Matt Couper, the son of a WW2 Veteran, Tom Couper who served on the USS Guam in the pacific theater as Radio Operator, "Sparks"during the war. After the war He continued to work as a Telephone Pioneer with Bell Labs for many years. Airplane Pilot and Radio activities were common place as I grew up with radio and antenna projects. Climbing ladders, towers, poles and trees seemed like the thing to do anyway. Brought up in Boy Scouting, attained Eagle Scout and was involved in scouting for many years.  CW was encouraged at all times. Radios continued to be invaluable tools for emergency communications in my EMS career of some 40 years. Radio communications with Police and Fire dispatchers were always a part of my daily activities while responding to calls at work as a Paramedic in the North New Jersey area. Telemetry communications as a Paramedic were state of the art in the 80s before the advent of Cellphones as crystal controlled mobile duplex and Multiplex Repeaters used side bands to transmit EKGs and patient reports to the Emergency Room Physicians and medical orders receieved all part of day to day operations for me. KA2PUN decreased his radio activities, gradually until at last he went Silent Key.   In my Dad's absence, I have picked up some of his tools and continued on in his name as my father before me. A prepper attitude aroused in me after prolonged power failures which occured several times since hurricane Sandy. New club, new technologies, new comrads and exploring exciting tools of communications. Same old call sign KA2PUN. Out of the ashes this call sign is back!!

I got started in radio when I was about 9 years old with CB. My cousin, who was 8 years older than I would pick me up and bring me to his house where I operated his CB while he and his friends would drive around. It was my job to keep all the mobiles communicating so I had to relay messages.

A couple of years later, I got a Lafayette Comstat 25A and a Range Booster antenna for my birthday. I spent the next several years learning the ropes of CB radio. This was before the CB craze when CB was very much like ham radio.

CB and playing bass guitar were a big part of my life. But after the CB craze, CB got too weird for me I lost interest. I tried to learn Morse Code but I never had success therefore I never made the move to ham radio. One night in 2009 while surfing the net, I thought I would see what was going on with ham radio. I saw a headline that said “No Code”. I was shocked. I confirmed by checking a couple of sites then told my wife I was going to become a ham. The next day I bought the Technicians study guide. I took the test in December of 2009 and passed. I was assigned the call sign KC2WCI. Shortly after my call was assigned, I requested and received K2NNN.

About a month later I got my General. By the end of 2010, I got my Extra and became a VE. I have been a member of WEARC since 2010. I head up our VE program where we offer testing on the second Wednesday of each month.