For a variety of reasons, the past week has been a slow one for me, radio-wise. However, I did notice on my calendar this morning that today is the 42nd anniversary of my first ham radio license. Wow! Where has the time gone?
Forty-two years ago, I had finished up my 4-year enlistment as a Navy Radioman and had just started school studying electronics. I had plans to get my ham license, so I began to blow the dust off of my rusty CW fist. Although the Navy trained me in Morse code, I never really had many opportunities to use it. Also, I had never copied code without a typewriter (or “mill” as we called them in the Navy) so I had to learn how to copy CW with pencil and paper.
Once my code was back up to snuff, I contacted a local ham, Bob Rothrock K3MAZ (SK). Years earlier, he restored an old console radio that my grandmother had given me. Bob was the only ham I knew at the time and he graciously administered my Novice exam and helped Elmer me along when I had questions.
After receiving the callsign, WN3YSV, it took several months to put a station together and get on the air. I found a used Heathkit DX-60 transmitter and paired it up with a Realistic DX-60B shortwave receiver I already had. Anxious to get on the air, I quickly threw together a low dipole for 15 meters. I picked 15 meters only because the dipole would fit easily across the backyard.
When I finally got on the air, I nervously called CQ a few times and was answered by K3RDT. I was excited to hear someone calling me and I’m sure my sending reflected my nervousness. I had never had a conversational CW exchange before. As it turns out, Pete was only about a mile away from me. He helped other novices get on the air and seemed happy to be my first contact.
A few days after that shaky QSO, I received my first QSL card. On the card Pete questioned my choice of 15 meters and encouraged me to figure some way to get on 40 meters. Of course, he was right. I eventually rigged up a 40-meter dipole and ran across the roof of the house and across the backyard. Although I made some nice contacts on 15 meters, the 40-meter novice band was where the action was for me. I also became interested in QRP early on. I built a little one-watt transmitter during that time and made a few contacts with it.
After a little over a year of operating, I moved away to start a new job. My ham radio gear got packed away and I focused on my career and raising a family. It would be another 15 years before I got back on the air with my current callsign. Ham radio was definitely better the second time around.
Even after all these years, the thrill has never subsided. This radio stuff is still like magic to me.
73, Craig WB3GCK
WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio 