered.  So I got my Technician license and it sat on the mantle, I was a paper HAM.  A few years later my brother who had also gotten his license, badgered me into testing up to a General license which replaced my Technician license on the mantle.

Years went by and I had ended up in Norfolk VA working for a communications company called CR Services.  We did work for local and state governments and the DOD. 

 

On one fateful day, a gentleman by the name of Ira Swartz walked into our shop with a proposal to install about 25 or so base stations in local hospitals and assisted care facilities.  That eventually grew to even more facilities and added a few repeaters. 

Now my boss, Patrick Pitchford, had started his company with the help of some members of the HAM community and always felt a debt of gratitude to the HAM community.  When the opportunity presented itself of securing a repeater location on the roof of the old Bank of America Building, now the ICON building in downtown Norfolk, he funded a YAESU Fusion VHF and UHF repeater, ARCOM Controller and a 250 AH BBS.  Alas, he was not a HAM, so down from the mantle came my license.

Pat died 2 years ago and the company ended up closing down but I still maintain the repeater and I also help Ira, Paula and the HEART Team with technical issues from time to time (ok ok..... they help me too).  So if your ever wondering how a KC call sign ended up in Norfolk Virginia that should answer your question.