[SCCC] A small 50th anniversary observance
Wayne Overbeck
overbeck6 at yahoo.com
Mon Mar 5 08:13:26 EST 2007
This Tuesday (March 6) is my 50th
anniversary as a radio amateur.
I made my very first QSO on March
6, 1957--the day my license came
in the mail.
If you have a chance, please get on
the air Tuesday evening and say hello.
I'll be on 144200 (+/- if needed) at
0330 UTC (7:30 p.m. PST) and will
try 15 (21207) and 75 (3731) at 0500
and 0515 (9 and 9:15 p.m.), respectively.
I will be operating from the SAME
ROOM in the same house in Manhattan
Beach where I made my first QSO. I
inherited that house about 15 years ago
and my longtime tenant moved out last
month, making possible this sentimental
journey back to where I started.
When I was putting up antennas there, a
neighbor who was the kid next door 50
years ago came over and demanded to
know what I was doing. His family
didn't like living next door to a
ham radio operator then, and he
certainly doesn't want to live next
to one now! I assured him that my
antennas would soon be gone and the
house would again be a rental. He'd
much rather live next door to a renter
than to a ham radio operator!
I know a lot of people who got into
amateur radio as teen-agers are marking
their 50th anniversaries as radio
amateurs these days. Others are making
it a point to ignore these milestones.
But who can forget their first QSO? My
"first time" was about 6:30 p.m. on
that day 50 years ago, when KN9DDQ in
Batchtown, IL answered my call on 21207
kc--the only crystal frequency I had on
15 meters. (Later I saved up for another
crystal so I could be lower in the band,
where more of the activity was.) When I
sent KN9DDQ his RST, my name and QTH, my
JT-38 key was soaked from perspiration.
So was I. Isn't everyone nervous the
first time?
Tuesday night I'll get on 21207 again,
and also 3731 (my 80-meter novice
frequency --I still have that crystal).
Now those onetime novice frequencies
are in the phone band. Ironically, I
never made a contact on VHF as a novice,
but I've spent most of my operating time
on the VHF+ bands since the 1960s.
I hope to see you on two, 15 or 75 Tuesday
night. I'm sorry to say I won't be running
my Heathkit DX-35. I sold it 49 years ago.
73,
Wayne Overbeck, N6NB
Ex-KN6YNB, K6YNB
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