Margie KK7MGK: The Sun City YL Out-DXing Her Own Son
Field Reports / KK7MGK
Operator Field Report · YL
Sun Valley, Idaho
Licensed Together, On the Air Together
Margie KK7MGK: The Sun City YL Out-DXing Her Own Son
She and her son studied together, tested together, and hold back-to-back callsigns to prove it. A few years later, Margie has an ICOM 7300 she saved up for, a flagpole she wired with her own soldering iron — and a DX log her son is, in her words, super jealous of.
Old Glory on Margie’s Greyline DX Flagpole, Sun City, Arizona — the antenna underneath works the world.
A Family That Tests Together
Margie came to ham radio about four years ago, at an age when plenty of people decide they are done learning new things. She decided the opposite — and brought her son David along. They studied together, sat their Technician exams together, then went back and earned their Generals together. The FCC made the partnership official in sequential ink: she is KK7MGK, he is KK7MGJ, callsigns one apart, mother and son.
Then she did the work. She found her Elmers at the West Valley Amateur Radio Club and the West Valley Ham Shack — where she also met two other YLs — took the classes, and learned to solder. When her Greyline DX Flagpole arrived, that new skill went straight into the feedline connections of her own antenna, standing in her own front yard, flying her own flag. She saved up for an ICOM 7300 so every band and mode the antenna offers has a radio that can use it.
And the results? Ask David. Better yet, let his mother tell you.
In Her Words
“My son and I studied and tested together and got our Technician then Generals together.”
“I’ve taken classes at the Shack and learned to solder, which came in handy when I put the antenna up!”
“My son is super jealous of my antenna — I get WAY more DX action than he does.”
From the street it is a flagpole in a tidy Sun City yard. From the operating position it is 160 through 6 meters, no radials, no tower, no fuss.
2 Calls, 1 Family
KK7MGK & KK7MGJ — sequential, mother and son
Solders It Herself
Ham Shack classes, applied to her own install
More DX Than David
her words — and her log
What Her Story Teaches
There is no age requirement on the air and no seniority system on the bands — a signal is a signal. The path Margie walked is open in every town that has a club: find the Elmers, take the classes, learn the hands-on skills, and put up an antenna that does not demand a tower crew or an acre of radials. A flagpole in the front yard was enough to put her ahead of the household competition.
The takeaway: the best time to get licensed was years ago. The second-best time is with someone you love, this year.
From Greyline
Margie and David prove the family license plan works — and we will add this: we don’t need to wait for our sons. Our daughters are in too. The YLs of this hobby — at the West Valley Ham Shack and everywhere else — are some of its best operators and finest Elmers. If you are a YL running a Greyline, we would be honored to tell your story: send it our way →
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Fly the flag. Work the world.
HOA-friendly DX Flagpole antennas, 160–6M, no radials — hand-built in Sun Valley.
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