K4HM Harry D. 'Hank' Montgomery Montevallo, AL QCWA # 33757 Chapter 126

Hank Montgomery - K4HM
Life Member ARRL: Since 1973
Life Member TPARCA: The Telephone Pioneer ARC
Webmaster: RARS - The Raleigh Amateur Radio Society
Board of Directors: RARS
Member: QCWA - Quarter Century Wireless Association.
Raleigh Hamfest Chairman: RARSFest 2001-2008
Past President: KRC - the Kentuckianna Radio Club
Past President: SCARC - the Shelby County ARC
Past Secretary: BARC - the Birmingham ARC

My original 1973 Novice callsign was WN4EXQ in Louisville, KY. I immediately became involved with the NTS (National Traffic System) handling "Radiograms". From the time I came home from work until late in the evening I logged into every net I could find on the 80m Novice band. Once the nets were over I typically spent my time "rag chewing" until well after midnight. As a Novice operator I was only authorized for CW operation, but the hours I spent quickly built my speed and I soon passed my General Class test (in front of an FCC examiner) and then waited about a month for the mail to bring my new WB4EXQ license.

By 1975 I had my Extra Class Amateur Radio License as well as a Second Class Commercial Radio License, and I was lucky enough to be in a job that I loved - working in the Southern Bell Radio Shop maintaining their VHF and UHF repeaters and the associated radios in company vehicles, a VHF paging system, IMTS (mobile telephone radios, base transmitters, and remote receivers), and several Microwave stations for long distance trunking and Educational TV.

As a new ham I became very active in local Amateur Radio activities and served as president of KRC (the Kentuckianna Radio Club) in 1976 and 1977. In the late 70's and early 80's I also taught many Novice classes and I was one of the first to sign up as a W5YI VE (Volunteer Examiner) in late 1982, but the VE system did not become fully established until 1983 by which time South Central Bell had moved me to the Corporate Data Center in Birmingham AL - and my interests moved toward computers and away from Amateur Radio.

After moving to Birmingham my Amateur Radio equipment stayed packed up until 1992 when my son became interested in Amateur Radio, which in turn renewed my interest. Together my son and I became active in local clubs, ARES, Hamfests, Packet radio, and I once again became involved with Amateur Radio License Classes and the new Volunteer Examiner programs including CAVEC and ARRL. During the late 90's I served as President of SCARC - the Shelby County Amateur Radio Club and as Secretary of BARC - The Birmingham Amateur Radio Club. I changed my callsign to K4HM in 1997 when the Vanity Call Signs became available.

In November of 1999 I retired from the BellSouth Corporate environment in Birmingham and moved to Raleigh, NC as an Inormation Systems Consultant. I immediately became a member of RARS - the Raleigh Amateur Radio Society. Since then I have become active in 4 other local radio clubs; JARS - the Johnston Amateur Radio Society, CARC - the Cary Amateur Radio Club, TEARA - the Triangle East Amateur Radio Association, and recently helped found the South Wake Amateur Radio Club.

From 2001 through 2008 I served as the chairman of the Raleigh hamfest, RARSFest - the largest hamfest in the northern Piedmont, sponsored by The Raleigh Amateur Radio Society. If you attend hamfests in the Piedmont area of NC you are likely to see me there with my XYL, Selene - KG4RMT.

April 30, 2015