W6LMJ Terrence R. 'Terry' Redding West Palm Beach, FL QCWA # 36704 Chapter 111

I was born in 1948 in Torrance, California. My parents were from New Haven, Wyoming near Hulett, which is near The Devil's Tower, National Monument.

I became interested in amateur radio as a result of helping my father recover electronic components from old television sets. Later I built crystal radio sets, strung antennas, built solid state beat frequency oscillators, and was introduced to amateur radio by my good friend "Butch" (Lawrence) Fleming while taking electronic classes at Torrance High. Our high school electronics teacher, Mr. Robert Baker, also a ham, was an inspiration to me.

After a short stint in the Merchant Marines and living on Knob Hill in San Francisco, I returned to Torrance to attend El Camino College and work for the Electron Dynamics Division, Hughes Aircraft Company. The plant moved from the Los Angeles airport site to Torrance, which involved 12 hours a day, seven days a week work effort, I lost my college deferment and became eligible for the draft.

I was drafted into the US Army in 1968, took basic at Fort Ord and Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Dix. I was selected for Field Artillery Officer Candidate School and was commissioned a second Lieutenant in March 1969.

During a subsequent assignment I met and married the former Barbara Arlene Boyette, now W5HKY. I was assigned to Vietnam and while under orders Barbara and I built a Heathkit HW 101.

While in Vietnam I sponsored a series of MARS stations near Pleiku in 1971 - 1972, and operated one from my "hooch" allowing me to run phone patches for the men and women assigned to II Corps from my quarters.

I acquired my novice license, WN5LMJ, in 1974 while at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Barbara acquired her novice license, WN5HKY, after we were assigned to Fort Ord, California. Her mentor was the now famous Art Bell, Coast to Coast AM radio talk show host.

I was the founder of the Greater Stuttgart Amateur Radio Club in Stuttgart, Germany; co-founder of the Panama Canal Astronomical Society, and founder of the Southwest Oklahoma Astronomical Society.

Today Barbara and I have five children all licensed. Barbara and I each hold an extra class amateur radio license. After raising our kids she returned to college graduating with high honors from Florida Atlantic University with a degree in anthropology. Today she gardens, keeps up with the family and manages the Finance division at OnLine Training, Inc. (OLT). I am busy running OLT, a distance education company that partners with Florida colleges, conducts research in distance education and continuing education with a focus on high self-directed learning and provides G.E.D. preparation courses, continuing education courses for the real estate and insurance industries, and host distance education courses for universities and colleges. The company supports the International Society of Self-Directed Learning, sponsors Global Learn Day, and an amateur radio club station, N4OLT.

N4OLT it provides a remote HF, VHF, and UHF station and is the co-location site for the West Palm Beach D-STAR group which operates K4WPB.

Sundays you will find me on 14.325 MHz at 1600 UTC for the Micro-computer Net, and on 14.287 MHz at 2030 UTC for the ASCRA Net.

You can visit our family home page at http://www.olt.net/Redding_Observatory/Welcome.html

73 - Terry

April 26, 2015