David Larsen [David]
David Larsen KK4WW became interested in electronics as a boy and was licensed as an Amateur Radio Operator in 1953. After graduating from high school in 1957, he served in Uncle Sam’s Navy for 2 years as an electronic technician, and went to Oregon State University for a degree in Business and Technology (Electronics). He spent some years in the electronic industry as an engineer, and the next 31 as a university teacher in electronic instrumentation at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA (retired 1998). For ten years at VT, David assisted the Office of International Development and received the Faculty Service Award in 1995 for “outstanding service in the outreach mission”. For many of those years, he was associated with land and farming with the start-up of a Christmas tree farm and marketing organization, which developed into a serious operation with hundreds of acres of Christmas trees and was a good sale for Larsen in 1993.
In 1992, David and his wife Gaynell KK4WW founded the non-profit foundation, Foundation for Amateur International Radio Service (FAIRS) to work with groups in less fortunate countries to develop emergency radio communications systems and provide medical and equipment assistance. David and Gaynell direct the activities of the foundation from U.S. headquarters in Floyd, VA.
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