Amateur Radio

[braumeister]

Today is World Amateur Radio Day, so it got me wondering how many hams we have here. If you have (or ever had) an amateur radio license, please chime in. Don't list your callsign because it makes you too personally identifiable.

As for me, I got my first license in 1977 (Technician), upgraded to Advanced in 1979, and Extra in 1981. I didn't have any trouble with the electronics or theory, but mastering Morse code at 20 words per minute was rough! Back in those days you had to go to an FCC Field Office to take the tests, and since I was in the military I took the first one in NYC, the second in Atlanta, and the third in Los Angeles.

A really fun hobby and I was very active in it for a long time, but I'm sure it will be declining more and more in the age of the internet.

 

[ls99]

N2xxx. Got Tech license while passing through Anchorage to Cold Bay, Aleutians. IIRC 1974 or 75. Never bothered to go beyond. Do renew it as needed, just for the fun of it. Also have FCC commercial llicense, did exam the same time or another year as pasing through. I suppose I could look up the exact date, but why?
Have not been "on the air" in over 20 years. Have an old ICOM 2 Meter rig in the suburban, occasionally listen to the mail on various repeaters. Used to run the ham radio when was on the RV Vema research ship around 1972, passing info back to and getting it for the scientists on board to Lamont Observatory via a HAM and experimental operator relay on Long Island NY. Usually a few KHZ outside of the US ham bands. Did not have a license then, but on the high seas in international waters none was needed. In various territorial waters the rig along with 3KW amp was locked up. The FCC's long arm did not reach to the Indian Ocean ) or to the Antarctic waters nor to the North Atlantic, where on nice days we had occasional Dory races around the "heaved to" ship. Even the Captain would participate.

Dory: a particular wooden clinker planked flat bottomed boat, no engine oar propulsed, about 20' long we had as life boats. IIRC particular to Nova Scotia.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Was a novice licensee as a kid back in 1972. My dad was an amateur extra and eventually got the two letter call sign.

Built my own receiver from an Allied Radio kit, also had a couple Heathkit rigs. I started with a straight key and moved up to a paddle keyer when I got better at it.

I have fond memories of nights working the "skip" trying to make contact with operators in other countries using low power.

 

[W2R]

Frank has been a ham for over 50 years and got his extra designation ASAP thereafter (also with an FCC examiner, braumeister!). He loves ham radio and says he became an extra when it really meant something. He still spends a great deal of his leisure time fiddling with and/or listening to his radios. He loves just about all aspects of ham radio but he is especially interested in low power and antenna design, as well as CW.

His entire 1600 sf house is his ham shack! Well, with a bed in the back room. He has countless radios, plus a lot of test equipment, spare parts, and so on. You can't even walk through his living room without stepping over or around some "boat anchor" or other, or boxes of old ham radio magazines that he saved through the years. Good thing I don't live there (I think it was brilliant that I bought the house next door to his instead of trying to live together). I don't even go over there; he comes over here.

He's a little disgruntled with the sunspot cycle in recent years but I keep telling him that one morning propagation will return and he needs to just have some faith in the ceaselessly unpredictable nature of the unknown.

 

[boog]

Got Novice license in ‘77. General and Advanced at FCC office in Atlanta in ‘78. Extra around ‘80 after VE testing began. Yes, the 20 wpm code was tough. I never developed a fondness for code. Built several Heathkits and many custom projects. After a few years of HF DXing and contesting, was drawn into VHF, UHF, and satellites. Was consumed with AMSAT in 90’s. Lots of antenna building and tweaking. Interests shifted during late ‘90s to less sedentary activities namely cycling and motorcycling. Sold all ham gear and haven’t been active for > 10 years. I’m keeping license current and do read ham mags from time to time to see what’s going on. I learned a lot as a ham and am grateful for the experience. May get back into it in the future.

 

[Time2]

I lived in the North and did a lot of long distance listening to AM radio stations. When I moved to Florida, 27 years ago, I found that long distance reception was not nearly as good. So I started going to a Ham Radio Club to see if I could learn about antennas. The club was not any real help, but fun, and I got a tech license just because, I have had it ever since, but have never talked on a ham radio. Radio Club is still not meeting because of Covid.

 

[OldShooter]

Got my novice license in about 1963, First Class Radiotelephone license shortly thereafter. Worked in public radio and TV through undergraduate and graduate school, also as an electronic tech several summers in Ft. Churchill on Hudson Bay. Ham activity pretty much stopped after high school. Fast forward about 50 years, I re-upped my General a couple of years ago, then discovered it no longer had full privileges so did the Extra. One wrong answer on the General exam, 100% on the Extra. Chuffed.

Covid activity last year was FT8, WAS on 20/FT8, missing only HI on 40/FT8, and DXCC. I've been playing with a few SSB contests but I will never be a contester really. Current antenna is an OCF wire for HF and a vertical for 2m/70cm. Will probably never upgrade from there. Just bought an SDRPlay RSPdx -- amazing little box with SDRUno software.

 

[jcfradio]

Not exactly a ham here, but an HF listener for the past 50+ years. Have an assortment of boat anchor radios (Hammarlund, Collins), newer ones (Drake, Icom) and a Perseus software defined radio for the modern age. The Perseus is nice to take when I travel and has been used in Austria, Finland, Peru, Argentina and Colombia. I used to monitor the ham bands much more than I do now, however.

 

[Peter]

G3xxx back in the 1960s and 70s. Mostly on 2 meters, all home built equipment, CW and SSB. Biggest thrill was hearing US amateurs via the OSCAR3 satellite in 1965. Also helped a local amateur with his 23cm moonbounce setup. 15 ft dish in a tiny UK back yard! My job was to swap the N-type coax feed from the transmitter to the receiver while the signal was making its round trip.

Lost interest, once RF engineering became my job. Sometimes think of reactivating now that I'm retired.

 

[eytonxav]

Got my license several years ago when I was involved in my Town's CERT program. Took the tech and passed and thought might as well try the general the same day and passed it as well. Never sat for my extra, but maybe one of these days will for the fun of it.

 

[bingybear]

No code technician followed by extra class

 

[Walt34]

I did get a no code Technician license about 30 years or so ago but I did so only to be able to put a TV transmitter on an R/C airplane (with a camera of course) and at the time a Ham license was required to do that. The only way to get a small-enough TV camera and transmitter at the time (that I knew of anyway) was to build them from kits. I was okay with that since I'd built a couple of Ace R/C radio kits and a bunch of the optional paraphernalia they offered. The huge stumbling block and what ultimately killed the project for me was that the total cost of all this was going to be close to $3k, much of that for the laptop computer that I would have no other use for. Much as I would have liked to I just couldn't justify spending that much on it.

Now you can buy the TV camera/transmitter on Amazon for $17 and a video recorder for $80, sometimes less. And no Ham license needed.

 

[braumeister]

Yes, ham radio has changed so much as to be almost unrecognizable to those of us who started long ago. I remember walking through the army surplus stores on Canal Street in Manhattan that were full of WW II military radios that could be modified for the ham bands (big and heavy, referred to as boat anchors). Later, when I got active in it, I found many friends who were using those boat anchors as their primary equipment. Rugged, reliable, and using big vacuum tubes that were already becoming harder to find ("Real radios glow in the dark!")

I had one friend who built his own 2-meter moonbounce rig, the biggest array of beam antennas you ever saw, on top of a 50 foot tower. And that was just one of his antenna towers. Another friend actually had a 40-meter five element beam on top of an 80 foot tower. Just incredible stuff.

 

[JDARNELL]

I got my technician license about a month ago. Idea was to add another hobby for bad weather or winter time. I only have a small HT but use echolink to talk to people around the world. I know I know it uses VOIP for part of the comms path. I will probably get a general license in the fall to open up some more options. For now though got to many things going on.

 

[braumeister]

I got my technician license about a month ago. Idea was to add another hobby for bad weather or winter time. I only have a small HT but use echolink to talk to people around the world. I know I know it uses VOIP for part of the comms path. I will probably get a general license in the fall to open up some more options. For now though got to many things going on.

Don't be down on Echolink -- I think that's one of the best innovations to come along. I have friends who use it very extensively.

 

[Beldar]

I've been licensed since the late '80s. Not much local activity here that interests me anymore, although I am learning the new-fangled digital modes since HF propagation really stinks at the bottom of the current solar cycle.

Lately I've been trying to get the old packet mode working again so I can use the repeater on the space station. It passes overhead nearly every day and I can hear the traffic so I'm up for that challenge. I did talk with the space shuttle when it was active. 73.

_B

 

[JDARNELL]

Don't be down on Echolink -- I think that's one of the best innovations to come along. I have friends who use it very extensively.

Oh I like echolink but I think the purist don’t. I need to get me a windows pc as I use mac and it would make
It easier

 

[Souschef]

I got my Novice license in 1954, now Advanced Class. I used to operate 20 and 40 meter mobile as I had a long commute.
In the early 60's I ran phone patches for servicemen while I was in the Pacific.
I agree, I cannot recognize what ham radio is today. The only thing I use now is 2 meter repeaters.

 

[skyking1]

This is a dandy thread and love all the stories, particularly the dory races!
Not a HAM, but my pilot friend was in the 80's. One day they were relocating a 100'guyed 2 meter repeater tower. Homeowner was selling so they found another nearby property.
Boom truck owner offered the use of a 20 ton National 100+30 to use.
big problem, he was not the operator for his company and thought he could handle it
I showed up as the visibly shaken volunteer crew was strapping it down on the trailer.
I shared that I was a crane operator, and the owner said he was tired of watching the clouds sail by. I took over and we set it at the new location without incident.

 

[stepford]

I did get a no code Technician license about 30 years or so ago ....

Same here. I and my fellow miscreants used CB radios a bunch until just around 30 years ago when dropping the code requirement for the Technician license let us all move over to 2m voice en masse. I still have my 2m handheld and a mobile unit in my truck, but almost never use them nowadays. KC6xxx.

 

[Beststash]

I started listening to SW and Ham bands in the late 60's when I was in HS. Built a Allied Radio SW receiver and had a ham shack in a little feed storage area in the back of our barn. Even built a Oscilloscope from a kit. I had QSL cards from all over the world posted on the walls. Got a Technician license in about '65 and General in about '67. I did CW for a couple of years and when my Mom died a couple of years ago I found a box that had a lot of the old stuff in it. A military headset, telegraph key, and even a little box to practice Morse code. I spent hours in that little room, especially at night because you could really get out in the evenings.

Later I went to FCC location and tried to get a First Class license - at the time they called it "the ticket". I remember that you were required to draw a SuperHet receiver (tube type) on the test and I remember the test seemed "regimented". I got the "Second Class" license but not the "First Class" one. Disappointed. Then during my Senior year of HS I got more interested in girls and didn't pursue it any further. However, my interest in electronics led me to get a EE degree in College and led to working 33 years in the industry. Those were exciting days in the hardware and software world. Everything went from tube to solid-state and look at where we are now.

All of the above is from memory (so might not be exactly correct??) but I do appreciate the influence that Ham Radio had on my life although I haven't participated since I was a kid. I wonder how they have integrated computers in to the hobby. I do know that 10 meter seems to be very popular....last I heard.

 

[rk911]

Today is World Amateur Radio Day, so it got me wondering how many hams we have here. If you have (or ever had) an amateur radio license, please chime in. Don't list your callsign because it makes you too personally identifiable.

As for me, I got my first license in 1977 (Technician), upgraded to Advanced in 1979, and Extra in 1981. I didn't have any trouble with the electronics or theory, but mastering Morse code at 20 words per minute was rough! Back in those days you had to go to an FCC Field Office to take the tests, and since I was in the military I took the first one in NYC, the second in Atlanta, and the third in Los Angeles.

A really fun hobby and I was very active in it for a long time, but I'm sure it will be declining more and more in the age of the internet.

a fascination with short wave listening when i waz in grade school and CB radio later on were first experiences and introductions into what would culminate years later in getting my ham ticket.

my wife and i got our Novice tickets in 1978. in those days the Novice code test was 1-minute of perfect copy. 125-characters were sent in sentence format over 5-minutes. a passing score was copying any 25-characters in a row. our radio club have us the test. we both passed but my wife easily bested me by producing a near perfect exam.

roughly 6-mos later we went to the FCC office in downtown Chicago where we took our written test for the Technician license. we both passed.

i took and passed the General license 13-word per minute code and 50-question written exam about a year later after doing a hundreds of 40-meter (an area of the radio spectrum set aside for amateur radio, in this case 7-MHz), CW (morse code) contacts (speaking with other hams in different parts of the country and around fhe world). my wife received an automatic license upgrade from Tech to General about 20-years ago.

about 10-years ago i studied for and passed (has to take the written test twice) the Amateur Extra exam. by that time the code tests had been eliminated...thankfully. i did that upgrade just to do it.

my primary interest was hunting Special Event Statiions. a club, a single ham or a group of hams will operate a ham station commemorating a person or event and issue paper certificates for comfirmed contacts with that station. these days find me predominantly on local VHF and UHF repeaters while in our cars or motor home. i used to be quite heavily involved with my clubs...holding office, Field Days, producing the newsletter, web sites, etc. these days...not so much.

but i still maintain a complete station at home consisting of an ICOM 737 HF radio, Yaesu FT-8800 U/VHF radio and variousnand sundry receivers and scanners. two HF antennas...a Cushcraft R-5 vertical and a traditional 40-meter dipole plus generic dual-band V/UHF antennas.

i also have a mini-station in our home office consisting of an ICOM 706MKIIg and a scanner.

 

[Beststash]

^^^ Nice!!

 

[Telly]

Original code-required Technician license... 1969? Built most equipment.

Built a 2m linear amp with p-p 6146B's, originally used it on AM.

Bought a used Heathkit 20m SSB transceiver at a Hamfest. Pulled the finals out of it, and used it with a 2m - 20m transverter I built. Among others, the transverter used a couple of RCA Nuvistors in it, remember them from color TVs? Then used the linear I built with that. Used it very little, as my life situation, $, and location were changing rapidly. Never got back to it, but kept license up over all the years. I also soon found that my interest in anything electronic in my spare time was inversely proportional to working in it.

Before that, was a SWL with old ripped out of consoles SW receivers. And AM broadcast band with a 5-tube hot-chassis radio. In winter, could easily tune just below WLS, and pick up WWL on 870 I think it was, "broadcasting from the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans". Sounded exotic to a schoolboy! Also WBAP in Ft. Worth was common. Getting high-power clear-channel AM stations from east or west coast wasn't doable, due to all the clear-channel stations in the midwest on the same frequencies.

I also enjoyed slowly tuning through all the LORAN stations just above the AM broadcast band, into the 160m amateur band. The phase-shifting sounds were great! Over on SW, I picked up some great pointers from Chairman Mao's Little Red Book thanks to Radio Peking

 

[Qs Laptop]

Yes, ham radio has changed so much as to be almost unrecognizable to those of us who started long ago. I remember walking through the army surplus stores on Canal Street in Manhattan that were full of WW II military radios that could be modified for the ham bands (big and heavy, referred to as boat anchors).

Yes, I hardly recognize amateur radio equipment of today. I too, have fond memories of trolling the electronics surplus stores with my dad.

Later, when I got active in it, I found many friends who were using those boat anchors as their primary equipment. Rugged, reliable, and using big vacuum tubes that were already becoming harder to find ("Real radios glow in the dark!")

Here's the receiver that I first learned how to listen to shortwave. The thing was built like a tank. Still worked (or at least still powered up) when I sold it a couple years ago. Let's see if anyone can identify it?