Topband: A Ham for 75 Years

[Mike & Coreen Smith]

Paul,

That was a great writeup !

I thank you.  That was the best thing I read all day.

VE9AA Mike......ham only since 1978 (also, @ age 14).......so, that makes it 
only around 34 yrs for me.
 Not even half yours.  If I make it til 89, I'd like to include a line in 
mine something like:

"I remember when all hams in North America (nay, probably the World) 
actually KNEW how to decipher Morse Code and didn't rely on software to do 
it for them"

dit dit



Mike, Coreen & Corey Smith
699 Rte 616 Keswick Ridge
NB
Canada
E6L 1T1
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Paul Elliott
  To: topband at contesting.com
  Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2012 11:38 AM
  Subject: Topband: A Ham for 75 Years


                                      A Ham for 75 Years



  Seventy five years ago today, 19 January 1937, I was issued a Class C
  Amateur Radio Operator License and my Station License W5GGV by the FCC. At
  the time I was 14 years old and a sophomore in high school in Kingsville,
  TX.  My code test was given by a Class A Operator who worked mainly 160 m
  phone.  I still have in my mind a very clear image of his end fed antenna
  being clipped directly (no blocking capacitor!) on the output tank coil
  (1500 volts)  The antenna exited the room by going thru a one inch hole in 
a
  window screen.



  My first rig, built with parts from defunct Atwater Kent radios, consisted
  of a UX45 tube in a TNT circuit (maybe three or four watts output on 40 m)
  and a 2-tube regenerative receiver.  My antenna, clipped on the output 
tank
  (200 volts), also went out through a hole in a window screen-but I did use 
a
  blocking capacitor.  My key was made from a hacksaw blade.



  I did not get on 160 m until I moved to Hobbs, NM, after retirement in the
  late 1980s (Hobbs was chosen because of my other hobby-glider pilot).
  Trying to work 160 m DX from an electrically noisy 120 x 120 foot city lot
  in SE NM is not for those who are easily discouraged.  I have managed to
  confirm 183 current entities on 160 m and have the credits, cards, and 
LOTW
  for 9-band DXCC and 321 total current countries overall.  I have two 
antenna
  tuners and two transmitting antennas:  one bent piece of wire and one
  slanted piece of wire.



  Some thoughts that tell me that I might be getting an to be an old 160 m 
DX
  chaser:



  1.     I remember that I talked to Civil War veterans when I was a child.

  2.     I remember the Great Depression.

  3.     I remember that every kid who was building a crystal set KNEW that 
he
  couldn't use any old oatmeal carton for his coil form -it had to be a 
Quaker
  Oats carton or his set wouldn't work.

  4.     I remember what happened when I tried to make a galena crystal
  because I didn't have a dime to buy a piece of galena.  The dictionary 
said
  galena was lead sulphite, an ore of lead.  I had access to lead, sulphur,
  and a small gas-fired heater.  Nuff said.  What I got didn't appear to be
  galena-but it worked.

  5.     I remember that, when I became a ham, there were no 60 m, 30 m, 15 
m,
  nor 6 m bands.  There was a 5 m band.  There was no phone on 40 m.  There
  was no SSB nor FM on any band.  There were three classes of  Operator
  License:  A, B, C.

  6.     I remember WW II (The Pacific Ocean is very big).

  7.     I remember that I was the first ham in South Texas to operate SSB 
in
  the 1950s.

  8.     I remember I have had a pilot license over 70 years.

  9.     My CW speed has dropped from 35-40 wpm to 25-30 wpm.

  10. I still log on paper by hand.

  11. The size of any amplifier I have is limited by the weight that my XYL
  can lift.



  Kind and knowledgeable people on this forum have, at times, provided me 
with
  help and information.  To them I express my deepest thanks and 
appreciation.



  Now it is on to the next 75 years (and how I can improve reception on 160 
m
  at my QTH).





  73 Paul W5DM









  _______________________________________________
  UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK


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