Floyd County has been hoping to find an able amateur radio operator to take over duties as ARES Emergency Coordinator (EC)...and has found a great man to fill the position in Tom King W4VZH!

He has indeed inspired local hams to get involved and to re-connect with ARES on a state and local level.  He is hosting the local net on 146.745 MHz (Tuesday evenings - 9:00pm), and keeps it lively with a bit of humor and "don't miss" announcements. Recently, the local press has helped to boost awareness about King and various ham radio activities.

Tom King has been a licensed amateur radio operator since 1956, though his call sign has changed several times over the years.  His amateur "career" started while in the Navy (his call sign was K6VQQ), where he was stationed at the Naval Reserve Electronic Facility at California Polytechnical College in San Luis Obispo.  There were no two-meters then, and everyone had 75-meter mobiles with 8-foot antennas and World War II surplus gear.  Later (1960, with call K7MIX), King was stationed in Iceland as part of the Air Force--it was a rare treat to be on the receiving end of 20-meter pileups.

From 1964 to 1967, Tom (then DL5GF) was stationed in Germany.  He won the CQ 20-meter SSB contest for Germany and became a member of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) - he was on the air in Geneva, Switzerland as HB9BX, and operated from ITU headquarters as 4U1ITU.

Assigned to the Pentagon in 1968, he received his current call W4VZH.  The "mobile of choice" then was surplus 10-meter gear.  Since they did not have tone generators, they learned to whistle at 1000hz to hit the repeater!  Where was the repeater?  Atop then Senator Barry Goldwater's apartment building in Washington, D.C.!

Upon retirement in 1977, King stayed active in ham radio while in Roanoke attending Roanoke College and Radford University.  Though he moved to southern California in 1981, he retained the call sign in hopes of returning someday.  The hope became a reality when he retired from the classroom and moved here to Floyd, Virginia in April 2006.

He's now the ARES Emergency Coordinator (EC) for the County, and looks forward to opportunities in public service while enjoying his hobby of amateur radio operation. 

Welcome Tom!