I'm not sure when to start counting my time in radio. My dad was always interested in electronics; we had a room in the house devoted to it with parts bins, meters, signal generators, an oscilloscope, etc. I built a crystal radio with an unknown amount of help from my dad when I was 5; we strung a wire to our neighbor's chimney and were able to bring in many AM broadcast signals. Many kits filled our tables across the years, mostly Knight kits from Allied Radio and, of course, Heathkits (anyone remember the SB-303 receiver?) When I was in Boy Scouts, one could choose between learning semaphore or Morse code. What a mistake I made! I'm sure my decision to learn semaphore delayed my first license by many years.
I finally got my tech license in 1972. Back then, tech licenses meant general theory but only 5 WPM. At that time, I was working in the marine electronics industry, installing radios, radars, etc. on yachts and some commercial vessels, having a Second-Class Radiotelephone license with Ship Radar Endorsement. (I eventually got my First Class, though I never used those privileges). As part of this I had the opportunity to go into the marine HF radio telephone shore station in Bermuda, where I saw a kid who was--maybe--15 bopping away on CW while having a conversation with someone else in the room. If he could do it, I could do it! Back then, only the technician examination could be given by a fellow ham (this was WAY before the VE system we use today;) anything else meant a trip to an FCC office. So not too long after the trip to Bermuda, I found myself at the FCC office in lower Manhattan where I missed 20 WPM but passed 13 and upgraded to Advanced. I was quite happy with my Advanced license, but then I heard that the FCC was going to cut the Extra code requirement to 5 WPM. Well... I'm a stubborn cuss. I crammed and upgraded to being a "Fast" Extra at 20 WPM. The distinction means nothing except for personal pride, of course, but it was fun. I don't operate much, and only on VHF/UHF. I'm really just getting back into the hobby after an absence of probably 15 years. My previous active time was in Southern New Hampshire where we had a very active club, much like CCARC. Much of what we used ham radio for "back in the day" has been taken over by cell phones. More than operating, I enjoyed working on the towers of hams who didn't like to climb, or simply needed a hand. Currently, my "shack" consists of an Icom IC-2730 (mobile V/UHF), slung under my computer desk, and a bunch of handhelds. We're really starting over again equipmentwise, as Kathe and I sold our house and almost all our ham equipment including several HF beams and our 105' tower, to go on the road full-time in our RV for 2 years. I miss our tower...but the tower is really part of Kathe's story. -Al WA1TYB September 2021 |