Hamming It Up, The Early Years
Jonathan Dayton (KC2PNF)
on
October 24, 2009
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This is just a brief snapshot of my interest in radio as a kid. It's the bait in a fishing expedition for similar stories from fellow hams.
When I was about seven somebody gave me a really sweet set of walkie talkies for my birthday (AM with built in broadcast band RX). They had the Morse key (not that I was motivated much to learn CW), a neat telescoping antenna (about 1/8 wave around 50 MHz). Not that I knew any of that stuff in the parenthesis at the time.
They were just amazing. We were the Dukes of Hazzard, we were Appolo astronauts, spies, truckers, we could do it all! Then some time around my eleventh birthday tragedy struck. I snapped one of the whips off. A friend tried to crimp it back in place but that only made it worse. But there was hope...
At the tender age of eleven I already knew how to solder. Not for any good reason, I just saw Dad doing it and got him to teach me. My little analytical mind started turning and I ran in the house with the broken unit.
I grabbed a spool of wire and the soldering tools. I carefully took apart the radio, set the broken whip back in it's slot and measured off a length of wire equal to it. I pulled the screw out of the bottom, wrapped the wire around it (with a dab of Radio Shack 50/50 for good measure) and left the wire hanging out when I screwed the radio back together. I jammed a foot length of dowel in the antenna hole and wrapped the wire around it up to the top. Three wraps of Scotch 33 and she was back up and running!
The gang was waiting outside to pick up the game where we had left off. None of us, including myself, were much amazed at the fix. Looking back I swell with pride at having independently re-discovered the rubber duck (wood duck?) antenna and put it into useful practice. At the time I was mostly concerned with hanging on to "the good one" when we played with them. It was much better to have the radio with the one foot antenna when creeping through the neighborhood on a spy mission, coil loading aside.
It would be twenty more years before I finally got my ticket. I still love to tinker. Building antennas still holds an attraction. I haven't managed to make another "good one" that has all the other kids on the block green with envy again though.
So now it's your turn. I can't get enough of stories about Scout radio badges, sitting at an uncle's elbow while he pounded brass, and stringing wires into the neighbor's trees to pick up some DX. What was your first brush with radio like?
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Hamming It Up, The Early Years
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by K9IUQ on October 24, 2009
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I was 9 or 10 yrs old. Had a friend who lived in the house next to me 200ft away. We got 2 tin cans and put a string between them. We could talk from house to house. This was my first "DX" experience.
That year Santa brought me a *cat whisker" crystal radio kit. I put it together and was able to pick up WGN and WLS 45 miles away. Now this was real Dxin.
After getting a taste of radio and kits, I then saved my paper route money and bought an Allied Radio Spanmaster kit for $25. This was a regen Shortwave RX. Now I could DX the world. Got many QSL cards and am probably still on the CIA watch list for QSLing Radio Moscow.
A couple of years later I got KN9IUQ.....
Stan K9IUQ
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by K4IQT on October 24, 2009
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When I was three years old, we bought a Zenith "Long Distance" AM/SW table radio. From the start I enjoyed listening to the 31, 40, and 49 meter bands, and after we got our first TV in 1953 the Zenith became mine. Dad taught me Morse code using his old Navy signal lamp card, and it was a quick entry to understanding some of the Cw I heard, albeit with no BFO (shhh-sh-shhh-sh shhh-shhh-sh-shhh).
In 1959 a good friend and I decided to get our tickets, bought a couple of cheap keys and buzzers from the local radio parts store, and our first Elmer was our high school radio club advisor, Bill Pedigo (SK), K8NXD. I got KN8ZBI in 1960 and my best buddy Nick White (SK) became KN8BAB shortly thereafter.
My first rig was a good old 6L6 Colpitts oscillator on 7.187 MHz, and my first local QSO's were made using that and the old Zenith receiver. By 1961 we had both got our General tickets, and I had picked up a BC-455 and BC-459 from Fair Radio Sales, and in 1962 an old Canadian-built lend-lease Russian tank transceiver, the famous Wireless Set #19. At the time these cost next to nothing, which is all I had! All, including the Zenith, eventually became parts of later homebrew projects, but I now wish I had kept them intact. They would be worth their weight in Elecraft K3's today!
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by K3ANG on October 24, 2009
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I don't know which got my attention first, the Zenith turntable-am/fm radio console in the living room or the Knight Kit SpanMaster my dad build in 1960. I learned from tuning the Zenith that I could get A LOT of stations at night than I could get during the day (one of them was Radio Curacao @ 800 kc). I used to search for baseball games. When I learned about shortwave radio, the SpanMaster made it worse. It wasn't great but I became a steady listener to the BBC World Service (when it WAS a WORLD SERVICE), Radio Hilversum (Holland), Radio South Africa, Deutche Welle, Radio Canada, and our own VoA. The only exception was Radio Habana. I took Spanish in high school (late-1960's), and used it for listening practice. Other than a lo-power FM station near DC., there weren't many, dedicated Spanish-speaking stations I could receive on a daily basis. Tho not a ham himself, dad was assigned to a crash boat section at Eglin AB early in WWII where he learned radio Morse (he taught me at very early age and I kept it up). He told me about ham radio, and I was interested. But he didn't know any hams, and I never met one until I was in my mid-20's. I eventually got my license in 1976 and will never give it up. I thoroughly enjoy ham radio. In fact, it's time for me to renew. My only other contact with ham radio in my pre-ham days was QST. I was fortunate the local county library had a subscription to it. I would pore over it (between homework, music, girls, cars, etc).
73
de K3ANG
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I remember it well... said the elephant
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by N8NSN on October 24, 2009
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Grandpa & fishing...
We took along a couple of walkie-talkies which had the little 'red CW button'. That is where interest in amateur radio began for me at the young age of eight. The walkie-talkies were 500mw Sears® units. At age eleven my best friend named Todd Lee and I used to ride our bikes around and talk on the walkie-talkies quite a bit. We used to pretend we were Will and Sonny from the television series "Movin' On"™ which had a very seldom known of pilot movie entitled "In Tandem"™. I ended up giving one of the walkie-talkies to Todd. Through the walkie-talkies we could talk without the telephone that my older sisters were always occupying. Not too long after, we discovered the basics of dipole antennas when we both upgraded to 500mw/3 channel 11-meter bricks. The built in telescopic antennas were not getting the job done very well. So with a little run of RG-58 and a spool of wire each we were officially radio communications students. I can hardly believe some of those old sets of crystals (among others) are still occupying space in some of the parts drawers here in the shack, today. No, I am not a pac-rat...
By twelve years of age, saving all my money from allowance and cutting grass, for a Radio Shack DX-160® (in lay-away), became one of my number one priorities. The simple dipole math and other antenna theories learned in the previous several months began to pay off with the new adventures in SWL-ing. I wonder if those dipoles are still in the attic at my childhood home... The man at the local Radio Shack® was a great Elmer. His name (still remember) was George Bloom. I am pretty sure he was a Ham but I am not completely sure on that. George directed me toward a portable AM broadcast band kit radio that R.S.® sold at the time. I did a terrible job building it, as it was my first experience with soldering. Even though that first project was a failure, in the sense that the radio never played; the gift of experimentation and a new-found love of learning how things work was born through the task. Todd and I were more than pleased to have several 'free battery of the month cards' from Radio Shack®. Sure, the manager at the local Rat Shack was 'on to us' having several cards, but he didn't seem to mind when we made our weekly (not monthly) visits to receive our free nine-volt battery. We would widdle away some time with exploring all the new gadgets and widgets in the store. As long as we conducted ourselves respectfully, didn't make a mess, or drive away customers -- I think he appreciated the company. Spending money on the ‘AA’ batteries for our three channel rigs must have been the permissive agent in our nine-volt consumptions. Eventually, after spending tons of quarters, which we earned at the local K-Mart® by bringing in shopping carts from the parking lot, on the ‘AA’ batteries; we discovered the wall wart and NiCad batteries advantage.
Mother ended up getting a station license for us to get a citizens band radio in the house in 1978. If I remember correctly our call was KAGH1980. A lot of our neighbors were watching channel two, a local television broadcast station, and channel five, out of Cincinnati. This caused a real ruckus with TVI from our new CB station. So, yet another opportunity presented itself in learning about TVI issues and how to resolve them. Grounding, grounding, and more grounding ended up being the solution. The commercially available low-pass filters did little to nothing to resolve the problem. I piddled around on eleven meters and made some real good friends throughout many years to follow. There was a nice group of folks on channel five AM called the Bare-Foot Buccaneers Club. I remember the CB jamboree get togethers and the coffee-breaks were always a lot of fun. There was a pretty sizable group on channel 16 SSB, as well. The transition from 23 channels to 40 channels was so great with 36 through 40 being a few more SSB channels to make use of. The cost of those 40 channel SSB capable radios was, in a word, ridiculous. Many of us in the SSB groups were fast at it with building all sorts of home brew antennas and station accessories. Some of the friends from those days have since achieved their amateur radio license, as well.
By 1987 other commitments such as; work, school, music, marriage, and three children came along to render my love for radio to the back burner for quite some time. That old DX-160® still held my interest. When everyone was off doing his or her own things I would listen to amateur radio and other interesting short wave broadcasts. The CB was still around, but not used nearly as much as the FCC had dropped the licensing requirements years back. There isn't much to say on that with the exception that SSB was the only mode of use and even that had some very 'non-family appropriate moments'. The fascination of radio never left.
Listening to a good deal of DX through the 1980's and 1990's on that old DX-160® took me to where I was getting pretty decent at copying slow code. I wanted to join in the fun. Finally, on 14 December 1995 the decision was made to go for the ticket. It didn't take long to realize I was back into something really enjoyable. I began with the technician class license. My friend (Scott Clark ex-ARS N8PEN) sold me an old Yaesu FT-208R® two meter handy. What a solid little HT that was. I built a j-pole out of aluminum and had many hours of fun along the way of meeting more fine locals in the amateur radio community. After the purchase of my first HF rig, a Heathkit SB-101®, at a garage sale for fifty dollars, on 22 February 1997, I took the plunge to tech-plus. Shortly after that a great deal on a set of Kenwood 599 Twins® came along. I worked all states with those radios on CW in the novice portions of the bands for a while and on 14 February 1998, I went to take the general test. I was a bit nervous about the 13 WPM code test. One of the VE’s (Therman Chastain WB8WZR) suggested I take the 20 WPM first. He said, "If you fail it and take the 13 WPM afterward, 13 WPM will sound excessively slow and not be a problem at all." That statement was very sound advise. I took the suggestion, and to my surprise, passed the 20 WPM code test with only two errors. I was astounded! The door was opened to even more opportunity to enjoy what radio had to offer. The accomplishment of making contacts, via a small simple station, still delivers a great deal of satisfaction.
Since the beginning of making actual radio contacts with A1A mode in February of 1997, CW has been my first choice of operations. Telegraphy and CW... The original binary comx... Well, maybe smoke signals have us beat there.
Operating QRP becomes all about proficiency and the antenna system, and maybe a dash of the magic of magnetism.
I enjoy phone modes as well. One-sixty through thirty meters are my over all favorite bands.
As of yet, I have not gotten the contesting infliction. I do of course enjoy DX-ing and regional work. A good number of DX and state side QSL cards fill some thoughtfully stored shoe boxes. I like to rag chew whether on CW or Phone.
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Hamming It Up, The Early Years
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by KA5ROW on October 24, 2009
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When I was 7 or 8 I got some walkie talkies for Christmas, skip was running that day and we herd CB'ers from all over. With in a year or so I was DX'ing AM radio. At night it was so cool to hear stations 1000+ miles away. Later at about 15 I got into CB, my friend and I bought a Midland 13-874 8 CH CB $79.00, it came with CH 9 and 14. One day I got the idea of putting the CH 9 transmit crystal in the receive and the receive in the transmit. Wow it worked, luckily for us it was a single conversion radio, or it never would have worked. In July 1983 I got my Novice and bought a brand new Kenwood TS-530 GP and never looked back.
My greatest accomplishment in ham radio was learning the 13 WPM for my General. I put it of for years. But once I started it only took me 28 days to go from 5 to 13 WPM.
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by KY6R on October 24, 2009
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I was 11 - I built a Heathkit SW-717, and the nice man at the Heathkit Store in Fairlawn, NJ had to help me clean up some cold solder joints. Even though that radio was a POS - it was the best receiver I could ever hope for.
I passed my Novice test when I was 12, and my license arrived in the mail - WN2QHN on my 13th birthday!
I used that old SW-717 with a Hallicrafters HT-40 and a Dow Key tube based relay switch. I had 3 40M crystals and used to have daily skeds with other teenagers on the Eat Coast - after school.
We all wrote each other letters and talked about upgrading - and we all did. It was almost a contest. Became WA2QHN at age 15.
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by NA4IT on October 24, 2009
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Many moons ago, probably age 10 or 11, I started with a Sears Walkie Talkie Base Station. It TX'd only on CH14, but RX'd all 23 channels. I "worked DX" with it by hooking a wire to the telescoping antenna and tying it to the screen on my window. With it's milliwatt flea power, I worked a "real" CB'er about 2 miles away! And, he sent me a QSL card.
Later, I saved enough 50 cent pieces to buy a Realistic Navaho TRC-30 base station. My "shack" was in the closet of my bedroom, and I had up a vertical at 40 feet.
Then in 1976, at age 16, I got my Novice ham ticket, the one you HAD to upgrade in 2 years or loose it. Well, college started in 1978, so I lost my ticket.
I spent several years "tinkering" with CB sets, but always had at least usually some type of SWL receiver, my favorite was a Realistic DX-160. Ham radio still simmered.
In 1999, I found out the local repeater frequency and plugged it into my scanner. During severe weather, I heard my first Skywarn net, and made the decision I would get my license again. And my wife will testify that I said "I'm only gonna get one or two little radios and maybe a small outdoor antenna." Yea... right.
Today, I am an Amateur Extra, and proud of it. I've been a former ARES EC, been in MARS, been involved in EMCOMM and "regular" ham radio activities, am now disabled, and setting here surfing the internet while listening to the Yeasu FT-450 beside me. Earlier, I was on MT-63, and then Digital SSTV (Easypal). My APRS and packet stations are on 24/7, and I manage the KG4FZR digital station remotely for our club (www.mcminnarc.com).
And I wouldn't trade it for the world...
de NA4IT (www.qsl.net/na4it)
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by K2FOX on October 24, 2009
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When I was 8 years old (1964) I got a pair of Sears walkie talkies for Christmas. They were two-watt, three channel units that had pretty good range. They had an external antenna jack on the side, so when the weather gotwarmer, I coaxed my father into putting an antenna on the house. It was a 102 inch stainless steel whip mounted on the facia board. He attached 300 ohm twin lead to it and ran it into my room (yes, 300 ohm twin lead) and I plugged it into the walkie talkie. The range was incredible. I was able to talk to a cousing that lived about 12 miles away. At that point I was hooked. But knowing now the CORRECT cable to use, I am amazed it worked at all.
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Hamming It Up, The Early Years
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by K3UD on October 24, 2009
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In my case my interest was sparked in 1959 at age 8 when my parents gave me a 6 transistor AM broadcast band radio for Christmas and I found out that I could receive stations much further away than the local Philadelphia area stations that my parents listened to. I was amazed to be able to pull in Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Boston, New York and many others. My weekly allowance of $1 went for batteries and nothing else.
My father noticed my fascination with this and told me how he had tried to become an ham operator in the mid or late 30s, but how he could never learn the code. I did not understand any of this and he explained to me what Amateur Radio was all about and how you needed a license to get on
the air. He also showed me some QSL cards that he received from hams all over the country. It turned out that he had been an avid SWL and sent reception reports to many hams. One Saturday afternoon he brought home a Hammarlund Comet Pro receiver which had been stored at his mothers house.
He showed me how to string up a simple antenna and we proceeded to fire up the Comet Pro which had not been used, he said, since 1946 right after he returned from WW2 and right before he married. Fortunately, it worked. This was a receiver where you had to change coils to change bands, and he had a complete set. We tuned over what turned out to be the 40 and 75 meter bands. Most everything in the early 60s was still AM and I began to listen to mystical voices coming into my bedroom during the afternoons after school. To me radio was somehow Magic. Most of the guys on were regulars and I felt that I got to know them personally. It seems like for a long time, when I read over the Silent Keys section of QST I see some of the old familiar 40 and 75 meter calls of almost 45 years ago.
My father located an old callbook and I began to send out SWL reports and got back a lot of QSLs plus a lot of encouragement to take the next step and learn the code so I could become licensed as a Novice. By then I had a copy of the License Manual and my father's old code oscillator... more like a buzzer, and surplus navy straight key. I was going to learn the code, and by myself. My mother often told me that I was doing code in my sleep. It turned out that one of the boys in my boy scout troop had a father who was a first class radio telegraph operator in the Merchant Marine... and he was empowered to give me the Novice test. They never told you your grade back then, but in the fall of 1964 I received the call WN3DNC.
As a reward for passing the Novice exam my father purchased for me a Hallicrafters SX-110 receiver and the Comet Pro was retired. I still have the Comet Pro and the navy key. I had saved enough money from my paper route to buy a Heathkit DX-40 transmitter. In those days I did not know anything about how to tune up a transmitter and nothing about antenna theory. I tried to tune up on the 80 meter Novice CW band and called CQ off and on for over a week without any results. It seemed that I had actually tuned up just outside the 40 meter band and was radiating a nice signal which was confirmed by an ARRL Official Observer's report from Missouri. This was my first " QSL" and I still have it.
I got into ham radio because I considered radio to be magic, and I still do.
73
George
K3UD
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by K6LO on October 24, 2009
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Back about 1975 one of my friends and I found a pair of old channel 14 walkie talkies, some toy brand, with morse code buttons. We'd fiddle with adding extra wire to the antennas and walk all round his parents farm talking and beeping secret messages at each other. It was loads of fun. My dad saw the interest I had and later that year I got a DX-150 shortwave receiver for Christmas and an Ameco sidetone oscillator, and a viking speed-x navy knob key to practice with. I'd tune for hours listening to all the fascinating signals. In 1978 I got my novice license. The fascination and love of far away signals has never died.
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Hamming It Up, The Early Years
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by WD9FUM on October 24, 2009
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My dad brought home a Sears Silvertone multi-band radio that he had gotten from a friend. We put it into our workshop in the basement and the magic started. We would listen to the BBC, Radio Havana Cuba, HCJB, Deutsche Welle, Radio Nederland (The Happy Station on Sunday night)and many others.
A few years later I found out about ham radio and got my Novice ticket. The fun has continued ever since that Silvertone came into the basement!
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by N8QBY on October 24, 2009
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The Setting: Christmas day, 1968.. I was 10 years old, and I received a Sears "Signature Jr.". This was a fancy base unit that took 6 D-cell batteries. It rec'd 23 channels, and transmitted on 27.125, channel 14. It also received the am broadcasting band. It had a morse code keyer on the front, and an external mic. I felt like I was the King of Sault Ste. Marie, MI.
I remember my first contact that Christmas morning. I extended the 4' telescopic antenna, turned on my high powered radio, (100mw), and began calling out my version of CQ, "can anyone out there here me"? Well, to my excitement, another excited voice answered me. All fired up, I asked him in anticipation, "what is your location"? He said, "906 Bingham St, what's yours"? With a little less excitement, I answered, "907 Bingham St". Well, that started me on my way. That started me out in the radio hobby. I had a somewhat of a local Elmer who would later modify that neat 100mw base. He added 4 extra channels, a longer whip antenna, and he put a small audio transformer in the mic, yep, almost like a power mic. Later I would add an external antenna jack on the back, and would use a long wire antenna. In our town, a tourist town, we had a 200ft building called the Tower Of History. One elevator ride to the top with my portable basestation, I would take a 15ft piece of wire and throw it over the railing at the top of the tower. Talk about getting out. I used to talk across the river to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Those guys, (CB'ers), wouldn't believe me when I told them I was on a 100mw station. Those were the days.
Now for a different twist and end of this story. About 35 yrs after that first 100ft DX contact, I was talking on 2m simplex with a local friend. A ham was passing through Sault Ste. Marie, and broke in on us on 146.520. After swapping calls, and first names, and finding out that this guy used to live in Sault Ste. Marie, it turned out to be the same chap that I made my first radio contact from 35 yrs previous. We had a good laugh over that. Those were good times.
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by KG8JF on October 24, 2009
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This is a great topic, because everyone has a story and many are happy to share theirs. I remember working along side my dad while he built a home intercom unit from parts he had scrounged and a circuit in some magazine like Popular Electronics. He also picked up one of the BC series of radios, maybe a BC-459. I do remember that it was AM and went from 3 to 6 megacycles. The whole 80 meter band had a bandspread of about a half an inch on the circular dial.
Later I wound up with a crystal set and made an antenna that went on till the middle of next week. It was very long. I made it out of some old staple wire we had on a spool that went to a stapler that my Dad had "liberated" from his offic. That steel longwire just did not work very well
My Dad and I both got consecutive tickets from 4 land. I think I was KN4SDH and he was SDI. I lost interest what with girls and school working for a living. My Father followed through to General. I, unfortunately had to sit before Dick Cotton in the old Cleveland Federal Bldg for my general exam. I could not have told him my name at the time, I was so intimidated by him.
I got back into the hobby in 1994 and I have thoroghly enjoyed every minute of it.
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by W3ZV on October 24, 2009
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A guy I met in high school got me interested in amateur radio. I lived in a house and he lived in an apartment so we were going to share a station at my house. We saved our lunch money for a bare bones novice station. At the end of the school year, he moved away without any notice, and our radio money went with him. The interest he sparked become a life long hobby. Looking back after all these years, it was really more than a fair trade.
Ron W3ZV
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by WB4M on October 24, 2009
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Here is another Boy Scout story for you. I was after my "Signaling" merit badge, along with 2 or 3 other scouts. My dad bought 2 oscillators that wired directly to each other so you could practice Morse Code. They looked like modern day straight keys with a compartment to hold batteries and a flashlight bulb.
We would team up, 2 scouts each, and go into separate rooms, running the wires of the keyers to each room. We'd then practice sending messages to each other. This generated quite a bit of interest among the other scouts as well.
To earn the merit badge, we had to demonstrate proficiency by both sending AND receiving Morse Code, via flashing lights, sound, one semaphore (flag) and 2 semaphores! All of this earned a 1.5 inch merit badge that you sewed on your sleeve or sash. And to think people today complain about having to learning CW for a ham license!! I'd love to see them try sending Morse Code with flags!
I was about 12 years old at that time. When I was in the 9th grade, we had to do a science project. I ended up ordering a walkie-talkie, a Knight kit, and putting it together for my project. It operated on CB channel 7 and ran off a single 9-volt battery. A friend of mine at the time had a LaFayette Comstat CB base station and a few channels. So he'd be at home on his station and talk to me on my walkie-talkie.
I wanted a base station so bad after that, but was 14 and no job to pay for it. I remember you had to buy separate transmit and receive crystals that plugged in.
Much later on, in the mid-70's the CB boom hit and I remembered having one in the past so bought a 23-channel CB. I kept it about 2 weeks and sold it, I was disgusted at what I heard. About the same time I began dating a girl whose dad was a ham with a complete Yaesu FT101E station and tribander. I saw his station and I was once again fascinated with what I saw. About 2 years later, I got my novice license (1978) and have been an active ham ever since.
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by KB2DHG on October 24, 2009
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nice article. My story goes back to 1970 at age 12 I was introduced to Ham radio, long story short once introduced I was hooked.
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by W8AAZ on October 24, 2009
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Family had a transistor radio that covered "marine" band. As early as maybe 68 I had tuned across 75M and heard "stuff" but no idea of how to rx. SSB so it was a curiosity to me. About 1970 or 71 I accidentally found a local AM net on 160 with it. Then started with the external wire to receive them better, being an SWL for the net every Sunday morn, and eventually finding out about ham radio, several years later got a novice ticket.
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by VK3DWZ on October 24, 2009
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Yes, I still remember the early days well. It was 1961, and with both my parents working, I would come home to an empty house every day after school. My parents had purchased a radiogram that had short-wave on it (quite common is those days). From memory, the coverage was 3.5 - 12MHz. I tried it one day and discovered all those stations that could be heard. I remember climbing upon the roof and running some wires around to make an aerial and I was able to listen to the B.B.C. direct from England (wow!) and a local Utility station transmitting in AM (S.S.B. was still some way off).
This got me hooked in "wireless" but, of course there was still school for many more years.
Finally, when I was working in 1968 I purchased a "proper" Communication Receiver and was able to hear all the lovely stations then broadcasting on medium, and short, waves. I remember one of my first QSL cards was from the old Radio Moscow on medium-wave -- we lived in the North of Australia back then and could hear all sorts of juicy medium-wave staitons from Asia.
I attended Amateur Radio Clubs back in the late 1960's/mid 1970's, but held off getting my License because it was very difficult to obtain in Australia back then -- one virtually had to be a Broadcast Engineer to get one.
Then I started studying to be a Broadcast Engineer and, with the knowledge learned, sat for the Amateur Licence,passed, and took up Amateur Radio.
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by W5FYI on October 25, 2009
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Like Jonathan, I was just a kid of maybe four or five years old when my dad threw some parts together inside a cigar box and made me a portable radio. This was close to 60 years ago, and I doubt that dad had access to transistors back then (he later admitted he didn't understand how they worked), so it was probably a tube rig. I do remember walking along the sidewalk showing my cigar-box radio to passers-by, and also how hard it was for me to keep the Army surplus Hi-Z earphones from slipping off my tiny head.
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by WA8MEA on October 25, 2009
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I received a 27 MHz walkie talkie for Christmas when I was about nine or ten. I heard some people talking on the walkie talkie early that morning. I remember my parents telling me they were "ham operators". I knew enough about ham ops at that age that I sternly looked at them and said; "They are NOT ham radio operators, they are CB'ers!" Mom, who was ALWAYS argumentative said; "Well....they are LIKE ham radio operators." At that point, I decided it best to keep my mouth shut lest I have my units taken away from me on Christmas morn.
However, like my first ham QSO, I will never forget my first walkie talkie QSO. Some gentleman....I can still remember he had a KNN prefix on his CB call....came back and talked to me for a tad. That was fantastic and I was bitten by the bug to communicate via airwaves from that point forward.
Later that day, I "worked" my neighbor who was a year younger than me and he wad a "007 James Bond" communications unit (27 MHz) inside a briefcase! I thought his was so cool, I tried to trade him my TWO walkie talkies until I found out he only had 40 milliwatts compared to my 100 milliwatt units.
I recall my walkie talkies would receive all 23 channels yet only transmit on channel 14. I thought that odd and very difficult to stir up a conversation with anyone because I wasn't positive what channel they were on.
Eventually, I met two hams who attended our church and the one ham became my Elmer and eventually gave my father and I the Novice exam. Made me mad that Dad passed with a better score....because he didn't hardly study!
73, Bill - WA8MEA
http://HamRadioFun.com
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Hamming It Up, The Early Years
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by W8KQE on October 25, 2009
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I remember being utterly fascinated by various voices I heard on my 1 watt 'Lafayette' and 'Realistic' 3 channel walkie-talkies. As a 12 year old, I would climb up on my parent's roof, or stand on the patio (we lived at a high location) for hours attempting to contact these people. I went hoarse from screaming into the mic! I think I succeeded once, but the contact only lasted a few seconds! At around the same time, my father had this cool (German?) 'Nordmende' multiband SW receiver, and I was blown away by all the DX stations coming in! Then I discovered CW and SSB signals, and would listen in on Hams with the BFO on. I even plastered (completely covered) the ceiling of my bedroom with aluminum foil, and connected a wire from the receiver to the foil, thinking this would be a most effective antenna! A year or two later, I got my first real transceiver, a 23 channel 'Lafayette' SSB-50, and replaced our patio table umbrella with a 'Shakespeare' BigStick. Eventually, I snuck it on the roof when my parents went on vacation. I spent many a late nights DXing to stations as far out as 50 to 100 miles. Later on, in High School, I was thrilled to see a Ham Radio Club in place, and I got my General Class at an FCC field office in NYC. Built an HW-16 (my first HF transciever)and became obsessed with CW DXing using dipoles. Been hooked since!
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by HAMMYGUY on October 25, 2009
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Great subject! My first brush with radio was an article in World Book encyclopedia describing a very simple crystal radio with a coil wound on a toilet paper tube. I still remember hooking up the ground from the dial telephone finger stop and the outside tv antenna, then hearing a very loud local station and me yelling "it works!". My mother came running into the dining room to listen. I was nine years old.
Then came a pair of 27mhz Lafayette CB walkie talkies which worked pretty well. I would "DX" with them by hooking the antenna to the outside TV antenna, tying the PTT button down with tape, and setting it next to the playing TV speaker. Then I would wander down the neighboring blocks with my matching handheld. I was able to hear the signal for almost 2 miles. Those same radios heard some interesting signals when squeezed! Somehow WWV would come in when you put pressure around the case and warped some oscillator inside. What's that weird sound and that guy talking?
Then came high school and the creation of a brand new "amateur radio club". Hmmmm...that sounds mighty interesting. Maybe I should check that out. Wow what are all these cool things in the backroom of the Physics lab? An RME 6900 and a Knight T-60 sat proudly on the work table. A month or so later I passed and then started the wait of about 4 weeks for the FCC to send my license. I'd run into the club station and call home to see if my license had arrived. Well FINALLY it did. "What Mom? What are those letters again? Great!"
Then came my very first QSO with me shaking at the key and meeting a very nice kid down in Corvallis Oregon.
I was hooked.
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by WB2WIK on October 25, 2009
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At the age of about 12 I heard someone calling "CQ 160 meters" on my "All American Five" bedside tube AM broadcast radio.
I heard his identification and figured it was some crazy ham radio operator. I couldn't hear who he was talking to, so I listened to a few one-sided conversations.
The local public library had an Amateur Radio Callbook, so after school one day, I looked him up to find he lived only about a mile away. I rode my bicycle over to his house, and it turned out this guy actually operated from a small "deli" that he owned, where he spent a lot of his time. He had huge antennas.
I introduced myself and asked if I could see his "160 meter rig" that I'd heard him describing. He showed it to me. It didn't have 160 meters, it had three. They displayed high voltage, plate current, etc. I was disappointed. I asked "Where are all the other meters?"
That led to a series of meetings with some in-depth explanations. My local library had an ARRL Radio Amateur's Handbook, and QST magazines going back to the 1920s. I started reading.
And reading. And reading.
About a year later I wanted to take the Novice exam, so of course called up my local old friend to see if he would administer it. I was shocked to speak with his XYL to find out he had passed away just a few weeks earlier. He was a very overweight guy and suffered a fatal heart attack at a pretty early age, probably only about 60 or so. I expressed my condolences and was heart broken. Nobody to give me the Novice.
My brother had an old Hallicrafters S-120 receiver purchased in about 1961, and it wasn't very good but with a wire antenna I could hear stuff in the ham bands.
I heard W2NVA working stations on 75m AM, and could actually hear some of the guys he was talking to. I looked him up to find he lived about 8 miles away. I called him on the phone (back then, everybody had a listed phone number) and told him I wanted to take the Novice test. Frank said, "Sure, no problem, I'll order the test and come on over and take it!" I was elated.
My Dad was very supportive and drove me to Frank's house to take the test. I'd been practicing code using a code practice oscillator with my friend David, who was also in eighth grade as I was, and was also interested in ham radio. We got pretty good, just sending back and forth to each other.
We both went to Frank's house, with my Dad driving, and took our Novice tests in the same sitting. The 5 wpm code test seemed extremely easy, as it turns out we were practicing at about 10 wpm (we never really timed it). The "theory" questions were easy. We both passed. I became WN2WIK and he WN2WND.
We had to wait about 8 weeks for the licenses to come in the mail, as there was no internet, no ULS system, etc. So, we waited. But in the meantime I had built a 40m CW transmitter from an article in an old magazine, using a single 6V6 as a high level oscillator. I had a key, a receiver, a knife switch for a T-R "relay," and a dipole. I was good to go, as soon as the ticket arrived. I had four crystals for the 40m CW novice band, all purchased at Radio Row in New York City, for $1 each.
The day the ticket arrived, I was on the air about three minutes later. I called Frank on the phone to ask if he would work me on 40m. He was home, and said, "sure," and we made contact easily. He had a VFO, so he could spot my frequency. Wow.
My first contact was with the guy who proctored my Novice exam, and about three minutes after I got home from school that day to find my ticket had arrived.
Can it get better than that?
WB2WIK/6
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by KI4WGI on October 25, 2009
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When I was 8 or 9, my mom bought me a crystal radio kit from Ames, my dad helped me to wind the coil and sand it for the slider (no variable capaciter). Also helped me to string a long wire antenna from my bedroom window to a nearby tree and make the ground to the radiator. At least i installed the diode myself! It worked! I was hooked... my dad also had a multiband radio with both SW and 2 meter coverage. Tried to build a single tube regen but my lack of tools and skill conspired against me. But then, even failure can teach (in this case, I still had a lot to learn!).
Later used paper route money to buy a used GR-64, must of been around 1977-78 by the dates on the SW QSL cards I received. Got my 2d class radiotelephone permit while in 11th grade, the only one in my class to pass it.
This first lead to my career in electronics, incl. a 10-year USAF stint as a avionics tech (EW systems).
It took me quite some time to actually get my HAM ticket, really wish I'd done so sooner (expecially with military assignments in both Asia & Europe!).
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by K0HML on October 25, 2009
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I don't recall how I got it but at age 11 or so (1952), a discarded am radio fell into my hands. I took it apart piece by piece. Unwound the tinfoil in the paper capacitors, snapped the carbon resistors in half, pulled the guts out of the IF cans, broke the glass on the five tubes--all to see if I could figure out how the sound got into and out of it. No luck but I still remember the smell of the inside of a radio. It's distinct.
A year later in the sixth grade, my teacher, W0DYC (SK) had a shack in the back of the classroom. He was my Elmer until I got my novice ticket a year or two later.
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by KC2IJI on October 25, 2009
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My grandparents had a house in the Country, which was built soon after WW2 ended. My grandfather was a tech buff back then, and in the living room was a big old radio in a cabinet. I was about 10 when I discovered it. I have later determined it was a Hallicrafters built into a custom cabinet. The radio only heard AM, but I was fascinated. I spent hours tuning SW broadcasts, wondered why there were no police above the AM BCB (they'd moved years ago), and hated all the wahwahwah in the ham bands (no one was around to explain SSB to me). Unfortunately, my grandfather had died prior to this time, and no one else knew anything about the radio. (This was a bit far from a city, and in the pre-cable and Sat era, TV was fuzzy at best, so we didn't watch much)
I played with this until a very sad day when the radio didn't hear anything anymore. Eventually I randomly discovered a wire and insulator in the backyard, but again, no one knew anything really about the radio. I asked for it to be put back up, but it didn't happen.
The radio bug lay dormant, save a set of the RS CB walkie talkies covered by others here.
CB hit when I was in high school. It fit the "chat room" and Instant Message needs my kids currently play with. I went to a ham radio club and had some ham friends but never got a ticket because all my friends (even the hams) were also on CB.
Went to college, and didn't have time, room or money.
I finally got my ticket years later after I'd moved to a house and had a backyard. A baby step with a new SW receiver was followed with a Scanner, and then I took the plunge and bought a 746 pro.
I would have had a much different radio life had my grandfather lived, or if I'd found an elmer early on. Unfortunately, radio-wise, it didn't happen.
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by K6RAH on October 25, 2009
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I think I was about 13 when a school and Boy Scout friend in San Diego showed me his shortwave receiver. We listened to foreign broadcasts, then he tuned into a ham band. I was immediately mesmerized!
For Christmas that year, I begged for a shortwave receiver and "Santa" came through. I began to listen to the ham radio operators and send away for SWL cards. One day I heard a very loud signal from a local operator, K6EDA. Looking in my Call Book, I found that Howard French lived a short distance away. I mounted my bicycle and pedaled to his house. His wife told me he was in his shack at the time (his entire gargage was his ham shack) and she escorted me there.
What a sight. I got my first glimpse of a 75A4 and a kilowatt amplifier. Howard was very friendly and let me watch as he made several contacts. Then, he let me speak into his mike...I was hooked.
Howard encouraged me to study for my novice license. I didn't have a key or anything to use for learning code. Howard gave me a code practice oscillator and a surplus key. Later, he conducted my novice exam and I passed. Soon after, in 1955, I proudly became KN6RAH.
The next year, we moved to the Los Angeles area and I passed my General exam. Howard and I stayed in touch both by mail and by radio. He also gave me a phone patch so that I could handle traffic from military personnel on Iwo Jima, Midway, Okinawa, and other bases to their families in the L.A. area.
I married in 1960 and was in college. Then came a full time career and kids. I let my license expire and was off the air until 2009. That's when the ham radio bug bit me again. I passed the Technician exam in early August and was granted KF5CMF. I passed my General exam in late August and was lucky that my old call sign was again available. Now, after more than 50 years, I am K6RAH again!
I recently learned that Howard became a SK in 2007, but his grandson, Jeff, took his K6EDA call sign in honor of his grandfather. I have been in contact with Jeff and have supplied him with copies of some of Howard's correspondence to me, along with copies of Howard's QSL cards that I managed to keep all these years.
I am now active on the air and studying hard for my Extra Class license. Also, I am a new member of ARRL, the QCWA, and the Richardson (TX) Wireless Klub.
The romance and excitement of ham radio lives on and I am delighted to have regained my place.
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by KK7WN on October 25, 2009
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I got interested in amateur radio at about the age of 10. I enjoyed listening to foreign short wave broadcasts and the Ham ability to converse with people in far away places intrigued me.One winter day my Ham neighbor alowed me to take part in his regular schedule with an Antarctic station. From this point on I was hooked. Some 50 years later I now do very little Hamming as there is little interesting foreign short wave and the internet is more convenient and flexible for long distance communication.Eventhough I have electrical engineering training the technical side of the hobby( except antennas) never did catch my full interest. Times have changed a great deal and now I look forward to personaly meeting folks in far away lands but old time amateur radio is still a very pleasant memory.When I do Ham I prefer to operate low power just to keep it as challenging as in the old! days.
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by NA7CS on October 26, 2009
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My uncle, Jack Steger (SK) got me interested in ham radio. My dad and I would visit his QTH just N of Sacramento and I was amazed at all the "cool" gear in his shack. It was amusing when during one visit Jack and a few buddies made an antenna from their discarded (tin) beer cans by soldering the ends together.
At the end of one visit, my uncle gave me an old RME receiver, a Johnson Viking and his old Navy flameproof key to take home in anticipation of getting my ticket. Thinking back, it must have been an odd sight with my dad and I carrying the Viking and RME onto the airplane at the Sacramento airport for the flight home. But then again, in the 60's the rules were a lot different for airlines. And yes, I still have the RME, Viking and I use the flameproof almost every day.
I was hooked since then, and Heathkit became my best friend. I looked forward to the new catalog and saved my paper route money for new toys. When Heathkit finally came out with their color TV complete with remote control, my dad bought it and we put it together as the family TV. That thing lasted for 15 years before it was replaced.
I still have, and use most of the Heathkit test equipment I built back then on my, what else, boat anchors.
73 de NA7CS
Curt
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by KD5KJD on October 26, 2009
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It seems as though almost everyone has a story to share; here's mine.
My start in the radio hobby started innocently enough. My Uncle who loved radio and television would sit at home in the evenings and listen to or watch boxing matches and baseball games from any country he could. Consequently, he had a few AM/SW rigs in his home. He had several longwires up on the roof of his home and would pick and choose which sounded best for that particular radio or country he was trying to listen to. He was and is a very patient guy who'd listen to the fade ins and fade outs of his receptions... One of his favorite rigs (and he has several favorites) was and is a National NC-57. I have one he's passed on to me.
Although never one to QSL, he loves listening to foreign broadcasts from Spain, Cuba, South America, Europe and Africa. It was I, not my cousins who learned to love radio along with him. He and I would climb up on the ladder to the roof of his house and string out more wires for his radio and my radio. We would sit there in his kitchen or his living room listening for far away voices and music. He and his beloved boxing and baseball and I with my interest in music and foreign languages.
As time went on, I grew older as did he. I'd go (still do) up on the roof of his homes thoughout the years and string up wire for his radios. He's given me a few of those old rigs over the years. I sort of lost interest in radio during my teens and twenties. But the bug was still there, albeit now for transmitting instead of just receiving.
I got hooked on AM CB and CB SSB. I still have one or two Cobra rigs plus a couple of Unidens. My favorite is still the Uniden Grant XL. Time passed and I met a guy on the radio, Carl. He was licensed and I wasn't, but he encouraged me to get my license so that we could then communicate on more bands.
I got licensed back in 2000. I'm now a General, (yes with code endorsement, thank you very much)... I am looking to upgrade to Extra and become a VE. My nieces and nephew like the idea of ham radio and someday maybe, just maybe, one day they too will get licensed. I encouraged my youngest brother to get his ticket and has done so. He is now KE5ZQL. He's just now now getting into SW as well. I wish him luck in his new hobby!
I still love to listen to the SW bands even though there are fewer broadcasters out here. Yes, I know I can hear them on the internet. But where's the fun or mystery or magic in that?
Every so often you might just hear me on 80/75, 40, 20, 17 or even 6m! IF you do? Stop by and chat a while!
Until then? Best 73!
Luis KD5KJD
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by KI6DKC on October 26, 2009
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When my little brother was born in 1978 my parents gave me me first transistor radio. I loved listening to broadcast radio back then. When we were a few years older, my dad had an old radio that would recieve shortwave from all over the world. On some nights we would listen to those old shortwave broadcasts when there was nothing on television. My other favorite thing to do was to go to sleep listening to replays of the old radio broadcasts on a local A/M station such as X Minus 1, The Shadow, Sherlock Holmes, and other old radio shows. I still today load those old shows along with many others on my I-Pod and listen to them in the car.
In the early 80's my brother and I got a pair of Fisher Price walkie talkies for Christmas. They only had one channel and a button that you could send code with. We would run around the farm with a cap gun in one hand and a walk talkie in the other. It was great fun until the batteries wore out and we had to strip batteries out of other things to make them work. Mom bought some of the new fangled rechargeables that had just come out. They didn't hold a charge for very long but it kept us going.
A few years later in Boy Scouts, I actually met a ham, my scoutmaster. On one of our hikes to the top of a mountain, he pulled out his 2 meter HT and started talking to some guy. The guy was on the other side of the state which was cool. I'm sure it would have gone further with me and Ham Radio but there was a punk kid in our troop that started beating up on my little brother who was smaller and several years younger. I proceeded to beat the snot out of him. No one liked this kid because he was constantly causing trouble and after the fight when the scoutmaster found out he went over to talk to the other kid and the kid popped off to him. The scoutmaster grabbed him by the shirt collar and threw him up against some guy's RV. The guy in the RV looked out the driver's side window at him like he was crazy. The kid totally deserved it but the scoutmaster wouldn't deal with him anymore and quit being our leader. The scoutmaster went to the same church that we did which also sponsored the scout troop so we kept in touch.
A few years later my grandfather died and he had a bunch of CB equipment. Most of it we couldn't use because we didn't understand how to hook it up but he had two hand held units that could take batteries, hook into the cigarrett lighter thingy in the car, and had mag mount external antennas. My brother, dad, and I used them on a cross country trip where we took two vehicles and had fun talking to truck drivers and others. I kept playing with one of the units after that but mostly listened to other folks talking.
About my senior year of highschool a friend, the friend's dad, and I decided to get our Ham license. The dad took it upon himself to "teach" us which was a complete dissaster. His technique for teaching code just fustrated the heck out of me so I quit. I eventually married the friend's older sister and the dad still rubs me the wrong way sometimes.
About this time I went to college and was introduced to something new called the internet and email. I got my first cell phone too in college and didn't think much about radio anymore. Didn't feel I needed to with the cell phone and email for the next several years.
Then Hurican Katrina hit and I quickly realized that nothing would work in that situation. I convinced my wife to let me try and get my tech ticket. Ordered the AARL book off the web and studied. Took the test in a town an hour away and passed with a perfect score. Went home and ordered a tri band HT and quickly learned that I didn't know anything about anything. Couldn't make a contact on that HT to save my life. Could barely hit some of the repeaters in our area and no one was on them. We lived in a really rural area with few hams. The local ham club was barely limping along and we lived in a low point of the rural valley making it difficult for that little 5Watt HT to get out with the rubber duck antenna. Put it all away and figured if the emergency happened more people would be on the air.
About a year later I was talking to that old scoutmaster again about my fustration with Ham Radio. He invited me to a group of guys from church who met and worked on stuff together. They had a net that met on a repeater owned by one of the guys and they helped me build an antenna I could hook to my HT and get some better range. Suddenly the bug was back.
I had no interest upgrading to General because of fear of learning code due to my bad experience with the father in law. Then I found out the code requirement had been droppped and studied for it and easilly passed. The scoutmaster and other guys from church encouraged me along and answered my questions.
By this time I was so used to weak power from the HT I got a QRP HF rig and built dipole out of an old extension cord. My first contact on 40 meters was 2.5 watts three states away and he gave me a great signal report. Made a 5watt contact from my QTH in California to Kansas during a contest and was hooked although I mostly do 2 meters because it gives me something to do while driving around.
Ordered the Gordon West Morse code CDs and learned to read code at about 5WPM. I don't have a big interest in code but wanted to learn it to overcome the bogeyman I had carried around from that earlier attempt at learning it. Actually enjoyed writing it down and might get into it more at a later date when the kids are older and not interupting my concentration ever couple minutes.
A couple weeks ago the Boy Scout Jamboree on the Air was happening and I asked my cub scout son if he wanted to try talking to someone. We made a contact about four hours north of us on that QRP rig. He talked to a guy that had been a cub scout when he was a kid and was volunteering that day to help other scouts get on the air. My wife ordered my son the Jamboree on the Air patch which he is eagerly waiting to come in the mail. He was more excited than I was and wants to talk all the time now!
Just Saturday I finally made my first DX contact in Mexico with that QRP rig and I mailed off my QSL card. Although I'm not a hard core Ham due to having a lot of small kids in the house, I do enjoy getting on the air once in a while. As the kids get older I look forward to doing even more.
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by N9KTW on October 26, 2009
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Funny how so many of us who now have stations with many antennas , towers and great radios started humbly with 100mW " toy" walkie talkies :) I too had theose as a kid. But what really got me was the portable radio (which I still have ) that had " VHF hi " on it in 1976. I did something by accident (which is now illegal( since 1995))listened to a mobile telephone call. That was what got me hooked on radio. Tuning through the police and fire calls, and a few 2M frequencies at the high end of the 2M band . I found a whole world beyond AM and FM ... And so it went...... CB for a long time , still have a tubed rig from my youth. And now a pretty good hf through 440 ham shack :)
Now if my daughter will maintain an interest in daddy's radios ........
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by ONAIR on October 26, 2009
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Got a Starlite A-120 (Hallicrafters S-120 clone) as a birthday present. One night, after listening to Radio Havana Cuba, I decided to venture up the dial. When I got to around the number 27, I heard voices of 2 young guys chatting! Turned out they were CBers. I didn't know where they were located, but I assumed they were fairly close, so I got mom to buy me a 27mc CB walkie talkie from Lafayette with the channel 2 crystal installed! One night in a blizzard at around 12 midnight, I heard them chatting on CH 2, but they could not here me. I raced up the block to the corner, and shouted "Break Break CH 2! Low and behold, they heard me! After that I was hooked. Next came a few CB units, and then on tho the Ham bands. As they say, the rest is history!
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by WD9FUM on October 27, 2009
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Does anybody remember the VHF converters that worked by placing them on the back of an AM transistor radio? The brand I recall was Clark. We had a few and used to listen to police and fire with them. Wish I had 'em now, just for nostalgia.
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by W9OY on October 27, 2009
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Its interesting to see how people got hooked.
For me I was about 6 and my grandpa gave me an old AC/DC table top RX he had in his basement. I used to shock the hell out of myself with that radio. It was able to receive 160M and one day after school I heard something on 160. It was 2 high school kids talking mobile as they were leaving the high school that was about a mile away. I WAS HOOKED. All I could think about was getting in on that fun.
My Dad took me down to the old Allied Radio building the next year to earn a Novice license I read about things like "tank circuits" and bands and proper identification techniques in my dog eared license manual. I took the test but I missed the code by one letter, which was to my good because I was really in no way ready to be a novice at age 8. No one in my family was into radio so I was basically on my own.
I bought some different RX's along the way ending up with a Hallicrafters S40B and a heath Q multiplier. 40M occupied about 5/8 in of the dial, but I could hear all kinds of stuff on my 50ft long wire. I built a lot of kits and the guy next door owned a TV shop so I was able to procure some old chassis to strip. About age 11 my mom had a woman in her woman's club who was a ham, and her husband was a ham. They were big into Navy MARS. I took the novice again and this time passed I had a 6L6 I built from the old TV junk with plug in coils and 2 crystals each on 80 and 40, and a 80 40 fan dipole. My first contact was with a guy in KY on 40M using the 6L6 and the S40B and a knife switch.
It was mute the RX switch the antenna with the knife switch turn on the transmitter from stand by and send CQ then turn the TX to stand by switch the antenna un-mute the RX and see if any one was hearing me. I called it the Hiram Percy Shuffle. Eventually I turned my paper route money into a Viking-2, best damn TVI generator ever built.
Later that year I took the general in Chicago, sold the Viking-2 and S40B and bought a HQ170 and a HT-37 aka wide band sideband. The HQ170 gave way to a Drake 2B and then a R4. I built a pair of 4-400's with too many KV on the plates and laid terror to 75M. By then I was a freshman in HS and I made friends all over the country. Sadly many of them have passed now but a few remain. I have grown up with their families seen their kids grow up and leave home, seen their kids have kids etc etc. I could leave for a few years and come back and renew acquaintance and it was like I never left. It's a great hobby
All that from an old AC/DC and a couple of jokers on 160
Way too much fun
73 W9OY
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Hamming It Up, The Early Years
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by KB0XR on October 28, 2009
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My maternal grandmother gave me enough money to buy a 1 tube radio kit from the Boy Scout store in Kansas City Kansas. I ran an antenna from my bedroom window to the garage. We were living in Olathe Kansas at the Navy base. I swiped the antenna wire(actually 300 ohm open line) from the base ham radio station. I remember seeing a DX 100 being used there.
A move to California and my dad bought me a Hallicrafters s-38db at the Navy Exchange. I became a swl with that. A final move to Minnesota in 1958 and my mother bought me a Hallicrafters SX 110. I had graph paper bandspread charts for most of the swl bands. These charts stretched 4-6 feet each. My aunt's boyfriend loaned me some 78 rpm code instructions records and they enabled me to get my novice ticket. KN0QZK. I bought a Heath DX 20 at the local Heath store. Spent many nights assembling it and it didn't work. Took it to the Heath store and the tech there fixed multiple cold solder joints. Cost my mother more $ than she expected but she cheerfully paid the bill. The rest is history. 50 years plus later, I'm still in the hobby.
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Hamming It Up, The Early Years
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by N3WVB on October 29, 2009
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Coming from Pittsburgh a great emphasis was always placed on KDKA 1020 AM being the Worlds First Commercial Radio Station. Listening to the station nightly as calls came in from across the country and Europe sparked my interest as a young boy.. This was my leap into the world of DX listening and wire antennas. If people were hearing my local AM station what would be possible for me to hear not only on AM radio with 50,000 watt clear channels back then, but SWL and the Ham Bands. So started the addiction which continues to this day..."Antennas and Wires. To me the most important gear is an antenna first, second feedline and last transceiver. Aluminium and copper became my best friends and it has given me enjoyment these many years. So while launching a balloon for a vertical with ground radials in place and having multiple beverages in all directions or installing my latest array with 40 plus foot booms all go back to listening to a radio station in my hometown which was a one of a kind. Unfortunately that station has degraded to but a shadow of its former greatness, but nonetheless it has brouhgt me to a hobby which I enjoy daily. SO thank you KDKA and Westinghouse the innovators of AM Commercial Radio.
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by WD9FUM on October 29, 2009
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As a native of 'Da Burgh,' N3WVB mentions KDKA as our first commercial radio station in the U.S. Dr. Frnak Conrad, 8XK, was assistant engineeer at Westinghouse and ran the first commercial station out of a garage. From a simple ham shack to a 50kW powerhouse!
Although KDKA 'ain't what it used to be,' there are still some interesting programs, especially 'Dr. Knowledge and Miss Information' on weekend overnights. If you can hear KDKA, enjoy it, it's fun.
PS - Go Duquesne Dukes!
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by WA6BFH on November 3, 2009
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Whatever gets yo started in investigations of radio physics, is a cool thing!
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by WA6BFH on November 3, 2009
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Whatever gets yo started in investigations of radio physics, is a cool thing!
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by N1VTO on November 3, 2009
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For christmas one year when I was 13 I got a radio shack handheld cb radio. We lived at the base of a large hill and from our house I couldnt hear anything. My father sugested I walk up to the top of the hill and try. So I treked the mile or so up the hill in the freezing Maine winter, pulled out the telescoping antenna and turned on the rig. Walla! I could hear all kinds of people talking and was able to make contacts a town or 2 away.
I was hooked, every night I would hike up there and talk to all my new friends. I met some great people on the cb. A bunch of them felt bad for me standing out in the cold and took up a collection to help get me a base. Eventually, with there help and money I saved from doing odd jobs like shovleing snow, I was able to get money saved and purchased a radio shack Navajo base and solarcon A99 base antenna.
A year or two went by and the sunsport cycle began to peak and suddenly I was talking to people all over the country. This really got me excited. I had heard this was routine on some of the ham bands so I began to study for my ticket.
Got my tech no code and got on two meters while I studied the code. I even got a little 10 meter htx 100 mobile rig from my grandfather who was a ham. I planned to use it with my A99, but failed the code test twice. Never was able to get the hang of it and so I lost interest.
After high school I started working, dating ect and eventually moved to california. Meanwhile my licence expired. One day I was going through a box of old stuff and I came across my old 2m rig and my sk grandfathers 10m rig. I decided right then and there to get that 10 meter rig on the air. I was delighted to discover the code requiremnet was gone and am now a general. Got my original call back as a vanity and am on the air today.
Its funny, after all these years I still have the same excitement when someone answers my cq as I did that freezing cold night when I was a kid with a handheld cb standing in a snow covered field talking to another kid 15 miles away.
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by N4ZAW on November 5, 2009
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For me, it was growing up in the 60's watching my father repair old radios & tv sets in his shack. He had a "day job" as a machinist for Florida Power & light, but he loved to "tinker" with electronics. Even tho he could "fix anything but a broken heart, but would still try to", He never went beyond CB (KKP-0907 was his call). He was a pioneer member of the R.E.A.C.T. group in the Dade county,Fl area. He did see my simular interest in "tinkering", so when I was 13, He gave me an old National NC-60 he got working. Since then, the RF addiction has waxed n waned, but has never died.
SWL to KAFG-9830 to N4ZAW... Tomorrow, who knows?
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by KE7WNB on November 5, 2009
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While I only got my License last October. The radio bug bit me early and I had various sets of walkie talkies when I was a kid including a nice set of single channel Sears radios. There was also a ham that lived a block away with a tower and antenna in his yard, and I checked out his station at least once (I had a paper route and he was a customer). I never heard him operate and never thought to ask him to elmer me. I think I considered radio an adult thing. This was in 1972 or thereabouts.
Unfortunately he moved away so my entry into the amateur radio world was delayed until years later when I started to listen to SW and monitor 2m for "live" traffic reports during the 1990's. I was ready to take the tech plus license but a layoff and resulting job change and relocation put me off from getting my ham license at that time. Another roadblock for me is that I don't consider myself a talkative person so I had to convince myself that setting up a station would be a waste of money. But I've found I like digital modes like PSK31 and RTTY.
While I don't agree with the no-code licenses of today, I took advantage of the change to get an Extra license (an easy test if you're an engineering major). I also recently acquired my first set of paddles and can send/receive code at 5-10WPM.
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by W5HTW on November 8, 2009
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<<< by K4IQT on October 24, 2009 Mail this to a friend!
When I was three years old, we bought a Zenith "Long Distance" AM/SW table radio. From the start I enjoyed listening to the 31, 40, and 49 meter bands, and after we got our first TV in 1953 the Zenith became mine. Dad taught me Morse code using his old Navy signal lamp card, and it was a quick entry to understanding some of the Cw I heard, albeit with no BFO (shhh-sh-shhh-sh shhh-shhh-sh-shhh).
In 1959 a good friend and I decided to get our tickets, bought a couple of cheap keys and buzzers from the local radio parts store, and our first Elmer was our high school radio club advisor, Bill Pedigo (SK), K8NXD. I got KN8ZBI in 1960 and my best buddy Nick White (SK) became KN8BAB shortly thereafter.
My first rig was a good old 6L6 Colpitts oscillator on 7.187 MHz, and my first local QSO's were made using that and the old Zenith receiver. By 1961 we had both got our General tickets, and I had picked up a BC-455 and BC-459 from Fair Radio Sales, and in 1962 an old Canadian-built lend-lease Russian tank transceiver, the famous Wireless Set #19. At the time these cost next to nothing, which is all I had! All, including the Zenith, eventually became parts of later homebrew projects, but I now wish I had kept them intact. They would be worth their weight in Elecraft K3's today!>>>
My first interest in radio was not in amateur radio but in marime radio. I knew nothing about it, but a friend and I would pretend (we were around 11 years old) that our homes were boats. we could call on the phone and use "over" and what we thought might be ship lingo.
But earlier, at 8 years old, I had been curious about a wide-spaced tower down the street and had asked my father what it was. He said "ham radio" and that satified me. I didn't know what it was, but I at least had an answer. I went on to go play coboys.
By eleven, though, I was experimenting with the phonograph oscillator, fascinated that it could be picked up on nearby radios. I got into trouble, as it was my father's and I was not to touch. I also got shocked often.
by the early 1950s I was tuning around on the big floor model BC/SW radio in my aunt's living room, hearing hams but not knowing what they were. I also was hearing marine communications, and I loved it. And I was hearing the 'thump thump' of what was Morse code. How in the world did anyone understand that? I copied the thumps onto paper and used my Boy Scout handbook to decode them. That didn't work. All thumps, no letters.
Next it was a table model Crosley. I spent many hours listening to short wave on that radio. Some of it hams, probably on 160 meters, much of it broadcast, some of it marine.
That was in 1953. In 1955 the Spanish teacher asked a boy in the class ie he used Spanish when he spoke to hams in Mexico. His answer was 'some.' But that he was a ham impressed me. I got to know him, and we became very good friends. He led me toward getting my ham ticket.
I had no idea how. So I bought a book in a book store. It was the 1956 ARRL Handbook. It was way over my head. I was sitting at a bus stop when a man saw me and asked "are you a ham?" I said no. He became my Elmer, taught me the Morse code, administered the Novice, and later the Technician tests to me. I had a ham ticket. I was 16.
My call signs were KN5JSG and K4JSG. K4JSG has been re-issued at least twice since I held it!
My father, in his great knowledge, bought for me a Sears cheapie version of the Zenith Transoceanic. He had no idea it did not copy CW! I read in Pop Tronics about putting an AM radio on the same table and beating against the IF to form a beat note. Dee Stone, a high school friend, and W4HTW (My current call honors him) loaned me his homebrew 40 meter transmitter - yep, the 6AG7/6L6, and two crystals. I was on the air, and with that rig worked eleven states.
Dee moved away and I had to give him back his transmitter. So I built one nearly identical, except mine used link coupling, which I tuned with a wooden pencil. I did keep the crystals, though, and continued on 40 meters for a few more months.
Again we share history. I tore apart the transmitter, went to the Army/Navy Surplus Store (Aurora Colorado) and bought a couple of new-surplus ARC5s one for 40 one for 80. I went to a ham store in downtown Denver, and because I was working after school, they financed me! I bought a brand new Hallicrafter S85 receiver! Wow! Five bucks a week!
scrounged parts and built a single power supply for the two transmitters, and I was now on both 40 and 80 with an end fed wire for transmitting, and a short wire strung around my windows for receiving.
It all started with 'pretend' radio. Then the most basic of basics.
53 years later I am still on the key, though not as often as I once was.
Ed
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by KB7AIL on November 12, 2009
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I've always enjoyed radio. I was quite sick when I was 6-7 years old and had to spend my time resting in bed. My father put the family radio in my bedroom and I could tune the knobs from bed. Since I was not attending school (I did lessons that were sent home to me), it didn't matter when I got to sleep or how late I slept in the morning. So, I would stay awake until 3 AM or so tuning around to see what I could get. I would wake up at about 10 AM. This was about 1964.
The neighborhood electronics man, Leo Zaborsky AKA "Mr. Z" didn't mind having kids drop by when he worked on stuff. TVs back then seemed to need shop repairs about once a year and Mr. Z fixed all of them. Mr. Z gave me my first 'real' radio- a Hallicrafters S-38C. My dad helped me string a longwire antenna on top of the house and I could really hear things with that set.
I made a few abortive tries to get a ham ticket but finally did so in 1987. I had a TS-120 which was a good rig for a Novice (or any level for that matter) but the fun exploded with Novice enhancement. I bought a 3AT. The 220 scene was really jumping in the Seattle area with two repeaters which cover all of Western Washington and about six active neighborhood repeaters. Autopatches and all. An easy test for a Tech Plus ticket and 2 meters followed. I got into packet which was another active mode in Washington and BC for a few years. Periods of inactivity followed until No-Code General came around. I got one of those, a new IC-746 and an antenna and I was on 20 and chasing DX. This was about 1997.
I still enjoy radio even though SWL has mostly been supplanted with Internet stations. Medium Wave still is fun and I find PSK31 to be a gas. Hamming is a big hobby and many things can be done. Next thing is lightweight nature hamming. I have the stuff and am getting busy on it.
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by W0ILC on November 20, 2009
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When I was a kid in Southern California we used to visit with my uncle and aunt on the other side of town. Uncle Al was a ham (W6QUK, SK) and took my brother and me out to his ham shack frequently. I loved the look and the smell of that Collins S-Line gear!
I was interested in learning how to do that stuff for myself, so Al gave me a code practice oscillator, an old ARRL Handbook, and a Novice study guide. I worked endlessly to learn the code and the theory, and finally when I was 14 I took the plunge and took the Novice test. I was granted WN6MGH in 1970.
In high school I met a couple other hams (WB6NYB and WB6CCA) in the ham radio club, and I kept studying. In 1971 I took both my General and Advanced class exams on the same day and passed both, becoming WB6MGH. 6 months later I took my Amateur Extra exam and passed it.
Man, was I in heaven. From 9th grade on I would come home from school, fire up the Johnson Viking Ranger and the RME Electrovoice and start working CW. When I went on to college ham radio started to take a back seat to other interests, and by the time I graduated with my electrical engineering degree I had pretty well stopped operating.
I kept my license current, and even changed callsign twice. First to AA6GF, then most recently to W0ILC. Now, 30 years after I was last active, I'm getting back into ham radio. I've picked up some older ham gear and am starting to get some antennas up again. Talk about feeling out of place - if someone had told me that I'd be able to own a single small, lightweight radio that operated on all ham bands from 160 meters to 70 cm I'd of told them they were crazy. But I spent last night playing around with my FT-817ND. WOW!
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