Well-known volunteer lends his ham radio skills to Sumter.
In public, he is known as Harold Lloyd. On the radio waves, his call sign is W4OE. For more than a decade, the Village of Glenbrook resident has donated his knowledge of being a ham radio operator to Sumter County Emergency Management. “I’ve enjoyed being able to provide a service to the community,” Lloyd said. In February, the members of emergency management recognized Lloyd for his work with Skywarn, a program of the National Weather Service in which ham radio operators relay information about severe weather in their particular area. While he is stepping away from working with Skywarn, he will continue to assist emergency management.
Ham kids build, learn tech skills. Hamvention kids walked away from the fairgrounds May 18 with their own wireless Tesla speakers and digital clocks — built with their own hands. The amateur radio convention’s Youth Tech area, sponsored by Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA), provided a space for youth ages 9-18 to build their own technology kits. “The idea here is to teach kids skills such as soddering, which has been pretty much lost by recent generations — kids don’t grow up knowing how to do that anymore,” Jeff Ullery, Chairman of the Youth Tech Committee, said. “So it teaches them skills on how to soder and at the same time they get to build some kits that teach different principles.”
This guy may know what he’s doing tower-wise, but you still have to get a permit. This is going to end badly for the guy and for amateur radio….Dan
‘I’m a nerd, I know what I’m doing’. A Rochester man could face fines if he doesn’t submit plans for a building permit and ask for a zoning variance for his amateur radio tower.City officials say Dan Knutson hasn’t submitted plans for a building permit nor provided specifications for the about 58-foot tower holding multiple radio antennas on the roof of his home.Knutson contends the tower is structurally sound. It’s secured with aircraft cables and guy wires to control its fall should it collapse — which Knutson said would only happen if wind speeds were more than 100 miles per hour. “Everything’s better than it needs to be,” Knutson said. “I’m a nerd, I know what I’m doing.”