CHRIS dARGAN kc7vcy Chris has always been fascinated with radios. His first radio was the crystal set that he built with a kit from Radio Shack when he was 9 years old. A few years later he acquired a two-way radio. After graduating from the Vocational-Technical Center, now Helena College, Chris went to work for the State of Montana, Department of Natural Resources and Conservation at age 19.
He took an interest in the radios used at DNRC, where he met Jim Haslip W7CK/SK. Jim urged Chris to get his amateur radio license, and he did. He not only got his license and bought a ham radio, he also figured out how to modify the States radios to operate the ham radio bands. Jim, who became a great friend and mentor to Chris, worked for the DNRC as an aerial observer looking for fires. He also had a repeater receiver on Rogers Mountain Lookout with the transmitter on Hogback Mountain. The two of them would fly a helicopter to the mountaintop to service the state’s repeaters and Jim’s transmitter too. Chris went on to work in firefighting for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation for 33 years, retiring in 2018. For 20 of those years he was the Area Aviation Officer for Montana, managing not only the helicopters for the firefighting missions, but all the transportation, crews, and equipment Chris also managed the Canadian aviation resources, National Guard Aviation resources and the Aerial Observer platform. He arranged for all the necessary services for wildland fires. Because of Jim’s influence, he also developed communication qualifications in the wildland fire industry, often using the expertise of Bill Erhardt K7MT, for communications and fueling operations for DNRC. Chris continues to be a qualified communications unit leader and communications technician. His skills, experience, and reputation are so valuable to DNRC, that recently he came out of retirement to work yet another fire season at their request. When Chris retired, he was determined to get back into amateur radio, and has now upgraded his license to General. He has a Kenwood 570S and a Cushcraft A4S antenna for operating HF bands. But his favorite part of ham radio is learning to make contacts via satellite. Bill Erhardt K7MT and Don Heide W7MRI have helped Chris set that up. He notes that doing satellite contact on sideband is challenging because of the possible multiple conversations. FM has its own challenges, but usually there is only one conversation at a time. Chris has wonderful firefighting stories. There were many times he and his team saved homes and businesses or helped with evacuations from fire and flood. Of course, radio played a part in all of that. One Sunday he was called to assist in locating a missing person in Broadwater County. A special education teacher was taking a van of cognitively delayed adults on a trip when they went off the road. The teacher tried to walk out for help, got lost, and spent the night in the woods. The emergency teams could not locate her. Chris and a helicopter pilot tried a wider search and found her. She was walking in the wrong direction. In February 2018, one month after he retired, Chris got a call from the Florida National Parks service, asking him to come work on their swamp buggies in Big Cypress National Preserve. Having those mechanical skills is one of Chris’s many talents. Chris fixed the buggies, and with its crew, took one to fight a fire in Naples, Florida. The local firefighters there had never seen a buggy in the city and were excited about it. “How do you get on this?” asked one. Last year there were fires near Fort Yukon, Alaska. Chris was dispatched there as a fueling specialist where he fueled the planes, helicopters and air tankers and managed cargo operations for the fires. When Chris began working for DNRC, there were a total of three aircraft and one pilot. When he retired, there were 10 aircraft (planes and helicopters) and numerous flight crews. Another source of inspiration for Chris over the years has been Dwayne McNeil K7SYO. They are very close friends, visiting almost daily. Chris feels a deep sense of appreciation for the amateur radio community and friends who have helped him over the years and help him still. He is also a mentor to those who have interest in learning radio skills. August 2020 |