Meet the man who is automating his entire house. Recent flooding in his part of the Helena valley also flooded the home he shares with his wife and son. As part of his massive restoration project, he has installed sensors to detect water in the basement, monitor humidity and temperature throughout the house, and tell if the furnace is running. He plans to add his smoke alarms, the garage door, the house lights, and the mailbox to his openHAB program running on a Raspberry Pi. If flood waters should rise in his neighborhood again, he can watch a live feed video on his phone.
Oakley didn’t get started in amateur radio until after college. He was graduated from the computer science program at Montana Tech and works as a programmer, building and maintaining software. Oakley also refereed for a youth soccer league. One day his sister’s team urgently needed another referee for a tournament, and they called on Oakley. He didn’t get paid for doing it, but his willingness to help eventually resulted in a job interview at Northrup Grumman, and he has been working there ever since. Currently he maintains the database system for the Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP) for the state Department of Health and Human Services.
At Northrup Grumman Oakley met Tom KE7VUX and discovered that they had a mutual interest in four-wheeling. Four-wheelers need a more reliable way to communicate with each other on the trail, and amateur radio was the answer. Oakley found that delving into radio electronics and the history of technology clarified computer concepts for him in a way that college courses had not. He earned the technician license in 2007 and the general a year later.
His Jeep is equipped with Yaesu FT-2800 mobile radio and he also uses a Yaesu FT-8800 dual-bander. His base unit is an Icom IC-7100. With Tom’s help Oakley mounted a homebrew G5RV dipole antenna in a tree using a drone and fishing line.The amateur radio activities Oakley enjoys most include helping with races such as the Elkhorn Endurance Run and Governors’ Cup near Helena. He participates in Field Day and often brings his son Grayson to coffee on Saturday morning. He is a regular at the CCARC club meetings and has served as secretary.
February 2019
Oakley didn’t get started in amateur radio until after college. He was graduated from the computer science program at Montana Tech and works as a programmer, building and maintaining software. Oakley also refereed for a youth soccer league. One day his sister’s team urgently needed another referee for a tournament, and they called on Oakley. He didn’t get paid for doing it, but his willingness to help eventually resulted in a job interview at Northrup Grumman, and he has been working there ever since. Currently he maintains the database system for the Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP) for the state Department of Health and Human Services.
At Northrup Grumman Oakley met Tom KE7VUX and discovered that they had a mutual interest in four-wheeling. Four-wheelers need a more reliable way to communicate with each other on the trail, and amateur radio was the answer. Oakley found that delving into radio electronics and the history of technology clarified computer concepts for him in a way that college courses had not. He earned the technician license in 2007 and the general a year later.
His Jeep is equipped with Yaesu FT-2800 mobile radio and he also uses a Yaesu FT-8800 dual-bander. His base unit is an Icom IC-7100. With Tom’s help Oakley mounted a homebrew G5RV dipole antenna in a tree using a drone and fishing line.The amateur radio activities Oakley enjoys most include helping with races such as the Elkhorn Endurance Run and Governors’ Cup near Helena. He participates in Field Day and often brings his son Grayson to coffee on Saturday morning. He is a regular at the CCARC club meetings and has served as secretary.
February 2019
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