ROTA-Radio

The Career Pivot: From Pews to Classrooms

1994 marked a sea change in our lives. After nearly two decades in church-based education and youth ministry, I made the jump to the classroom. This was my “Second First Year of Teaching,” taking on a 4th/5th-grade combo in Davie, Florida.

This shift brought a routine I hadn’t known since getting married in ’77. For the first time, my schedule matched Sue’s. No more late-night youth meetings or weekend-consuming events where I was the “man in charge.” We could finally be a family of three in the evenings. Sue had held things together while I navigated my “wandering years” of finding out what I wanted to be when I grew up. Now, I was finding my footing in the classroom, which seemed a much better fit. However, my role as “only a classroom teacher” lasted a single year before I was recruited for a new role in a neighboring school.

The “Two-Billed Hat” Era

From 1995 to 2001, I wore many hats—literally. As a “Teaching Principal” in both Fort Lauderdale and later Sebring, I was given a hat with two visors. I’d turn it around depending on whether I was the educator or the administrator that hour.

My ham radio activity during these “busy years” had to adapt to my surroundings. Living in apartments in Fort Lauderdale meant I couldn’t string up the massive HF wires of my youth. Instead of giving up, I went “Virtual.”

The Digital Frontier & The Schoolhouse Node

Before the Internet was a household utility, I was marrying my Macintosh Portable to VHF radio. Drawing on the skills I learned from mentors like Gordon (KY6V), I set up a Packet Radio station on the roof of my classroom in Davie. To my students, seeing messages travel over the air without a phone line was pure “high tech” magic.

At night, I turned to Echolink. Using my desktop Mac, I was able to “teleport” back to my old Deltona gang. Even though I was hundreds of miles away, I was back in the evening roundtables on the local repeater as if I’d never left. The “Virtual Shack” became my bridge to long-time friendships.

The Ultimate Operating Position: “Poolside Portable”

In 2001, we finally settled in Southwest Florida. I stepped back from the Principal’s office to focus solely on the classroom, and my ham radio activity hit a new peak. After 10 months in an apartment we moved into a house with a large, caged pool area—a tropical sanctuary that birthed my favorite operating mode: Poolside Portable. There is a specific kind of “ham joy” found in floating on a raft in the shallow end, an ice-cold beer in one hand and an HT in the other. I spent many happy hours “bragging” to my friends up North about the Florida sunshine while they were shoveling snow.

During this time, I managed three separate Echolink nodes (N4FTD, -L, and -R) and finally introduced my local neighbor, Doug (KA0GYF), to my “Deltona Gang.” We traveled to hamfests in Miami and Orlando, bridging the gap between my past and present friendships. This was a period of increasing ham radio activity, with summers and school holidays “off” to play radio and explore my mostly digital voice activities.

The Shift to the “Backseat”

Over the next decade or so, the “Station Log” peaked and my radio count grew. From 2002 to 2016 I sold my beloved FT-101EE on eBay—a radio that served me well for many years—and purchased one, then another, FT-857D “shack-in-a-box”. I used one primarily for HF; the other was reserved for VHF/UHF and Echolink.

Our family was growing—our son got married, and the era of Grandkids began just as the economy took a downturn in 2008-2010. Our school enrollment was hit hard by 2010, and it affected our paychecks as well. We all kept our jobs, but everyone had to work more while earning less.

On the bright side, our family enjoyed many days and nights around our pool, living the simple life in sunny Florida. I often watched my grandkids playing in the pool while I counted my blessings. I realized then that “it doesn’t get any better than this”.

By 2010, amidst the intensity of classroom teaching in a busy school and the joy of a growing family, ham radio gradually took a backseat. I became a “Closet Ham” for the next several years. My shack was hidden away in a closet! Fully operational, but I operated just enough to keep the spark alive while waiting for the right moment to key up again.