Why Kangaroo

Kangaroo – I don’t know - It's a somewhat long story.

Seems the story went something like this. Early in Australian history an "English" explorer had a guide that was an Aborigine. Neither understood much of the other’s language. The foreigner saw the animal hopping and asked, "what is that" or "what is that called", and the Aborigine replied kangaroo - I don't know.

In the 1970's there was a group of younger, than US average age, amateur radio operators across the state line in New Mexico. They were mostly electronics professional and US Air Force electronic tech types. They seemed to irritate the older locals - they had lots of fun on the radio and the older residents were more set in their thinking. One day a local called the others a bunch of nerds. Well they are still having fun with that label today. It became New-Mexicans Engaged in Radio Discussion - NERDS. They actually won the US "Field Day" one year. They have all moved from New Mexico but still loosely exist and occasionally participate in NERDnets on HF. www.techshareservices.net/nerds

So when a couple of fun loving Texas hams appeared they wanted to call us TERDS. I wasn't wild about that idea. :-) Anyway we took that idea and built on it; sort of took some of their fun out. :-) They were mostly tech type and we were much less knowledgably so "kangaroo" could be our "standard" answer to any technical question.

Thanks to the NERDs and my dearest Friends, my "Elmer" group since about 1980, for “camping out” at my here in July for NERDvention 2006 in conjunction with the Centennial celebration of “our family farm”.

Kangaroo has become much more to my small endeavor. I could not have gotten this far without many supporters, putting that name first in the business title is like a "place holder" in acknowledgment of the others.

KU5S, NERD 5 :-)