Monday, December 8, 2008

How Did You Start in Ham Radio ?

In a few words, what
a) people
b) needs
c) interest
d) modes
brought you to ham radio ?

Leave a comment !

73
Scott
KD5NJR

7 comments:

KD5NJR said...

a) people:

As a youth, my Dad (WA5OUF) encouraged me to get a ham ticket. But in those days, the Tech license required 5 wpm CW and I just couldn't get everything loaded in my head at once, the letters, figures, punctuation, Q codes, etc.

Later on, after college, my department's big boss Joe Gorkos (N5TEX) told me about how APRS had come out, how there were linked repeater systems, so on and so forth. And that a test session was a couple weeks away. A few other co-workers went on to be licensed as well.

b) needs

Hey, it's just a hobby. AR isn't the only form of communication available to me...

c) interest

Being a "frustrated astronaut" I like the more technical stuff. And, ham radio used to be the traditional hobby of electrical engineers so, what the heck...

d) modes
amateur satellites, APRS, VHF, Echolink, and more.

73
Scott

Stan(KE5LEP) said...

My brother in law died at age 59 and left me his old icom radio. It sat on the shelf for a few years.

A ham friend in Wichita,Kansas George Ward(K0WZD) was my mentor and first showed me how to use 2M FM. Ron(KB5VDB) was one of the first Tulsa Hams to get me going. Bob(W3CSL) and Virginia(K2QHE) Mitchell are close friends. Don(KE5OMV) and Cat(KE5OMU)Roberts are very important to Shirley(KE5PAQ) and me. Lots of others...(add your name here) It is the people that make it fun.

My interest change from time to time. PSK-31, Ham Radio Deluxe, Echolink, Blogs, 80M, 2M.

WX5LIB said...

I've been tinkering around with scanners and radios since I was a teenager.

My grandfather was an amateur radio operator and also was a radioman in New Guinea with the 5th USAAF in WWII.

I've worked in public safety communications for over a decade and met a few hams in my line of work who encouraged me to get my license.

I've since found that there are several hams that work in emergency management as I do.

My wife is also a licensed amateur operator and we use 2m/70cm as a backup communications when we are away from each other.

As far as modes, I only do 2m/70cm right now but plan to do some HF in the future.

KE5NCP said...

As a child all I wanted to do was play with TV'S and radio's or anything electrical, take them apart and try to put them back together, well, that seldom worked and I got to "taste" electricity a lot. (probably why I am like I am today) When I was in the Army I got to operate a ham radio station under the Mars umbrella at the 999 signal company due to my MOS (thats army talk for profession) using Collins equipment,32S1 xmitter, 75A3 rec, and a 32S-1 linear, making phone patches to the US from Okinawa off a 20 Meter dipole, and that got my interest really peaked. I actually started learning code but after getting out, well, that slid by the wayside. Finally after all these years I thought, here I am almost at retirement, the code is going away, this would be a good thing to do in my later years that would also go with RVing so I started studying and passed my Tech and general in March of 2007. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

ke5omv said...

I had been interested in Ham Radio off and on for nearly 43 years. When I was 13 or 14 I even enrolled in and took a Ham Radio prep class (of sorts). This was around 1965.

Our instructor was of German decent. He had been captured aboard a German submarine (where he was a radioman) in WW II. After the war ended he was given a choice of free transport home to Germany, or a chance for U.S. citizenship. He jumped at the opportunity.

What I remember of the class was:
It was very very hot...summertime...in a small shack with poor ventilation...open windows and doors...a small oscillating fan...and a transmitter bigger than a four-drawer file cabinet with tubes the size of 32 oz. pop bottles, radiating even more heat.

I didn't last. I wimped out. I just couldn't take it. I quit.

Then years later, at work, I received an e-mail from the Mayor's Citizen Corps promoting a ham radio class. I was interested enough to forward the e-mail to my home e-mail address. When I got home that night, Cat (my wife) mentioned the e-mail to me saying, "I think you should do it!"

I did. So did she.

Our reasons were based in logic: It may be beneficial during a disaster or civil emergency. We had no idea that the hobby of Ham Radio would introduce us to such nice folks. Our "friends" base expanded and, in many ways, is the "glue" that holds us to the hobby.

Earl WB5UUW said...

When I was just a little tike I took my Dad's AM tube radio apart including breaking the tubes to see what was inside. Then they got me a crystal set kit for Christmas. I grew up on the farm so we had plenty of room for a wire antenna. I was able to hear the local radio station about 10 miles away. What excitement!

After high school went to school went specializing in electronics. My father also beinging a short term missioner would talk about the ham radios that the missionaries used. I wanted to be able to talk to them. I got my tech license in '77 but never devoted enough time to the code to get my general. Took novice classes from W5DRZ Preacher Ray. He was one of the founders of the Broken Arrow club. I'm lucky to be grandfathered in under the new rules. Now my goal is to get an antenna up so I can get back on HF. I've got a FT107 that I've never put on the air. Started with a Kenwood TS520s I took to Canada one time on a fishing trip. Talked all over the US on 10m with a dipole thrown in the trees with the radio running off of the trolling motor, no ac power. We had a blast.

Dave Ward KE5LNN said...

While in the AirForce stationed at Cannon AFB, Clovis NM 73-78; I met a ham radio man named David Landis, W5WKW. He became my Elmer, helping me prepare for Novice exam. The week before I was to test, I received orders to depart for Oklahoma. Things happened and I didn't get a license until 11/22/06 (Tech) and General on 3/30/07. I built a crystal radio kit when I was about 10 years old, a Christmas gift from my big brother. That sparked my interest. Too bad too soon old, too late schmart.

Dave Ward KE5LNN