There are those brief moments in time, when an unsuspecting person happens to create something that causes a spark in a kid's head - and look where I am? I coulda' been a brain-surgeon or a welder, but NOooooo, I had to become one of those "engineer guys"... the weirdos that women are NOT supposed to like but marry anyhow. (know what?... they're fascinated with us!)

Olathe holds a permanent place in my heart, not only because I lived there once, but because it was there, that I worked for King Radio Corp.... twice. What a fascinating collection of some of the brightest minds in the industry. It was at King that I got a taste for aviation, as instead of just building, testing, and fixing radio gear, I wanted to USE IT. Ironically, it was after King, working for Burstein-Applebee, that I finally got flying lessons, and earned a Pilot's Certificate - even soloed at the just-closed Olathe Naval Air Station, where I first flew in a US Navy DC-3 at the age of 12... I went on, subsequently, earning ratings... and even selling airplanes for a while. Still - my heart was in the radio.

...and I guess that's why I'm still here. A former US Navy Radioman and crypto puke (they used to call us that), I never lost the fascination for it. We know how it works - we sorta' know WHY - we THINK we know why antennas work (we don't), but the mystery never dies in the mind of a kid (even a 64-year old one)... it's still amazing when I can still hear the far-away sounds of an RTTY signal that I listened to, on communications watch, back in 1963. It's like an old friend - who never strays too far away. The Radioman was the link - the connection to everything when we were at sea... Whatever it was, the Radio guys knew it FIRST. ...and ya' know what?

we still do.

73 - Tom Dailey - WØEAJ

March 13, 2008