Topband: Made it! 80 Years a Ham

[Douglas Ruz / CO8DM]

Hey Paul,

Happy 80th anniversary !!!!.

I started with 13 years old this fantastic hobby.

Nice to hear you are still active !!...What an inspiration !!!

73 and take care.

Doug, CO8DM

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "PAUL M ELLIOTT" <paab at valornet.com>
To: <topband at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2017 10:34 AM
Subject: Topband: Made it! 80 Years a Ham


> Made it! 19 January 2017, is the 80th anniversary of my first ham license,
> Class C operating privileges with W5GGV as my call. Was 14 years old at 
> the
> time. A little over a year later I upgraded to Class A.  Many years later
> the Extra Class (with no added privileges) came along. Upgraded. Some 
> years
> later the FCC announced that hams with an Extra Class license who had been
> licensed 25 years could apply for a two -letter call, no place on the
> application to request of a specific call.  Was assigned W5DM.
>
> First rig made from junked Atwater Kent radio parts. First antenna was a
> wire going out a hole in the window screen to a tree.  First DX was VK2SS 
> on
> 40 m CW, September 1937. (An aside. There were no phone privileges on 40 m
> for USA hams). The VK2SS QSL card is hung on my wall. My card to him was
> written on a postcard (Great Depression=no money to buy QSL cards).
>
> Been fairly active over the years, except, of course, for WW II.  If
> interested in WW II, you can do a web search on DD 792 for a small part of
> my history.
>
> The first 20 or 30 years I built my transmitters (all low powered) and
> receivers. Operated CW only until SSB came along. Then I built a low 
> powered
> phasing rig. A BC-348H receiver was made dual conversion using 85 kcs 
> (kcs
> then= kHz now) IF transformers from a BC 453 receiver.   Had a blast 
> working
> the world with a homebuilt "cubical quad" on 20 meters.  Since then mostly
> CW.
>
> I may have made one small contribution to ham radio.  In the April 1958
> issue of QST, in Technical Correspondence there was a letter from me that, 
> I
> think, was the first mention in a ham publication that the formula for
> determining the length of a "cubical quad" antenna was not correct.  Since
> my measurements were made using a BC 348, a grid dip oscillator, and a 100
> kcs crystal oscillator. I don't know whether I was just lucky to get as
> close as I did or did a fairly good job with what I had.
>
> In the early 1990s started out to get 160 m WAS from a 120 x 120 foot
> electrically noisy city lot (SE NM) with a long ( ~3/8 wavelength)  but 
> low
> semi-inverted L antenna.  Ground radials of varying length in one 90 
> degree
> segment. Made 160 m WAS.   Then started chasing DX.  Now have 189 
> countries
> confirmed on 160 m, 324 on all bands.
>
> Age, not surprisingly, has taken its toll.  CW now down to 20-25 wpm-at 
> one
> time it was 35-40 wpm.  Finger dexterity way down-has taken me over 3 
> hours
> to type this email. Physical realities remain physical realities--I am now 
> a
> disabled, crippled old man. But---
>
> No complaints-many people are worse off than I am.
>
> Thanks to all who have had the knowledge and the kindness to help me over
> the years.
>
> 73 Paul W5DM
>
>
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> _________________
> Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband 

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