I stumbled into the WASA Net one evening shortly after upgrading to my General license. They made me feel like family, so like a family member, I moved in and just never left.

My interest in radio goes back to 1970, when my dad had a Browning Golden Eagle feeding a Mosley Yagi. In 1976, I got my first radio, a Johnson white-face five-channel crystal radio. My first radio license was for 11 meters, KBTL2356.

I earned my No-Code Technician license in 1995 and was issued KB0VKL. My first ham radio was a brand-new Icom IC-706. After many years on the air, I upgraded to General on New Year’s Eve 2025.

One of the things I enjoy most about amateur radio is building antennas, experimenting, and trying ideas that I am told probably won’t work. Sometimes being told something can’t be done is all the motivation I need to find out whether I can make it work.

Outside of radio, I spent 25 years as a roofing foreman, several years in the oil fields, and at different times ran both a pizza chain and a bar. I did whatever work was needed to put food on the table, a roof over our heads, and shoes on my children.

I am now retired and living at Leisure Lake Estates with my best friend and wife of 43 years and counting. We have two children, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

One of the greatest things radio has given me is friendship. I am still friends with people from my earliest days on 11 meters, along with many others I have never met face-to-face but still talk with regularly.

I am proud to be part of the WASA family and look forward to helping serve the Net.

73,
Joe Bush – KB0VKL