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1-10 of 46 messages
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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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RE: Hamming It Up, The Early Years
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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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RE: Hamming It Up, The Early Years
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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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RE: I remember it well... said the elephant
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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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Hamming It Up, The Early Years
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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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RE: Hamming It Up, The Early Years
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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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Hamming It Up, The Early Years
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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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