[SECC] Club

[Ben Coleman NJ8J]

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Greg Richard wrote:

| 1.  What got you interested in ham Radio?

W4MLE's book 'So You Want To Be A Ham'.  For some reason, I picked it up
in the local library in Metuchen, NJ, the summer before we moved to West
Virginia.  I can't remember why I picked it up (I seem to remember it
being on display in the library), but I was hooked.  After the move to
WV, I bought my own copy at the local Lafeyette and used to spend hours
re-reading it and drooling over the equipment pictures.  As Bill
mentioned, my uncle got me a Radio Shack regenerative SW receiver kit
for Christmas in 1969.  It was followed a couple of years later by a
Heath GR-64 kit given as a Christmas present by my father, which I
eventually sold to Bill, and used the money to buy an HR-10B.  I spent a
lot of time SWLing the ham bands.  It took until my first year of
college to get up the gumption to hunt up someone to give me my Novice
test.  My first callsign WN8TZG arrived in Feb 1995.

| 2.  What is your favorite mode and why?

Depends on my mood.  Since being diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
15 or so years ago, I have times when I just don't feel up to CW.  OTOH,
CW lends itself more to the type of precise operating I enjoy.  I was
heavily into packet back in its heyday (I ran a PBBS back in WV), but I
haven't yet gotten around to setting up for PSK31 and other more modern
digital modes.

| 3. What got you interested in contesting?

A little 'operating event' known as Field Day.  I can't remember when I
first did Field Day, but I enjoyed operating it right off.  It didn't
hurt that the club I belonged to had taken the WV Field day plague
several years in a row (the West Virginia State Amateur Radio Council
has a plaque that's given each year to the club that has the highest
relative standing in Field Day in the state) and thus was motivated to
emphasize the operating aspects of the event.  (I also learned the joys
of coming up with weird phonetics at 3:00AM.  It's surprising how well
'Whiskey Eight Super Pickle' will break a pileup in the early morning
hours of Field Day.)

| 4. What is your favorite contest and why?

November Sweepstakes.  I've never had a 'real' contest station, so I
tend to favor domestic contests.  SS was the first long contest where I
took a stab at putting in full time, and I guess it paid off, as I
placed high enough in the WV LP Phone standings to get a certificate (I
can't remember now whether it was first or second place), despite
operating separates (Heath DX-401 and HR-1680), a mediocre antenna, and
the fact that I was knocked off of the air by a gust of wind taking down
my antennas 3 hours before the end of the contest.


| 5.  What is your current station line up? Rigs, antennas, etc.

TX: Alinco DX-77T
Antennas: An off-center 100' antenna up 30', and an Antron A99 up 30'.

I'm a charter member of the 'Bedsprings Brigade' when it comes to antennas.

| 6. Besides radio, what do you do for fun?

Computers and reading.


| 7.  What do you do for a living?

I'm a software developer and computer generalist with 25 years experience.

| 8.  What improvements do you plan to make to your station before the
CQ WW SSB contest in Oct 2004?

None.


| 9.  How long have you been licensed?

I was licensed first in Feb 1975 (WN8TZG), a 2-year novice which I let
expire.  I got my second novice Dec 31, 1978 (KA8DTD), and have been
continually licensed ever since.

| 10.  What part of the hobby do you like the least?

The hams who consider vociferous argument to be an integral part of the
hobby.  (and who seem to have taken over many of the rec.radio.amateur.*
newsgroups).

Ben
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