BILL erhardt K7MT
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Imagine a boy doing Morse code with flags and flashlights, and that was Boy Scout Bill in the 1960s. Then his Uncle Art introduced him to amateur radio and showed him how to run transmitters at a TV station. After high school Bill joined the Navy and did Morse code communications in Vietnam, Scotland, and Florida, operating all on-board equipment, including RTTY and phone. Knowing how important it is for military personnel to connect with loved ones far away, he volunteered his off time in the Military Affiliated Radio Service (MARS) program. In pre-Internet days, he was able to send those health and welfare messages by phone patch. During his next ten years in the Navy he was a computer programmer, stationed in far-flung places around the world. He retired in California in 1986, and finished his degree at Montana State University in Bozeman.
During the next twelve years Bill used the programming languages he learned in the Navy and in college as a programmer for the Montana Lottery. He traveled the state, promoting the lottery and setting up points of sale. Since 2000 he has been working for the Montana Department of Natural Resources, supporting the teams who fight wild land fires. Using radios and digipeaters, he sets up the communication system they need for Logistics, Aircraft and Command. In between communications assignments he drives the trucks that fuel the Bell 205/206 helicopters for DNRC. Bill officially became a ham after his Navy years, passing all four exams: Novice, General, Advanced, and Extra. Since then he has been active in CCARC, and has almost had another career – unpaid – helping hams install their antennas. He is usually the man who climbs to the top of the tower. His many interests include his special passion, amateur radio satellites, as well as APRS and emergency communications with the State of Montana Disaster and Emergency Services (DES.) The accomplishment in radio that means the most to him is his work in setting up 20 APRS stations on mountain tops around Montana. It took about 16 years, but he was able to acquire enough donated equipment to provide Automatic Position Reporting Systems (APRS) coverage throughout Montana. Because of this coverage, CCARC members are among the leaders who make use of APRS for Summits on the Air (SOTA.) Rob AE7AP, Barb AE7AQ, and Bill N7MSI can spot their location as they mountain-climb, and Bob K7HLN follows them and others as a SOTA chaser. Among his most memorable experiences are the two Southern-hemisphere summers he spent working in Antarctica, driving terra buses from McMurdo Station to Pegasus Air Field for the National Science Foundation. While there he repaired KC4USV, the McMurdo amateur radio station, and rebuilt the antenna. Using Echo Link and APRS, he was able to talk to ham friends in Montana, and they could track his position as he drove around Antarctica. Larry K1IED, the QSL manager for the McMurdo station, had 7 years’ worth of QSL cards awaiting confirmation, and asked Bill if he could recover all those contacts. It took him a month to get all the data into a spreadsheet. Bill really enjoys supporting Camp Mak-a-Dream, and for the last 15 years he has helped raise funds by participating in the 124-mile one-day bicycle ride known as Ride around the Pioneers in One Day. Having installed antennas for years, Bill is now ready to pass his tower-climbing harness and gear to Pete Callahan KI7ULL, and to hit the road in an RV. Towing his motorcycle, he plans to explore Civil War battlefields and many other points of interest in the United States. Bill is the recipient of the CCARC 2016 Ham of the Year award. May 2018 Update: Have RV will travel! June 2018 |
Bill installing antenna cable for the Belmont repeater
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At last!
Bill's satellite antenna
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APRS antenna 144.390 on MacDonald Pass. UHF and VHF antennas on top and below right. Repeaters TX and DX on separate antennas.
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