N4POD Jeffrey S. 'Jeff' Buffington Orlando, FL QCWA # 36682 Chapter 45

I was first licensed as a Novice in 1990 as "KC4POD." While I've been tempted to change my call each time I moved out of state or upgarded, I decided to keep it. After having the same call for so long, I've grown fond of it, so I think I'll stick with it for a while. In 2015 I will qualify for membership in QCWA... and plan on joining them.

I passed my Novice class license test in February of 1990 and recieved my physical licence in March of the same year (six weeks afterwords.) During the 1990's, as a new ham, I was fairly active. I upgraded from Novice to Technician within three months, and was part of the DeVry/Atlanta Amatuer Radio Club, while taking classes there. After returning to Orlando, I became a member of the ARRL (www.arrl.org), the Orlando Amateur Radio Club (www.oarc.org) as well as the Osceola County Amateur Radio Club.

In 1994, at 21 years of age, I moved to Las Vegas, NV. I wound up getting a job with Amateur Electronic Supply (www.aesham.com) in Las Vegas. While I loved living in Las Vegas, my mother talked me into moving back home. In 1995 I moved bad to the Orlando area, and transferred to the Orlando AES store.

After returning to Orlando, I actively worked with the local Osceola County Emergnecy Management, and worked to help establish an active ARES affiliated organization within Osceola County, Florida. Having worked with and experienced APRS in Las Vegas, I proposed, designed and set up a network of APRS weather stations across the county.

In 1999 I began pursuing my Worked All States award on the HHH Net (www.hhhnet.net), and managed to contact all 50 states, but only received confirmations for about half of them.

In December of 1999 I met a YL and went from being fairly active to fairly inactive. I occasionally got on VHF and UHF, but rarely worked any HF. My mother passed away in 2008 and my father passed away in the summer of 2010. After losing both of them, I came to the conclusion that life was too short and I should continue with those things that made me happy. I purchased a Yaesu FT-897D with the Auto-Tuner, and a trapped dipole antenna.

After a hiatus of nearly 15 years, and upon reaching my 10th anniversary with my (now) XYL, I got hit with the 'bug' again, and have returned to active amateur operations.

I have been looking for an antenna that I could use from the home QTH without causing too much disruption with the HOA. I have a trapped antenna in the attic, but have had limited success with it. I purchased an MFJ-2982, 31' telescopic vertical antenna, and ha

I have resumed working on my Worked All States on the HHH Net (www.hhhnet.net) as well as my WAS from the ARRL.

I am an IT guy by trade with 25 years of field hardware repair and support experience. For the past decade, one of my specialties has been with Point of Sale (POS) hardware. Throughout my career I have worked directly for or been contracted to a myriad of companies, including as a Field Engineer for an NCR subsidiary, a Field Analyst for Universal Studios, and a contracted POS Technician for Walt Disney World.

A couple of years ago I decided to finish school, which I initially had started shortly after getting my ham license. Initially, I was going for my AS Electronics Engineering Technology I am now am nearing completion of my Associates in Science degree in Computer Programming and Analysis, and potentially a second AS degree in Computer Information Technology. After getting my degree, I am looking at pursuing my Bachelors of Applied Science in Software Development at the University of Central Florida.

February 27, 2015