KB3LAZ'S AMATEUR RADIO HOME PAGE

Intro

Hello all, my name is Travis and my call is KB3LAZ. My friends say this suits me rather well. I was born on May 22 1987. I live in Greenville Pennsylvanian (born and raised, I still reside here). It’s about an hour north of Pittsburgh and an hour south of Eire. It’s a small town where not much happens.

I graduated from Reynolds Jr/Sr High School in 2005. Now I currently attend collage at Youngstown State University (YSU). My major is in sociology, working on my bachelors’ degree, then hopefully my masters, and eventually my PHD.

Update: I changed my major to psychology after a brief sabbatical from school. I plan to minor in sociology and philosophy. BTW, I have decided that the PHD thing is a Pipe dream but I will dream if I want to, lol.

(06/21/09)-9:45 UTC)

Pre Radio

My grandmother Rose sadly departed in my late years of high school. I was about 16 years old. Overcome by grief my grandfather and I decide to take a trip to help ease our minds. So we did exactly that. We decided to visit friends of my grandfathers (KECK, Frank). This was my introduction to amateur radio. I then peered into a whole new world. I met an amazing array of people who would forever change my life for the better. And for this, I am eternally thankful. I learned more about radio in one day than most people could hope to in a lifetime. Something else I learned was that even in these times the world is still full of kindness. We were accepted for days at a time into peopleï¿½s homes, people who had never met us before. With this gesture a spark of curiosity arose in my mind. I now wanted to meet more people like this. So one of these kind people handed me a technician manual and said here's a world of knowledge for you to discover. This person was w4clm, Carol. Although she made the biggest impact on me she was not the only one to contribute to my new goal. There were many others so I'll just list the few that I spent the most time with. They are as follows; k9kxq (Jim), n2kp (Richard), and w5rlb (Lee). And that's the end of this story for now. It was a rather memorable trip, and one that I will cherish forever.

A new world emerges

Now that my trip was over and I was back home I went back to school. Now life was back to the "Norm" but not quite. Some things were lost but not forgotten, and new memories were about to form as I stepped into a new world. This new world was that of Amateur radio. With the encouragement of the "Hams" I had just met and that of the ones I've known for years, I decided to study my new book in study hall. But it didn't stop there. Before I knew it I was hiding my book in between my schoolbooks and studying in class, also at the home front and in the car. Then it was accomplished; I passed my Tech test in April of 2004. My license was issued on April 26 2004. I then purchased an Icom T-7H hand held then the fun began. After awhile I desired to do more than talk locally, so I got a Yaesu FT-920 from my grandfather. But it didn't stop there; I then got an Icom IC-7000, a Yaesu FT-100d, and a Yaesu VX-7R. Now I was ready to broaden my horizons. Eagerly wishing to use my new equipment I took my General test and "wow" I passed. My license was issued March 5 2007. Now I was ready to journey into the world of HF. Later that night I tuned the dial to 3.955.00 and talked to the men and women responsible for my success as well as new found friends. Where I continue to meet new people to this day.

Update: To this day I am still a general class operator and plan to stay that way for a while. I don't feel as if I have obtained enough knowledge to become an extra class op. Mostly because at that point I would feel strange (guilty) about asking other hams questions, questions that many of them may have known as a novice. A class that I wish still existed but that is neither here nor now. I do feel confident about the knowledge that I currently have and feel that it suits my operating privileges just fine. In other words, my class and privileges reflect my knowledge.
(6/21/09-9:47 UTC)

Today

To day I strive to meet new people and make new friends every day. Most of the time I'm successful. There's always a CQ contest or a net going. I enjoy nets and CQ contests as well as DXing but nothing compares to ragchewing. Ragchewing now there's something I can do every night and usually do. I usually talk on 3.955.00 or on 3.950.00. However I do not restrict myself to HF I also talk VHF and UHF (Mostly SSB and even AM...yes, I am serious). All in all it’s a fun and relaxing hobby so pick up a book and enter the world of radio.

Update:

I don't really use VHF/UHF anymore. I still chat with a few local friends via 2m SSB and AM but I have not used FM or a repeater in almost a year. It is not that I have a problem with FM or repeaters; it is just that I grew tired of such activities. Today I am mostly on 10m ssb but I still hang on 75m every now and again. I also drift around on 40 and 20m(listening to the slower cw QSO's mostly). I have not been too avid about communicating as of late; I have been more of an SWL. This is partially because of the lack of a tower. I have a tower but it is down and I am running off of a temp setup but that is about to change. Add that with propagation and the fact that it is summer time and well, you get the picture. I will be more active when the school year starts back up and I am at the desk a lot.

(06/21/09-9:54 UTC)

Hi all, and welcome to my website. Thank you for taking the time to review my site, I hope you have enjoyed it. Your signature in my guest book will be greatly appreciated as will your feedback in my blog. Also, dont forget to drop by my forum and say hello.