About

In December of 2006, I launched this website at the suggestion of one of my college professors. Today, www.johndball.com serves as a central hub for my thoughts and “how-to” guides.

I maintain this site as a personal reference for many of my projects, which is why I originally described it as a “Dumping ground for thoughts I’ll need a year from now.” However, I later changed the tagline to “You can’t get infected if you can’t get connected” – a phrase I often use when people complain about not being able to download harmful content from sketchy websites. The current tagline, “Bytes of Helpful Information,” is a clever play on words and accurately represents what this site has become: a valuable resource where I share helpful information that I’ve either posted or referenced for various reasons and purposes.

Every now and then, you may come across references to hiking, backpacking, or overlanding on this site. My wife, our family, and I love to travel across the country, staying at state parks, federal lands (such as the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management), and National Wilderness lands. I am a certified Leave No Trace Trainer, and both my wife and I serve as scout leaders for our local scout unit. I will also share resources that I find helpful during our weekly and monthly treks, as well as resources used with Scouts BSA, for others to benefit from.

I’m excited to share that I hold an Amateur General license – KN4OLA, which means I can operate on the airwaves. I use an ICOM IC-7300 remotely, allowing me to make HF contacts wherever I am, as long as I have an internet connection. I’ve brought amateur radio to scouting and provided RF communications support to global faith-based NGOs, assisting both hobby communications and mission operations. If you need communication integration for your mission, feel free to reach out to me. I’d be more than happy to assist you. And if I can’t help directly, I have connections who can. If you’re looking for something simpler and more local, just send out a CQ on 2m and 70cm frequencies, and I’ll be there, listening attentively.

#GeauxOutdoors #RollingWithTheBalls

~Mr. John Ball


Public keys

  1. Apple Contact Key (12 December 2023):
    APKTIDlii8g3VoFi8eVukrWM0l6Q-xbZu0L1q-HY02jdssdkCV7A