My name is Carl Clements, W4CAC, and I live in Portsmouth, VA. I am married to Lynn Clements, W4LBC. I have two children, Reid, WA4NVI, and Leslie, KG4IBP.

I have operated my family's Portsmouth-based heating and air conditioning company, Clem’s Gas Service, for 33 years. We have seven employees and serve customers throughout the Tidewater area.

I was first licensed in 1995 as KE4YXW, and received my current call in 1998. I have served as Net Manager for the VLN, Section Traffic Manager, President of the Portsmouth Amateur Radio Club, Treasurer of the committee that puts on the Virginia Beach Hamfest, and as Section Manager from 2001 until 2006.

I have enjoyed meeting and working with the members of the amateur radio community and look forward to doing so in the coming years.

Hi! As the incoming SEC for the Virginia Section, I needed to introduce myself.

I’m Ron Sokol, K4KHZ. I’ll be 64 years old in June of 2008. I was first licensed as a novice when I was thirteen. As a teenager I was one of many amateur operators who helped with communication during floods in North New Jersey near the Upper Saddle Brook area. While going to college at Monmouth University I was able to stop at Fort Monmouth and learn from the MARS operators, who welcomed all amateurs with open arms. Through the ARRL Awards Program I have earned by DXCC in CW, phone, and mixed. I got my WAS in CW and WAC on phone. A few years back I was given the Roanoke Division Service Award. I was one of the founders and the first President of the Virginia Appalachian Wireless Association (VAWA), an ARRL regional Special Service Club. I wrote the grant for William Byrd High School which was one of the first thirteen “Big Project” grants awarded by ARRL to set up a complete radio station for the kids. My work was replicated to win a second grant for the Middle School next door. I helped with Virginia Section deployment when the Pentagon was struck and when Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. I also organized deployment for the Russell / Tazewell flood.

I’m a retired teacher and school administrator. My educational work has been portrayed on public television as an education association film documentary, and I’ve received the Valley Forge Teacher’s Medal.

It pleases me to have served ARES as a member, EC, DEC, ASEC, and now to accept appointment from Section Manager Carl Clements as Section Emergency Coordinator.

Ron Sokol, K4KHZ
ARES Virginia Section Emergency Coordinator

Greetings all. My name is Joe Safranek, K4JJS, of Gloucester County, Virginia. Originally born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I entered the US Air Force in 1971 and married my wonderful bride, Joy, W2JMS, in 1975 while assigned to Cannon AFB in Clovis, New Mexico. Upon completion of a tour of duty overseas we were assigned to Langley AFB in Hampton, VA, in 1982, and have been living in Gloucester County since 1983. We were both licensed as amateur radio operators in 2001 and have been active in a variety of events, most of which involved ARES and emergency communications. We have two adult children and two grand children, the older one of which recently received her technician class license at age 11. I retired as a civilian police officer/firefighter/EMT. Joy is employed as a civilian budget analyst for the USAF.

I have served in a variety of local amateur radio club positions plus have been appointed as an Official Emergency Station, formerly served as Assistant EC, Gloucester County, Assistant SEC - Development for Districts 5 through 11, Assistant SEC for Training, Assistant SEC-Districts 6, 10, and 11 and now as the VA Section PIC. I also currently serve as RACES Radio Officer for Gloucester County and am an original member and instructor for the county CERT Team, while serving on the board as well. I have completed a variety of emergency communications courses including all three levels of the ARRL Emergency Communications Courses plus numerous FEMA/ICS/NIMS courses. I enjoy instructing and periodically teach technician class licensing classes. My wife and I are also active volunteer examiners being certified as such with both ARRL and W5YI. I am also the US Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla Staff Officer-Communications for the Gloucester County Flotilla.

My function as the Section PIC is simple -- getting our folks the recognition they deserve for the outstanding work that these volunteers perform on a daily basis. I solicit inputs from all of the members that showcase the ways in which our ham operators support our communities and served agencies. I am asking for stories and photos that showcase the other hobby aspects as well. Whether you highlight a club event, EMCOMM exercise or actual activations, or someone in your group has a new way of designing widgets, had a group or individual members get recognized for a good deed, contesting event, etc., please pass on the information and photos and I will do my best to get as many of these stories as possible published onto the website. I do request that all ARES-related items to be published be routed through the ARES chain of command; other specialty stories (e.g., scouting and youth, NTS, official observers, etc.) be routed through the appropriate section staff officer to keep them appraised of the item or event.

I look forward to working with everyone across the section. I can only be successful in this position if you supply the basic information to me, so please pick up your pencils and start writing.

Hello, my name is Bernard “Bernie” Leonard, I live in Washington County Virginia near Bristol, and am the Assistant Section Manager for Zone 5 (western). I have been married to my wife Evelyn for 52 years. We have one son, Bernard Leonard Jr., KF4FHS.

First licensed in 1959 as W4LGY and still hold that call today as an extra class licensee. I first became active in emergency communications in 1975 as full member of the Amateur Radio Emergency Corps and continue to the present with experience in ARES, Air Force MARS, Skywarn and the Civil Air Patrol. I held a First Class Radiotelephone License until the FCC changed them to a General Radio License. I have held each of the following appointments in Virginia; EC, DEC and ASEC. I have completed ARRL Certification and Continuing Education Levels 1, 2, and 3 as well as the Advanced Skywarn Spotters Training.

My employment field has always been in electronics and includes trouble-shooting and repair of all types of electronic equipment, serving as chief engineer for numerous area radio and television stations and the installation of a number of new stations. I also served as the Manager of Quality Assurance for North Electric Co. and for a time designed special test equipment for Sperry Farragut Co.

Hello, my name is Marty Mait, AG4DN of Palmyra, Virginia. I have recently been appointed as the State Government Liaison. I have been married to my wife Lila for 52 years. We have three children, all grown, married and six grand children, ages 21 to 12.

I served as a Regular Army Officer for 20 years, retiring in 1975 as a Lt. Colonel. I served in Korea, Germany and had two combat tours in Vietnam. Upon retirement I was employed by the Commonwealth of Virginia in the Department of Criminal Justice Services. This experience brought me in close contact with all three branches of State government. We were very active each year during the legislative session, either supporting or not supporting numerous bills in the criminal justice field, supporting budget items and keeping in close contact with legislators and legislative staff. I retired from the Department in 1994 as agency Deputy Director.

I came into amateur radio rather late in life as compared to most. I received my Novice / Tech in 1996. Not being content to rest on this entry level, I went on to Extra as rapidly as I could. My major interest has been and still is the role of the radio amateur in emergency situations. I became active in the Fluvanna County ARES / RACES group and have actively participated since. I have held the position of Assisant EC and EC. Under my tenure as EC, I was able to get County officials interested in amateur emergency radio. With their financial support, we have equipped the EOC with a fully functional radio set up on 2 meters and 440. We have a duplicate system in the mobile EOC trailer. We were able to install dual beam antennas in each of the Fire / Rescue Buildings and emergency shelters. We recently acquired a repeater as well. We now have full coverage of Fluvanna County as well as many surrounding counties.

Since retirement in addition to my participation in amateur radio through ARES, I served on the Fluvanna Planning Commission; I am the Secretary of the Albemarle Amateur Radio Club in Charlottesville and serve as Secretary to the Charlottesville Chapter of Trout Unlimited. I look forward to my current appointment as SGL with the hope that I can make a contribution to the amateur radio community.

My name is Rue Stuteville, KA4PLH but I go by the nickname of Rudy. I'm the Assistant Section Manager for Scouting and Youth and am retired from the federal government as a Maintenance Supervisor.

I have been married to my wife Barbara for 48 years this year. We have one son, Gerald, an electronic engineer and a ham that lives in Fort Worth Texas.

I got my first taste of amateur radio while serving with the 3rd Marine Division in the 1960s. I tried to learn Morse code from a radio operator but he could not bring his over 35 words a minute down to my level, but it was fun trying.

I became an amateur in 1980 when my scout son decided he wanted his amateur license. We went together and got our licenses. His call is KA4OXI. I have enjoyed building a lot of Heath kits and other homebrew items over the years. I also enjoy DXing, but I'm still learning how to do it. I'm thinking about trying my hand at contesting.

I have been involved in Scouting since 1949, I earned my Eagle Scout Award in 1954, and I also earned the Explorer Scout Silver Award in 1957. The Tidewater Council BSA has awarded me the District Award of Merit for outstanding service to youth and the Silver Beaver. I am a member of the Wood Badge Fox Patrol.

I am also a member of the Virginia Beach Amateur Radio Club. I feel very honored to be selected Asst. Section Manager for Scouting and Youth. I will work very hard to get Virginia Scouts and Youth involved in Amateur Radio. Please feel free to contact me on any ideas you may have or how I may help you.

I'm Brian Cochran, the Official Observer Coordinator for ARRL VA Section. I am originally from North Carolina and transplanted to VA in the late 80’s.I became interested in electronics at a young age when I discovered my Dad’s stereo speaker would shock me so as a curious one I plugged it into a ac outlet 60hz for 1.2 micro seconds! From then on I was fascinated in how stuff works and took everything from the TV to the microwave apart to see what was inside. I obtained my Technician ham ticket while in high school during 1993. My first station was a Drake TR-4c and Star Duster converted CB antenna on the chimney. Finally getting my Extra in 2001.

I enjoy operating CW, RTTY, SSB from 160 to 2.4ghz and I like to chase DX. I have opened my station to all local hams to come by and operate and hardly a contest goes by with out my call giving out some QSO Points. First appointed to AEC in Warren County under my Elmer KR4DO in 1995 and have been active in ARES and ARRL Field operations ever since. I currently hold several appointments and am certified in most NIMS and ICS courses. Active in public service and training in the local Ham Community.

I hope to hear you all down the log,

73 Happy DX
Brian Cochran WC4J
www.wc4j.com

[Bio sketch coming soon ... ]

I'm Ron Ramsey AB4A; my local club is Roanoke Valley ARC, which meets at Roanoke Red Cross. My current focus with RVARC is to work with the local clubs to coordinate and promote ham radio activities. We support the amateur radio station at the Red Cross. I am the EOC coordinator for that station; we are able to hold emergency preparedness classes including Skywarn and Tech, General, Extra, CW amateur radio classes for which I'm one of the instructors. I enjoy supporting emergency radio communications. I look forward to working with each of you promoting all clubs within the state as your Affiliated Club Coordinator. Hopefully to produce clubs that are well rounded in all areas.

My journey in amateur radio started by learning Morse code as a Boy Scout. This Scouting career has lasted 50 plus years. Presently hold the District Award of Merit from Big Lick District and a recipient of the Silver Beaver Award from the Blue Ridge Mountains Council, also a proud Bob White as a 3 bead Wood Badger. Through the support of RVARC, I participate in ITT Scout Day at which we teach Radio Merit badge to approximately 60 boys and girls each year. I was first licensed in Cave Spring High School, obtained my Novice ticket in an upper room over the shop teacher's office that served as our Radio Shack. It only took 42 years to finish as an Extra. The only thing left at the current middle school is the support for one of our antennas. Moving to modern times I am the trustee of N4HVH for Hidden Valley High School. While this is a work in progress (have FT901 & students are working on the charter), I enjoy working with William Byrd High School especially at the School Club Roundup. My favorite operating past time would have to be Field Day and the GOTA station for the camaraderie and seeing new people enjoy ham radio for the very first time.

While a lot of clubs are special interest groups, it's important that they are well rounded as to have something to offer for all Hams in their jurisdiction. For example a clubs main focus may be contesting and Dxing, it's important that they also make their hams available with 2 meter HTs to work the March of Dimes Walk. This way new hams just starting out can learn from the experienced operators. They can later act as helpers to introduce these new hams to the art of contesting and Dxing. There needs to be many diverse activities; the care and maintenance of a repeater with a net, Field Day, special events, social activities, emergency support for the community, ham radio classes and interesting meetings with presentations. Please feel free to contact me on any ideas you may have or how I may help you.

 

My name is Christine “Chris” Sokol, K4CES.  I first became interested in ham radio in my teens, as my grandfather was a ham, along with an uncle and several cousins, but I didn’t get my license until after I met my husband Ron.  I received my Technician license in 1997 (KF4RGC), upgraded a few years later to Tech plus, and upgraded again to General in 2002.  I got the vanity call K4CES in 2005.  I am a charter member and one of the founders of the Virginia Appalachian Wireless Association, a Special Service Club of the ARRL and served a term as Secretary.  I served as Emergency Coordinator for Giles County and I’m currently an Assistant Section Manager for Administration for the Virginia Section.  My main duty right now is collecting data from the ARES/RACES registration to develop a new ARES/RACES member database.

As an ARES/RACES member, I have cross-trained with a variety of American Red Cross disaster courses, have taken two of the ARRL Emergency Management courses, and I’m a Skywarn spotter.  As soon as I have time, I may even be able to complete some of the FEMA courses!  I have participated in numerous SETS in and around southwest Virginia.

I’m an avid reader, gardener, horse person (horseless at the moment) and closely supervised by two Shetland Sheepdogs (shelties).  I love to fish with my husband (when he can get away from SEC business).  I’m the “bulletin lady” at my church, and also am on a committee that works for the poor of our county.  I have an Associate in Applied Science degree in Human Services/Mental Health and I have worked at Virginia Tech for 22 years as office manager for the Family Therapy Center of Virginia Tech, a training facility for family therapists.

I was first licensed as a Technician, K1TOT, in 1962. I later picked up a Novice ticket, WN3VDA, in 1973. However 13 wpm Morse code simply wouldn't stick and I didn't progress to a higher class license when the Novice ticket expired in 1975.

Upon retirement from a 45 year career in the computer field in 2002, my brother-in-law, Jim Corum, K1AON, gave me a vintage Collins KWM-2 SSB transceiver. This was simply too good of a rig let sit on the shelf. Our family moved to Virginia in December 2002 after spending a number of years living in Asia. I passed my Extra class exams and was awarded my current call sign in February, 2003. I guess that makes me an old time new comer to the ranks of amateur radio.

I'm a computer software engineer and my entire professional career has been spent in various parts of the computer field. The combination of computers and ham radio gives me lots of fresh territory to explore. I've taken the basic SKYWARN classes and am member of Craig Country ARES. I am particularly interested in digital modes such as Software Defined Radio, APRS, PSK31 and more recently, CHIP64.

My wife, Joyce, and I are currently serving as retired volunteers working in South East Asia working on lingusitic projects. I'm not on the air here in Virginia year around since we spend a fair amount of time working on special projects in Chiangmai, Thailand. Fortunately, I have broadband access to the Internet at our 2nd home, so I can try to keep up with the work on the ARRL VA and ARES VA web sites.

Let me share a little philosophy here .. the ARRL VA and ARES VA web sites are here to serve the whole ARRL VA Section. If they're not meeting the needs of the Section membership, then they're aren't doing their job. Please contact me by email (AG4YU) with your ideas, thoughts and suggestions on how to improve our the VA Section's web site service.