KB7LAK - Justin Hall

I was licensed in 1990 as a Novice (that hated CW!) and upgraded that year to Technician before no-code licenses made me a Tech-Plus. No matter- the DX bug had bit me hard with the HF conditions so I got a lot of really good contacts. Australia on the first day I got my license in the mail.

Flying carried a lot of interest for me in high school, but never got licensed- should have. Radio was a Heathkit HW-101 and a wire dipole and I worked the world on 10 meters from my folks' house in W Boise, Idaho. And annoyed the locals on the 145.25 repeater with a Yaesu FT-727R (and keyed up the police repeater once or twice!) My friends were amazed I could talk to the people at McDonalds on their headsets (also illegal).

Ham radio slowed in college, and I was enlisted in the Idaho Air National Guard as a stop on the way to flight school. Officer Training School in 1999, followed by Navigator and Electronic Warfare School at Randolph AFB in Texas, graduating in Aug 2000. I think I found some time to get on the radio there once or twice. My Idaho license plate that said "KB7LAK" would get a note on the windshield once in awhile, but life was all focused on EW School and my little family.

Drop Night brought at the time a disappointing fate- the RC-135 at Offutt AFB, Nebraska. My last choice over even the B-52! But the EWOs from that community said give it a chance and I'd like it there. After getting settled in Papillion, Nebraska and before starting qualification training, I upgraded to General, since there was no requirement for a CW test- I told you I hated it! As I listened to the news on the way to the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron on 11 September 2001 as a soon to be Raven Three on the RC-135S COBRA BALL, I saw the second plane hit on live TV and wasn't able to fly my check ride on the 12th. But flew it on the 13th- our pilots had an hour-long conversation with Air Traffic Control since we were the only ones up in the air that day. I did get to talk on the HF radio a few times in flight, which was a lot of fun. The ARC-190 HF radio has thumbwheels, so 'scanning' will hurt your fingers as you turn the little wheels, even with flight gloves on!

On the second of my 18 trips to Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory, I got my first of 2 foreign callsigns. VQ9JH- and it resulted in a few pileups and some 3rd party traffic getting passed home to the family that had grown to 3 and then 4 kiddos. My last trip to Diego, I saw the tower and the log periodic antenna, but the hamshack was gone. It had been probably 10 years, so it was just a matter of time before it was going to go away. I left a bicycle there and don't know where it went!

In 2008, I took my family to our second duty assignment, Yongsan Army Garrison in Downtown Seoul, S Korea. What a great assignment! I got the callsign HL9AB (I probably should have asked for HL9JH) since it was issued by the US Army, I didn't complain. I set up my Kenwood TS-440S and a big wire dipole, and worked a lot of Asia. Ironically, I wasn't allowed to talk to Vietnam (that was an OLD regulation!) and (obviously) N Korea. I worked a lot of China stations and Phillippines there.

Cycle 24 found me in Gulf Breeze, Florida- teaching at the Combat Systems Officer School (the career field that replaced the Navigator and EWO career field) a one size fits none career field. We joked that the RC-135 EWO simulator was what an F-15E WSO thought they did, and I was an EWO, so OF COURSE I taught high-level radar navigation, eventually I got qualified in the EWO simulator, but by then, it didn't make any sense to me. Oh, and I found time to fly in the T-1A Jayhawk. It didn't have an HF radio and flying in the front seat of that jet was a lot of fun, but a TON of work. I learned to respect the guys that dealt with sticks and rudders, because it was a lot to remember and my rueful remark after yet another boneheaded mistake was always "You can't teach a dumb dog new tricks!" but it was still a blast to fly- with a window!

My fourth and final duty station was back to the Mothership (hey, once you get Offutt, you can't get Off-it). 3 years until retirement (where did that time go!?!)  So I deployed a few more times and got to get on the ARC-190 HF rig a few times.

Retirement in 2018 brought me to Ogden, Utah and a career back in the USAF as a civilian. Currently at the F-22 Program Office. The telework flexibility lets me check into the Air Forces Flyers Club Net on occasion and meet some of the neatest folks. I'm probably the baby of the group and should enjoy it! I upgraded to Extra in 2021 and have enjoyed Ham Radio and being retired enough to enjoy that as well. While I'm healthy enough to travel on 2 wheels, I try to get out as much as possible.

73 - Justin Hall, #685