W4GFZ

In 1967, when I was 15 years old, my father was sent to Vietnam and my family took up residence in Columbia, SC for the year he would be absent.  Three houses up the street on the corner was an interesting home…. interesting because of the wires stretched across the yard in the trees, which all seemed to run into a small shed in the back yard where the man who lived there spent a lot of time.  I stopped by and introduced myself and found that he was a “Ham” radio operator.  He soon became my “Elmer” and started teaching me about Ham radio.  Using an old paper tape machine, I started learning the Morse code.  However, I was an impatient teenager and soon tired of the lessons and eventually stopped visiting him.

In 1981, I “rediscovered” Amateur Radio and became determined to obtain my ticket.  I enrolled in a Novice license course and soon passed the tests.  I was a Novice for a total of three days, receiving my Novice ticket in the mail on a Saturday, then traveling to the FCC field office in Kansas City the following Tuesday where I upgraded to Technician class.  The following month I returned to the field office and upgraded to General class, and a month or two later to Advanced class.

The unique thing that happened to me occurred the morning after I returned from the Kansas City field office, having upgraded to General class.  I rose early and went to my basement ham shack, eager to make my first HF voice contact.  I tuned around on 15 meters and heard a station calling CQ.  I answered the CQ and we began chatting.  He was in Columbia, SC.  As we talked, I began feeling that something was familiar about the callsign of the gentleman to whom I was speaking, and I finally asked, “Jack, do you live at the corner of Norwood Road and Satchel Ford Road?”  He replied, “No…. but I used to.”  To my utter amazement, my very first HF voice contact with my brand new General class privileges was my old mentor and Elmer, Jack Kauffman, W4GFZ!  I had the opportunity to stop in and visit him on my next trip through Columbia.  I was saddened a few years ago to learn of his passing.  I have always been grateful for the early inspiration he gave me, even though I let him down as a student.  His key may be silent, but his transmissions are still propagating out there in space.  Thanks, Jack!

Tim Hardy, KC0PA