Section Leadership

Greetings to all SC ARRL members from Dr. Jim Boehner, N2ZZ. I am originally from Syracuse, NY. After completing a Residency in Georgia, I moved to Aiken, SC in 1986. I was first licensed in 1969 and hold an Amateur Extra Class License. I am a life member of the ARRL and the QCWA, and belong to the Palmetto State chapter (#89) of the QCWA. I served as president of that organization for the 2004-2005 term. I am a charter member of the Aiken Contest Club. My experiences in Amateur Radio are many. I was a RTTY Official Bulletin Station in the 1970’s as well as a CW NTS traffic handler with liaison duties. Although I am fully equipped with VHF and UHF capabilities, I have a strong interest in HF communications with conventional as well as digital modes. I have earned 5BDXCC and am currently on the DXCC honor roll. I have been certified by the ARRL and WCARS as a Volunteer Examiner. I am proud to say that I recently became a member of the A-1 Operator Club. I am also proud to say that I received the Roanoke Division ARRL Service Award for 2005 with John Covington, W4CC, former Section Manager of North Carolina. I have an interest in Public Service, and have affiliations with Aiken County Law Enforcement Communications. My goals for the office of Section Manager primarily revolve around my desires to expand participation in, and enable unification of the ARRL SC Field Service. For further information, please see my election website at http://www.qsl.net/n2zz/ .

Assistant Section Manager (ASM) EMD Area 1 - Les Shattuck - K4NK k4nk@arrl.net

Rev. Les Shattuck, K4NK, has held the position of South Carolina Section Manager in the past, and was at one time an Affiliated Club Coordinator. Most recently he was the ARRL Vice Director of the Roanoke Division. Les enjoys CW, and has worked over 300 countries QRP. Les is well known throughout South Carolina, and we welcome him to the ASM-1 position!

Assistant Section Manager (ASM) EMD Area 2 - Bob Bacharach - WA2EMF wa2emf@arrl.net

Robert Bacharach, WA2EMF, has been an amateur radio operator since 1959 and holds an Amateur Extra class license. He has been an active member of the York County Amateur Radio Society for 8 years, serving most recently as YCARS President for 2002. He is active on all bands from 3.5 to 440 MHz and enjoys both HF and VHF contesting, employing CW, SSB and digital modes. He holds a degree in Business Administration from Long Island University with an emphasis on software development. He was employed by the U.S. Department of Energy for ten years as Division Manager of Information Systems at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York , prior to his appointment as Director of Systems for Superior Washer and Gasket of New York and South Carolina.

Ken Kasper N2IXX is originally from Cranford NJ. He has lived in Missouri, Oklahoma, Germany and now resides in Lexington SC. He has been an amateur since 1988 and has advanced to extra over the years. Ken was just elected president of the Columbia Amateur Radio Club for the 2005 term. He is an avid builder, experimenter, and has tried just about every mode of communications. He is also an ARRL accredited Volunteer Examiner and works with the SC Midlands VE Team. Ken is currently employed by Verizon Wireless as a Senior Technical Analyst.

First Licensed (at age 13) in 1962 as WN4LDM. N4JJ since 1977. Started chasing DX on 160 and 80 during the mid sixties. The five band awards actually sparked my interest in the higher bands and the DXCC Challenge. 160 Meter DXCC #13 in 1979. Enjoy Low Band DXing, QRP and antenna construction. Still get a thrill running code classes for new and prospective Hams. Sorter for the ARRL W4 bureau for past 23 years. Life Member of ARRL, QCWA and OOTC. Active on all bands 160 through 2 meters. Other activities include Deer Hunting on my farm (about five miles from my home), Masonic activities (Secretary of Flintville Lodge 158AFM for the past 25 years, Past Master and Past District Deputy Grand Master) and my Church as a Sunday School Teacher and Chairman of the Trustees. God has been especially good to me. Retired after 33+ years service as a Manager for BellSouth Corporation in 2002. Graduated again in 2004 as a Paralegal. Presently a part-time Consultant for TELICS Corporation. I've met a lot of wonderful folks and made some cherished friendships through our great hobby, Amateur Radio. See you on the bands! 73, Jack-N4JJ

Paul Jones, NN4F, has been an active amateur radio operator since 1980 in the UK, he moved to the USA in 2000, and passed the technician exam, and went on to gain Amateur Extra in November 2005. He is a very active contester, but enjoys all facets of radio, including CW, Digital, SSB, and chasing DX. He has been an active member of the Trident Amateur Radio Club in Charleston, SC. Paul is the Current Vice President for the 2007/2008 term. He is also a VEC for the Goose Creek W4VEC test team and is a certified Skywarn operator for Dorchester County. Paul holds a B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Computer Science and has been in the IT field for over 20 Years. He lives in Ridgeville, SC. Paul runs his own company with is wife Terry. He has two step children who he is very proud of, his son is a Navy Fighter Pilot.

Assistant Section Manager (ASM) EMD Area 6 - Bob Besley - K4NJN k4njn@arrl.net

Bob Besley has been involved in emergency services for over 29 years, having worked for the FBI, South Carolina Attorney General's Office, and the Aiken Department of Public Safety. He retired in June 2006 and now runs his own business, working with the game of polo as a paramedic and as a professional polo announcer. He is married to Sandy, KE4RFO, and has a 13 year old daughter Katie who was licensed KI4LSZ recently. Bob is interested in building a positive relationship between emergency service agencies and amateurs throughout South Carolina. Having completed all three ARRL emergency communication classes, Bob is ready to deploy anywhere and set up communications in areas needing the assistance of amateur radio. Bob has written and been awarded a $100,000 Homeland Security Grant for Aiken County South Carolina for an ARES communication trailer. The project, the first of its kind in the United States has received national attention; and even the attention of the FCC, who has expressed publicly how proud they are of the initiative. Listen for Bob as he enjoys activating islands and chasing DX on 20 meters.

Assistant Section Manager (ASM) Youth - Adam Hoffman - WY4N wy4n@arrl.net

Adam Hoffman was first licensed in 1999 at the age of 16. After quickly upgrading to Amateur Extra, he became fascinated with the art of DX'ing and Adam soon began working on his DXCC award. It was at this time that he also became interested in the art of CW. Wanting to improve on his sending and receiving abilities, Adam turned to the National Traffic System nets, where he gained many hours experience with the traffic protocol. Being active in the SC NTS, he was asked to become the Section Traffic Manager of South Carolina in 2001 by Jim, N2ZZ. In late 2002, Adam became interested in contesting, and to date has participated in over 10 contests, in both SSB and CW, and has been asked by a well known Multi Operator Station to join them for the CQWW SSB Contest in October 2004.

Adam has now been asked to fill the Assistant Section Manager for Youth in South Carolina, thus having to leave his post as the Section Traffic Manager. As the ASM for Youth, he will promote all facets of Amateur Radio to the Youth in the South Carolina section. He will do this by using the internet and hamfests to gather young hams and get them excited about Amateur Radio. He will also write a bi-monthly report on the happenings of youth around the country, in hopes that it will inspire the local youth to get more active.

Adam is a member of the World Wide Young Contesters, Contest Moderator for the Kidshamradio Website, and in 2003, started an all youth Contest/DX Club in South Carolina appropriately named The South Carolina DX Club or SCDC with the club call WE4YL.

Charlie Miller was the Aiken County ARES/RACES Emergency Coordinator from 1997 through 2002. He has been actively involved with emergency services for the last 20 years. In addition to his amateur radio emergency service, he was a Civil Air Patrol Squadron Commander, Mission Pilot, Ground Team Leader, and Air Operations Officer. Charlie retired earlier this year after a career in engineering and management at companies such as Bell Telephone Laboratories, McDonnell Douglas, DuPont, and Westinghouse. Charlie's education includes a Masters of Business Administration degree and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree. He holds an Extra Class Amateur Radio License. Charlie is married and lives with his wife of 40 years in Trenton, South Carolina.

            Several years after retirement, Brian Sugden KR4SP became interested in amateur radio and by mid-2000 had obtained his Amateur Extra Class License. By this time he had been a member of Lakeland Amateur Radio Club for several years as a Director, and for two consecutive years as President, another single year as President, and one year as Treasurer. He has also been an ARES member, AEC and EC for Polk County, Florida, served on the Disaster Committee of the Polk County Red Cross, and was one of the Founders of the new West Central Florida Section of the ARRL.    Until his term expired he was also an ARRL accredited Volunteer Examiner. In the spring of 2002 he and his wife, Cecelia, moved to Anderson, SC.
            Brian was born and educated in the United Kingdom where he worked as an engineer in heavy power high voltage electrical distribution. After several years he moved to Canada where he became a Registered Professional Engineer working in the aircraft, manufacturing, and die casting industries in both Canada and the United States.
            It is his desire at this time to become involved in helping club members and promoting the interests of ARRL clubs in South Carolina.

Mac Heaton (N4MEH) became interested in amateur radio while flying EC47 combat missions over Southeast Asia. The crews could occasionally connect with their families via HF telephone patches through MARS and other amateur channels.
    Educational, family and career constraints did not allow the realization of active participation until he qualified for his Technician license in December 2002. He upgraded to General in October 2003 and is currently working toward the Extra Class.
    Mac enjoys working with emergency communications, digital communications, and traffic handling. He especially enjoys the opportunities of working with new hams and hopes to follow the examples set by several of his “Elmers” in passing along his knowledge and skills to others who can benefit from it.
   Mac and Elaine (his wife of 35 years) have two children and 1 grandchild. He works as a Management Consultant for Emergency Medical Services clients.

Tom was born in the UK and immigrated first to Canada in 1965 and then to the United States in 1967 with his parents and sister where they moved to Farmville, VA and then to Miami Lakes, FL. Tom resides in Anderson with his wife, also an amateur radio operator and his youngest daughter. In addition to amateur radio they enjoy Boston Terriers, traveling and sightseeing especially in the western Carolinas. His entire career has been devoted to thermoplastic injection molding and he presently works for a firm in Greenville. He also dabbles in electronics and communications, particularly telephone, voice mail systems and LAN service and repair in his spare time. Tom’s interest in radio stretches back to when he was eight years old when he built his first crystal set in the Cub Scouts. Since then and for the last forty plus years, he has always been an avid SWL and also enjoys all bands, and all modes of which his favorites are PSK31 on twenty meters and chatting locally with friends on two meter simplex.

Marc Tarplee, N4UFP, has been an amateur radio operator for nearly 15 years and a shortwave listener for over 30 years, and presently holds an Amateur Extra license. He is active on all bands from 1.8 MHz to 1296 MHz, with his primary interest being VHF/UHF weak signal operation. He is active on many modes, including CW, SSB, SSTV, PSK-31, and RTTY. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of South Carolina, Class 4 Telecommunications Certification from the National Association of Radio and Telecommunications Engineers (NARTE) and has attained Emergency Communicator Level I certification from ARRL. Currently, he is employed as the Dean of the Industrial and Engineering Technologies Division of York Technical College.

Dennis has a background in Computer System Analysis and Programming, specializing in Embedded Computer Systems. He has experience in technical and training publications and as a technical instructor. Dennis has also functioned as PIO for the Trident Amateur Radio Club, currently is an ARRL PIO for the SC Section and Assistant EC and Information Officer for Berkeley County South Carolina ARES. He has maintained several informational websites and, is currently the webmaster for Berkeley County ARES. Dennis has experience in formal traffic net operations both with ARES and MARS and as Net Control for ARES traffic and training nets.

Dennis Fowler, 45, resides in his native Gaffney where serves as the station manager for commercial broadcast station WAGI-FM. He is married to Kim Fowler and the couple has two daughters ages 7 and 4. His fascination with radio and communications began while in the 1st grade when he got a small AM transistor radio as a birthday gift from his parents. By the time he reached the 9th grade, Dennis had landed a part-time on-air position with WAGI. Upon graduation from high school, Dennis continued his education at the University of South Carolina majoring in journalism. Over his 32 year career at the station, he has gained much experience in tuning and repairing transmitters, microwave systems, antenna systems along with other broadcast related equipment. Dennis currently serves as the AEC for Cherokee County and is a member of the county’s ARES board of directors. He owns 2 wide coverage repeaters, 147.240 and 442.500, both located on Cherry Mountain, North Carolina, and has received coordinations for two 220 repeaters that are expected to be on the air soon. A certified advanced Skywarn Spotter, Dennis serves as control operator for the Carolina Foothills Emergency Net. He is also an alternate control operator for the State Line Emergency Net and Charlotte Area Skywarn Net. Dennis has experience in dealing with law makers and influential leaders on the local, state and national levels having served on various boards and commissions including the American Red Cross, The Radio And Television News Directors Association Of The Carolinas and president of the board of directors of the South Carolina Associated Press Broadcasters. “I am truly honored to serve as your Section State Government Liaison. It is my goal to make sure amateur radio in South Carolina continues to be recognized as a vital source of emergency communication and that its future is protected through informed governmental leaders. I solicit your help in reaching this goal by alerting me to issues that could impact amateur radio on both the local and state levels. Please feel free to call on me anytime I may be of assistance."

ARRL-SC Section Leadership