Faculty
Photo by Roger Morgan
Dale Finley (emeritus presenter), KB5NFT is a “Digital Ham,” regularly using DStar, DVMEGA, BlueStack, DMR, Fusion, BlueDV for Windows, DVSwitch, Allstar, Echolink, Winlink, Packet, Fldigi, SDR, Openwebrx. I use Linux Operating Systems on laptops and RASPBERRY Pi. I’ve been a ham operator for over 25 years. My memberships include: ARES/RACES, Red Cross Dallas, and ARRL North Texas ASEC.
Since 2012, I helped spread ham radio enthusiasm to any Scout, staff and visitor at Philmont Scout Ranch, Cimarron, NM. Philmont radio contacts included Scouts at the National Jamboree, World Jamboree and Field Day. This year my 501(c)(3) is supporting a Philmont Scout Ranch Conference from July 10-16th. Thanks for any support you can contribute to this effort.
I am a former member of Richardson Wireless Club.
I have participated in a number of public service efforts including: ARES, RACES, Red Cross Dallas, ARES/RACES, ARRL North Texas Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator (ASEC) and a storm spotter .
I have worked in a PC Computer Integrated Technology for over 40 years. I began at Texas Instruments operating a vacuum tube computer, called DARC (Data Analysis Reduction Computer) doing earthquake and seismic data analysis. After six years at Texas Instruments, I became a co-owner of Finley Enterprises, a business doing steel fabrication in Carrollton, TX (Dallas area).
I was a field applications engineer at the OEM disk drive manufacturers including: Maxtor, Conner and Seagate. I provided support for Dell, Gateway, Compaq, and Tandy/Radio Shack customers for over 15 years.
I am a former member of the Texas Air National Guard and the Drum and Bugle Corps of Keesler Air Force Base. I served as a fireman for Denton, TX. I worked at FEMA (Dept. of Homeland Security) doing disaster IT support, Denton, TX
To support our Ham Radio Scouting Outreach, we inherited a 501(c)(3), HamVentures, Inc., to support am radio outreach to any group, club or organization. Please consider supporting us at: https://www.gofundme.com/ham-radio-outreach. We appreciate any donations and NO DONATIONS go to the Boy Scouts of America. We use these funds to buy equipment and literature to promote amateur radio to Scouts and to support other ham radio related events.
Dale Finley, President of HamVentures, Inc. 214-244-2100
Photo by Jim Brown, W0RLD
David Spoelstra, N9KT, is an Eagle Scout with triple Silver Palms, Order of the Arrow, and Firecrafter. He attended the 1977 National Jamboree in Moraine State Park, PA, and the 1975 World Jamboree in Lillehammer, Norway as a Scout.
David has been N9KT, an Extra class amateur radio operator, for over 30 years. He has made contacts using almost every mode available from 160m to 1.2GHz. He loves satellite communication and has made contacts with over 280 grids using just a hand-held antenna and HT.
David enjoys contesting and has come in 2nd nationally twice in the ARRL Sweepstakes. He has 8BDXCC and 10BWAS. His Field Day club, W9LDX, regularly places in the top five nationally in their class in Field Day and has won AMSAT Field Day several times.
David is currently President of the Indianapolis Radio Club and the Hoosier DX and Contest Club. He is the trustee of W9IMS – the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ARC. He is the faculty advisor for W9IVY – the Ivy Tech Community College ARC.
David has participated in public service efforts including ARES, RACES, Red Cross Indianapolis, ARES/RACES, and as a storm spotter. He spent 16 weeks doing emergency communications and IT in Biloxi, MS during Hurricane Katrina for FEMA in 2005.
David loves IndyCar and as an avid auto racing photographer, David was in charge of turn three at the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway for The Associated Press for 20 years. David has been published multiple times in newspapers worldwide, in Sports Illustrated, and in several books.
David is a programmer and fluent in Windows and macOS, but he loves Linux and switched full-time to Ubuntu in 2008. His ham shack is Linux only.
Professionally, David has served in executive and senior engineering management roles responsible for multi-million dollar budgets at both startups and Fortune 500 companies. Today he is the owner of MediaMachine LLC, a technology consulting company that performs hardware and software design, project management, and technology vision initiatives. He is also the Treasurer of ACM SIGGRAPH.
As a way of giving back, David currently teaches C++ and microcontroller programming at Ivy Tech Community College. He also teaches robotics to a 4th, 5th, and 6th-grade club. They have won the Indiana Robotics Tournament six times, even defeating high-school teams.
Jim Brown (self-portrait), W0RLD
James “Jim” Brown, WØRLD, has been a member of the Visual Storytelling faculty for a number of years at Philmont Training Center (PTC) and founded the Amateur Radio and Scouting course at PTC. His photograph of the Tooth of Time in the header of this website was selected by Canon for a limited edition of 100 signed prints, which were donated to Philmont and were used as gifts for significant donors. He is professor and dean emeritus of the Indiana University School of Journalism. He has published articles in Scouting, Boys’ Life and Eagles’ Call magazines as well as construction articles in Boys’ Life. He has photographed many assignments for the national office of BSA. He was the lead author of the current edition of the Photography Merit Badge Book. Brown served on the the staff of the National Jamboree a number of times in Communication, as the inaugural webmaster and as a photographer
Brown became an amateur radio operator in the early 1960s and made contacts from Camp Lewallen in Southeast Missouri when on staff in 1961-62. He is an Eagle Scout, Order of the Arrow, Firecrafter and Silver Beaver. His award-winning book, Long Journey Home: Oral Histories of Contemporary Delaware Indians, captures the story of culture reclamation among the Delawares of eastern Oklahoma. He was given a Delaware name by former Chief Dee Ketchum to honor his work with the tribe.
Brown earned his MBA and PhD from Indiana University. He was head of the nationally accredited photojournalism sequence of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota before becoming the dean of the Indiana University School of Journalism at Indianapolis. He was a pioneer in education in computer-assisted reporting, now known as data journalism. He was executive director of Indiana University’s National Institute for Advanced Reporting.
Brown is a member of the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame and the Indianapolis Radio Club.
Photo by Jim Brown, W0RLD
Ken Bandy, KJ9B, has been an amateur radio operator since 2004, when a friend of his got his then 12 year old son interested in becoming a licensed ham. Ken decided to study with his son (Kyle, now KC9GLR) and they both got their Technician licenses in the summer of 2004. Ken subsequently upgraded to a General class license in 2005 and finally earned his Extra class license in 2006.
Ken is most interested in “DX-ing” (contacting distant stations). He has confirmed contacts with 313 of the 340 current entities. Ken is also interested in experimenting with digital voice modes such as DMR, D-Star, and Yaesu System Fusion (C4FM). Ken has become “hooked” on the Parks on the Air (POTA) program, and tries to get out as often as he can to activate (set up his radio gear) at POTA sites in Indiana. He also has been known to take radio gear with him when he and his (very patient) wife, Carol, travel. He enjoys activating area POTA sites with his son also.
Ken is currently Secretary/Treasurer of the Indianapolis Radio Club. He also enjoys operating special event stations as a member of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Amateur Radio Club (W9IMS), as well as the Indiana State Fair Amateur Radio Club (W9ISF).
Professionally, Ken retired in 2019, after spending 40 years in the field of technical theatre, primarily as a sound and lighting technician at entertainment, convention and sporting venues in Indiana, spending over half of those years with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.