I’ve developed a little bit of interest in famous hams – celebrities who also happen to be amatuer radio operators.
So – I’ve decided to compile a list on the main page (purely for interest’s sake) of famous amateur radio operators.
There are some obvious ones that are well known (Joe Walsh WB6ACU from the Eagles, Country singer Ronnie Milsap WB4KCG, etc.) as well as some that are rumoured but not 100% confirmed (such as the popular rumour that rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot is a ham (Anthony Ray N6IWP)…..
Do you know of a celeb who is a ham? Let us know by replying to this thread. Please provide callsign info with your accusations (We don’t want to be sued – groundless accusations of being a ham might lead to nasty lawsuit situations, dontcha know…)
After we get a few, I’ll compile them into a list and make a permalink on the main page for future visitors to examine and say “My God….. and to think I respected him as a human being and an artist…. who knew he was a ham….”
Country singer Patty Loveless is KD4WUJ , on QRZ it’s listed as Ramey, her real last name. Her husband/producer is Emery Gordy W4WRO. I have someone here who say Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn is also a ham, that’s unconfirmed , maybe someone else knows for sure.
http://users.tellurian.com/gjurrens/famous_hams.html
“Famous” is in the eye of the listmaker, I suppose.
Dunno if you’ve seen this as well:
http://www.aesham.com/fun3.html
Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD.
As for Sir Mix A Lot, I was watching some show a while back where they were showing his house (not cribs) and they showed his setup. He had a HF rig of some sort and the thing that stuck out to me was his Galaxy Saturn base with the big tube amp next to it (I was big into CB at the time). They showed him talking on his “ham radio” (which was the CB) on channel 6. He said that he enjoys talking on his radios and tinkering with radio repair. I thought that was kinda cool…
Priscilla Presley, former wife of the King was N6YOS back when she held a license. Mrs. Presley was in town here in Lexington, Kentucky last year for something called the Toyota Women’s Conference that is held here in town every year. My mother is a manger where she works, so she goes ever year and gets access to the celebs they have. I told my mom to ask Mrs. Presley is she still had her license and to tell her that I was a ham operator and wanted to know. She told my mom she let her ham ticket expire, but that the hobby was really addictive. She also signed some stuff for my mom. I guess she just got too busy for the hobby from what she told my mom. I would love to meet Joe Walsh some day or talk to him on the air. I am huge Eagles fan, and have been since I was a kid. I was keeping my fingers crossed that maybe he would be at Dayton last year, but no dice. Maybe some day I will meet him, just don’t want to bother him if he is looking for stuff at Dayton. Sir-mix-a-lot is into the whole C.B. “keydown” contest crap from what I understand. I think he also buids amps that C.B.er’s use. I am a fan of Mix’s, just wish he wasn’t into the illegal C.B. stuff, if indeed this is true. I saw a photo of him on a C.B. web page at one of the keydown contests, so I don’t know. You would think he would be smart enough to not be involved in that stuff since he is a celeb, especially if he holds a ham license. I would hate to see Riley bust him, he seems like a nice guy.
73,
KU4UV
I was just looking into the whole Sir-Mix-a-Lot thing. N6IWP who is Anthony Ray is listed on QRZ as being born in 1961. If you look under the Bio page on sirmixalot.com, Anthony Ray, the rapper, was born on August 12, 1963. Unless the FCC’s records for N6IWP are incorrect, this not the callsign for the radio operator who is fond of a well endowed ass.
Signed,
DJBooger (Who is a ham) Look it up.
Maybe I am wrong. According to Entertainment Weekly he owns RC Electronics, a Seattle area ham-radio-parts manufacturing biz he launched in 1994. http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,237231~4~0~whereheckissirmix-a-lot,00.html
I see I stand corrected. Good thing I didn’t give up so fast.
For KU4UV, Joe Walsh hangs out on 160 meters every now and then, I’ve heard him a lot during the winter months.
He’s a big collins nut.
yes sir mix a lot is a ham. but he did not just like buts. he also did a track called put em on the glass . about putting the big ol tittys on the glass
I did some checking on Mix, His name is Anthony L Ray. The callsign N6IWP comes back to a Anthony D Ray. Mix is always promoting himself living in SeaTac (Seatle / Tacoma area). If you have google earth, find the address 2138 BRENTWOOD AVE, simi valley, ca which is what N6IWP is licensed to and it’s in a white-bread single family neighborhood. Garage ain’t big enough for his Lamborghini, Testarosa, Benz, or hooptie!
I hate to be a buzz kill because I’ve been a big fan of him for 16 years now but N6IWP it appears he is not.
I did a search on ARRL for Ronnie Dunn and came up with a Ronnie Dunn in TN but, the middle names are different.
Well, with the rich and famous you can’t
really go by an address. Marlon Brando** (SK)
always used his publicist’s address*, as did
Stewart Granger** (SK).
73 de Ronnie
* For his FCC ticket, I’m not sure about his
Fiji ticket.
** Not their given names, BTW.
Zach Morris (the preppy charactor in Saved By The Bell) was a ham. :-p
As Far as Sirmix being a ham, this has not been 100% confirmed yet. However I have talk to him several times on the cb and his has never disclosed that he has ever been a ham though he owns alot of the equipment, he usually stays on channel 6, known as the (superbowl) to some of the cber’s.
I’ve been all over the ham bands for many many years, and I have never heard him, not saying he isn’t a ham, just never heard him.
And I have not heard him for a long time on the cb either, and I monitor alot.
Lance Bass is a ham. His call is KG4UYY.
1.) Marlon Brando (Marty to his on the air friends) was a double HAM in the United States and Tahiti. (I put both of his call signs on his WIKI Pedia page.)
2.) Who is GB2BG? You have seen him on TV in the wilderness. He is sometimes on the “RockMite” site on Yahoo.
3.) Both Ernest Orlando Lawrence (inventor of the Cyclotron) and Arthur Holly Compton were Hams and Nobel Prize winners. Does anyone know their call signs?
Tim Allen is a Ham (KK6OTD). Larry Junstrom is the base player for .38 special and his call is K4EB.
Musician, Composer of the Official Songs of Memphis, long-time radio personality and stamp collector David Saks has been an amateur radio operator since he was a kid, call sign WK2B. His website, http://DavidSaks.Com, is a mind-blower !