WB5FWE was the Amateur Radio callsign issued to Dave Fant of Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1972. It superceded the callsign WN5FWE when the Novice license issued in 1971 was upgraded to Technician and then General. WB5FWE was held until 2004 when a callsign change was made to W5SWL. SWL was obtain due to a passion for shortwave radio listening, which Dave Fant had done during the 1960s and QSL'ed approximately 500 stations using a Hallicrafters WR-600 and later a Realistic DX-150A. W5SWL is a life member of the ARRL and QCWA. Dave Fant held the monitoring callsign of WDX5DF during the late 1960s for the Shortwave Listener's Association.

W5SWL was enfluenced at a very young age by his Grandfather, Elwood Blass of Fort Smith, Arkansas who was one of the early radio pioneers of the area. Elwood Blass held the Callsign of 5BT and told many stories of making his own equipment during the Spark Gap era.