Leadership Bios

BEEHIVE UTAH NET

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Leadership Bios

NA7G – Jim Brown. Solar-powered 1.5 KW transmitter
Position: Net Manager, Beehive Utah Net. First licensed in 1977 as WB7UJP. Upgraded to Extra, received present call in 1983. Joined the BUN in 1980, became an NCS in 1982, and began as NM in 1985 (years approximate). Served as President of the Davis County Amateur Radio Club, 2001. Other ARRL positions: Former Section Manager for 4 years, Utah Section. Former Section Emergency Coordinator. Presently, NM, BUN; NM, Utah Code Net; and Section Traffic Manager, Utah Section. Liaison to higher-level NTS nets at the Region and Area level. BA, Business Management, Kent State Univ. Retired from Utah Department of Public Safety, Emergency Management (28 years). Served as Planner, Communications Officer, and Operations Officer over the years. Outside interests include solar power, electronics, collecting old iron (Model A Ford, various John Deere 2 cylinder tractors, open flywheel engines). Email: na7g at arrl dot net.

W7QWH – Tom Miller.
First licensed as WN7QWH and ultimately upgraded to Extra Class. Interests are primarily in public service and traffic handling but I do enjoy pursuing DX occasionally. I am currently serving as NCS on the Beehive Utah Net (BUN) which I helped organize in 1957-8 when I was Utah Section Communications Manager (SCM) for ARRL. I Served as Utah SCM (now SM) for nine years. Taught mathematics and computer science at several colleges and universities for 36 years and retired as Professor Emeritus at the University of Idaho in 1999. I enjoy gardening and fly fishing.

WI7E -- George A Mackley.
NCS on Fridays -First licensed in1975 as WN7BZJ. I upgraded to General in1977, then upgraded to Advanced in1978. Upgraded to Extra in about 1987. I have been SEC of Utah, NM of BUN, now NCS on Fridays and am enjoying it a lot. I have been President of the Dixie Amateur Radio Club in St. George, several times. I enjoy building radio equipment, especially QRP and Big Amplifiers. I am retired from the phone co. after 30 years. I am a father of 7 children and they are my greatest Joy. I have worked in scouting for 30 plus years and have received the Silver Beaver award. My wife has her General class license. We have been married for almost 41 years, and are looking forward to the next 40 some years.

N7RU -- Ron Lewis.

Wednesday NCS for the BUN. First license: KN6PLN in 1955, K6PLN General Class 5 months later. QTH: Encino, CA. Served in West German Mission 1958-1962, then back to BYU in Feb 1962. FCC would not renew my ticket while out of the country, so first week back home I re-took/passed test for K6PLN. Became K7ZIA in Nov. 1963, Orem, UT. Graduated BYU in 1965; did 1.5 years in grad school, then QSY'd from Provo to SLC in 1966. Graduated Cum Laude in Pharmacy U of U in1969. Lived/worked in Brigham City, Ogden (Sunset), UT, then Rapid City, SD for 2 yrs, then back to SLC to start own optical business in 1974 until 1993 as optician/ophthalmic surgical assistant and technician with optometric skills. Moved to South Jordan, UT in 1995. Along the way, in 1968, upgraded to Extra Class; became N7RU in April 1977 when FCC was giving away 1x2 callsigns to Extra Class licensees. Active in emergency communications, ARES, RACES, MARA, ERRS>ERC going on 4 decades. Laid-back approach to DX over the years = WAS on 160M, DXCC x 3 (cw, ssb, mixed) and Honor Roll. XYL, Rebecca, is KC7TWF; we have 8 children, ages 45 to 16; and "it's a wonderful life".

W7ARR -- Bob Swift.

I was first licensed in late 1977 as a novice with the call of KA6ARR in Southern California. My wife is now a SK N6YSG and I really worked hard so we could upgrade her to a general license in early 1982. This allowed us to stay in touch while I was traveling around the country with the big rig. My thanks go out to a few devoted hams for keeping up our interests in the hobby. My 5 children ages 45 to 53 do not show any interest in the hobby. Some of my other interests are making my own antennas / Shooting / gardening / traveling.

I am NCS on Mondays for the Beehive Utah Net and assist NCSs through the week. I joined the BUN in Feb 2006 and have enjoyed being a member and look forward to many years to come. I have been involved with many nets, handling traffic and helping out in general. I started handling traffic in the late 1960s when I was into CB Radio for the Red Cross and other emergency groups. This paved the way for for me to move on to Amateur Radio as I really enjoy working with people through radio communications. Ham radio is addictive.

NS7K – Rich Fisher.

NCS on the BUN on Sunday. First licensed as WN7JJL in 1968, then upgraded to General in 1970 and was issued the call WA7JJL. After high school I joined the Navy and was a Radioman on tin cans (Destroyers USS Maddox DD-731 and USS Rupertus DD-851). When I returned home, I attended Weber State, and graduated in 1976. During this time I started working for the government as a civilian employee, and retired in 2006 from Hill AFB. I have been Utah Code Net manager and TWN/E manager, Davis county AEC, Section Emergency Coordinator, Section Manager of the Utah Section, Vice President of the Davis County Amateur Radio Club and President. Life member of ARRL, member UDXA, Past Commander American Legion Department of Utah. I like to work DX and have DXCC on SSB, CW, working on 5 band (just need 80 meters). Have WAS on 160, 6 and some of the other bands, also have VUCC on 6.

WA7GTU – Don Blanchard.

I was first licensed in January of 1967 with the call of WA7GTU. I started out as a Conditional, upgraded to Advanced in Denver and later to Extra, when they lowered the code requirement. I checked in to the Beehive Net the first day that I received my license and have been on the net ever since. I became a net control later that year. I retired from Southern Utah University in 2002 after teaching electronics engineering and technology education courses for 38 years. Several BUN net members are former students and two are NCSs. I served twice as the chairman of the Technology and Criminal Justice Department which was the largest department at the university. I attended Ricks College, Brigham Young University, Utah State University, and Arizona State University and have degrees from all except BYU. Although officially retired, I work as a consultant for several broadcasting companies in the AM and FM radio field, which keeps me fairly busy. I helped build and maintain the Inter-mountain Inter-tie repeater system and am the trustee for the WR7AAA repeater which was the first “officially” licensed repeater. My wife Linda (WA7VIN) has a general class license and occasionally gets on HF. We have three boys and a girl. One of our sons is licensed as KE7LXA, the other two have an interest.

N7KM--Ken Munford.
I was first licensed at age 13 in 1956 as W7IFJ. I am active in several aspects of Amateur Radio. My preferred mode is CW and I enjoy rag chewing. I sponsor a 2 meter repeater on 146.98 which is on Iron Mountain West of Cedar City. I also enjoy QRP and PSK31. For approximately 57 years I have been involved in scouting and my QRP rigs have often been carried in my backpack. I was net control for the BUN several years ago and just returned to Tuesday NCS two years ago. My wife and I lived in New Zealand for two years and the IC706Mk2G went along to put me on the air as ZL3KSM. We had an enjoyable time with the Kiwi hams and enjoyed being DX for awhile. My sweetheart, Jan (KB7UVO), and two of our daughters and a grandson are also licensed hams. I retired from higher education where I taught in, and administered Electronics and other engineering technology programs at Southern Utah University. Other hobbies I enjoy are: fishing (ice, fly, bass), hiking, outdoor (dutch oven) cooking, astronomy, photography, wood working, growing melons, reading, singing with the “Southern Utah Master Singers” and other community and church service. It's a privilege for me to be associated with the net and each of the operators involved.

Page modified: January 27, 2010