John Bryant, N5SU - Member Spotlight, November 2026

Welcome to this month’s BVRC Spotlight.

It was my great pleasure to visit recently with BVARC member John Bryant, N5SU, at his beautiful home near Elkins. John is known best in BVARC for his effective, efficient, and friendly demeanor as a regular control station operator on the BVARC Sunday afternoon 3830 kHz “Roundtable.” John is an amazing person, having had a “high-flying” (in more than one way—see photo below) career in broadcasting. His amateur radio avocation began with (how shall I put this…) a “youthful” moment (as you can read below). We’re glad that moment happened, John! Now please enjoy reading what John Bryant, a gentleman, a scholar, a journalist, a “Parrothead,” a brilliant TV star, a reformed garage band star, and an all-round great guy had to say as we put the BVARC spotlight for November on N5SU.

DE K5XS

Here’s what John had to say:

It’s so nice to have you here, John. Very briefly, can you please share what brought you to Northwest Arkansas and when that was? What do you remember of the move? What do you most like about living here?

The owner of KAIT-TV in Jonesboro asked me to take the position of News Director and Anchor at Ch 29, a new station he'd just put on the air in Fayetteville…a sister station of Ch 40 in Ft. Smith. The move in winter of 1978-79 was quite an experience. It snowed nearly every other day. The wife, Anneta, had just landed a job teaching in Rogers. She'd teach a day and then the school would close for a day or two for the snow. It continued that way for quite a while. We both loved the funkiness of Fayetteville and spent lots of weekends exploring the bars up and down Dixon St.

When were you first licensed, and where?

I've never been sure of when, but got my Novice ticket as a teenager in Osceola, Arkansas sometime around 1963. Doesn't show up in any of the callbooks because I was only a Novice about three months before passing my General Class [exam] in Memphis

What initially attracted you to amateur radio?

You'll love this…I had put together a Knight Kit, three tube phonograph oscillator, basically a low powered AM radio transmitter. With that I put together a pirate radio station by extending the length of the antenna wire which produced a stronger signal than allowed by Part 15. I had kids all over the 6,000 population of Osceola requesting various music. And if I didn't have the record, they'd bring their copy over. Wound up with a huge stack of 45's, including an original Elvis “That's Alright Mama”, hi hi. [K5XS note: I did a web search on “It’s Alright Mama record value.” Here what a search engine returned: “The record, particularly the Sun 209 pressing, can range from $4,000 to over $15,000 depending on its condition.] Well, my dad bragged to Don Whitney the local radio station (KOSE) manager. He quickly mentioned to Dad that what I was doing was illegal and could bring a knock on my door from the FCC. He suggested he'd be willing to Elmer me into ham radio. So, it became mandatory that I shut down the broadcast station. And my dad underwrote purchase of a ham radio receiver while Whitney loaned me a Globe Scout transmitter and administered the Novice test.

Who, if anyone, most influenced your entry into ham radio, and how did they do that?

Well, it would have to be a combination of my Dad and Don Whitney, K5GKN who a year later when I turned 16, hired me into a weekend job, legally spinning records at the local KOSE AM/FM radio station. So it all worked out; I went to ASU in Jonesboro, got a degree in radio/TV broadcasting and began a 13-year career with a couple of radio stations around the area, and eventually KAIT-TV beginning my junior year in college.

What was your first station (rig, antenna)? How well did it work? What memories do you have of operating that particular equipment?

Oh yeah, back to ham radio. I eventually purchased a Knight Kit T60 transmitter. That got me on AM phone after passing the General. As you know, back then, a young kid running AM wasn't very welcomed into adult SSB QSOs. So back to CW for a while. Later, Mr. Whitney sold me his Central Electronics 10B exciter and I picked up a homebrew amplifier from another ham. I maintained that setup into my 30s which was about the time we moved to Fayetteville. I was so busy, I took about a 30-year hiatus, and didn't resume the hobby until retirement. At that point I decided I'd get my Extra Class.

How has amateur radio influenced your life, especially in ways not directly related to ham radio?

For some reason, the whole time I was working in front of a mic or TV camera, I really wished I was working in the technical end. So I quit my TV job and began pursuing an associate’s degree in electronics from then Westark (now U of A Fort Smith). At the time, that was only a two-year college. But as I was finishing the two years, the school got permission to add a 3rd year course in microprocessors. Still a two-year college, they were only permitted to issue me a certificate for the processor course.

What are your favorite amateur radio activities in general?

Well, I'm kind of in a bit of a rut. Pretty much just rag-chewing on the Arkansas Phone Net. Not too long ago, when my brain was working better, I enjoyed exploring new modes and assembling whatever was needed to facilitate that. Maybe I can still resume some of that whenever I adjust to being the sole household caretaker, hi hi.

What modes and bands do you operate? If you could operate only one mode and band, what would it be, and why?

Right now it's pretty much 75-meters, SSB. But not long ago I enjoyed working a half dozen special events each year. I usually worked whatever mode necessary for the stations I was chasing….phone, FT8 and even CW when necessary.

What equipment do you most operate?

IC-7300, Alinco power supply, AT-1000 Pro II tuner, Mercury IIIs amp, 75M center-fed dipole and 40M OCFD for most of the other bands. I also have a backup transceiver, amp and tuner.

If you remember your first contact, who was it with? Do you remember your thoughts and emotions regarding the experience at the time?

Sorry, I've slept since then. Don't remember the station. (I stupidly didn't save my original logbooks). But, of course, that first QSO was thrilling for this 15-year-old kid.

What fix/hack have you made that you are most proud (a radio you fixed, a difficult problem you solved, an ingenious solution you came up with, etc.)?

First thing that comes to mind is fixing a HeathKit monitor scope that I picked up a year ago at the Mena hamfest and getting it to work. I had to create a tap on my output and another connection to produce the trapezoid image. It worked well, but I eventually tired of it and put it on the shelf. Would you like one? It's just collecting dust. [K5XS: “Thanks, but no, LOL.”]

And do you remember an “Oh dang! I shouldn’t have done THAT!” moment when you had an “Uh oh” experience?

Hmm, I’d have to think a bit on that. I'm sure there were more than I could count. Fortunately, none of them involved touching high voltage.

What single event “Wowed” you as a “golden moment” in your amateur radio experience? (A special contact, a special “eyeball QSO,” etc.)

Probably when I got back into the hobby shortly after retirement. I bought an Alinco SR8, a cheap 40M OCFD off Ebay. It worked perfectly when first fired up. Even though that little Alinco was very much a starter transceiver, I was blown away at the technical improvements in that cheap rig compared to the gear I left behind some 30 years earlier. In fact, one of the first QSOs was across the pond in France!

What behaviors in amateurs do you most like to see?