Hello,

My name is Jack O'Mara and my call is W4NF (Whiskey Four November Fox).

I live in Manassas, Virginia. We moved from Woodbridge, VA to our new home in Manassas in 1997. The house is beautiful (good for my wife) but it is in an antenna-restricted community (bad for me). Our house sits on 2 acres. Shortly after moving in, the property that adjoins the back of our lot went up for sale. This property was outside the restrictive covenants of my community and was zoned as an agricultural property. After a lot of talking and pleading my wife agreed to let me purchase the property.

My family owns this property jointly, my Dad owns 1 acre, my sister and brother-in-law own 3 acres and I own 1 acre where my 75 foot tower sits. Now for a little background on my family and amateur radio (Ham Radio). I have been a licensed amateur radio operator since 1975 when I received the call WN4NFS. I upgraded to General Class the next year and received the call WB4NFS. My Dad, also named Jack O'Mara, was then K4HWG (now W4AD). Dad recently became a Silent Key on October 17, 2009. He helped me along and put up with my many attempts at new antenna designs dangling from the trees around the house. My brother, Bill (then WB4RMJ, now (W4RM) received his license in 1976 and one of my three sisters, Colleen, WD4ADZ, also received her license. Needless to say, there was soon a line at my Dad's station for operating time. I soon went to college at the United States Merchant Marine Academy where ham radio ended up taking a back seat to school. I did get to operate on board ship during my two 6 month sea years as an Engineering Cadet.

Once school was over I was able to get a small tower up and start contesting again. This is when I upgrade to an Extra Class license and when the Vanity call sign program started I dropped the "BS" from my call and became W4NF. I am very involved in Ham Radio Contesting and have been a member of The Potomac Valley Radio Club since 1976, joining when I was 16 years old. I am also a member of Woodbridge Wireless, Inc. and participate in our twice-annual treks up the mountain (Flagpole Knob, VA el. 4300' ASL) for the June and September VHF Contests. We operate as W4IY and also this call during our record setting Field Day events. I have also been on several DXpeditions, Bermuda (during my 10 year wedding anniversary), Montserrat, where we placed first in the world in Multi Two as VP2MFM, the British Virgin Islands (Tortola) as VP2VW where we placed in the Top 5 World Wide in the Multi Two category and St. Lucia (J68RI) where we competed in the Multi Multi category. Professionally, I am a Marine Engineer and a 1982 graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy. I am currently Vice President of OAK Management, Inc. where I am also a principal owner.

Visit my company's web page at: OAK Management, Inc.