Topband: Made it! 80 Years a Ham

[Gene Smar]

Congrats on your achievements, Paul, Amateur and personal.  Here's wishing for many more pleasant years.


73 de
Gene Smar  AD3F



-----Original Message-----
From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Bob Cutter via Topband
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2017 11:11 AM
To: paab at valornet.com; topband at contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: Made it! 80 Years a Ham

 blockquote, div.yahoo_quoted { margin-left: 0 !important; border-left:1px #715FFA solid !important; padding-left:1ex !important; background-color:white !important; } Great story, thank you!
73, Bob KI0G 


Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone


On Thursday, January 19, 2017, 9:48 AM, PAUL M ELLIOTT <paab at valornet.com> wrote:

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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