Topband: 79th Anniversary of my 1st Ham License

[john]

congrats Paul,   one of the true pioneers of ham radio,,geeezzz I was 
not even born till 1941.
Many years to come :-) 73 john w8wej

On 1/20/2016 6:35 AM, Paul Elliott wrote:
> My first ham license was dated January 19, 1937. I was 14 years old, a
> sophomore in high school in Kingsville, Texas.  Parts from defunct Atwater
> Kent AM receivers (all radios in those days were AM-no FM yet) to build a
> two tube (types 57 and 56) regenerative receiver and a TNT (type 45 tube)
> transmitter-all 40 meters. Key was a broken off piece of hacksaw blade
> mounted on a piece of 1x4 pine board.  The Brandes earphones had external
> connectors with the full plate voltage (about 100 vdc) of the receiver on
> them.  Antenna was a piece of wire going out the window to a tree-highest
> point about 15 feet. The ratio of QSOs to stations called was not very
> great-but it was not zero.
>
> My first ever DX contact was in August 1937 with VK2SS on 40m CW.  A WAG is
> that I probably was running about 5 watts-was using a dial lamp to measure
> (?) input current.  His QSL is in its own special frame hanging on my wall.
>
> QTH for the past 25 years has been a 120x120 foot lot, electrically quite
> noisy, in Hobbs NM.  Two wire transmitting antennas.. An inverted L, about
> 3/8 wavelength on 160m, fed against what radials I could put down. Feedline
> is 100 feet or so of 1" hardline. Using a homebrew tuner in the shack this
> antenna is used on all 9 HF bands. The other is a 60 foot slanted dipole,
> with open wire feedline and its own tuner.  It is used on 40m thru 10m.
> Receiving antennas are two Ewes and a 100 foot wire two feet off the ground
> next to a concrete block fence.  This piece of wire is a surprisingly good
> receiving antenna sometimes.
>
> About 20 years ago I started working on a WAS on 160 m.  After that I
> started chasing DX.  Most of my operation is on CW but will use phone when
> necessary.
>
> Presently have 186 countries confirmed on 160 m, have 325 on160m thru 10m.
>
> Time and life have taken their toll. It used to be CW at 35-40wpm.
> Declining finger dexterity limits me to about 25 wpm while transmitting.
> Time constants in the brain limit receiving to about the same range as
> sending. At higher speeds I can still hear letters clearly-but they don't
> melt together to make words.  Really simple, though-a man goes with what he
> has.
>
> My thanks to those on this forum who have been very kind to me over the
> years.  Your kindness and expertise are not forgotten.
>
> 73  Paul W5DM
>
>   
>
> _________________
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