Ham Radio
In a small, Canadian town in 1957, there weren't a lot of ham operators; none, to be exact. I had the interest from the age of 12; but there was nobody to guide me - no Elmer. So, I didn't consider getting a ham license. I just listened. I had an old AM short-wave radio on which I could receive 20 and 40 meters. That was the extent of my ham radio operations until I was about 23. At that time, I worked on the railroad. I was a telegraph operator and, once a week, the guy who followed me on the job was a ham operator. Of course, when I discovered this, I began bombarding him with questions. He said, "Why don't you get your license?"
That started it. Of course, in 1964, we had no study courses available as we do today. The only thing I could do was to get the ARRL Handbook. It had all the information I needed; but it certainly was not a study-book. For almost a year, I studied this manual. Once a week, I got to ask my Elmer some questions that I had not been able to figure out. Finally, he "insisted" I go and take my test. I guess I was afraid of failure. I didn't think I knew enough about electronics. I knew the morse code. I used it all the time on the railroad; but, it's a different code. Eleven of the letters are different and all the numbers and punctuation are different. Not only that, the railroad has a "clacker" and the radio has a "tone". Quite a different matter. In any case, I was able to handle that problem okay.
We didn't have multiple choice questions. You had to know the stuff. I had to draw, from memory, 8 schematic diagrams: a 3-tube transmitter, an 8-tube receiver, a power supply, and various other items that one would need to build a ham station -- such as key-click filters, etc.
Amazingly, I passed the tests with flying colors. I had over-prepared. That's what my Elmer had said. Anyway, I was on my way.
In Canada, we had to work CW for the first year. You had to keep a log. In one year, you get to go back and take another, more stringent test for your Advanced License. But, the first qualification was to take your log along to prove that you had been working CW for that whole year. That wasn't a problem because I was having a ball working CW. By then, the second test was a snap. I had to draw a schematic for a modulator because I was going to be using voice now. That was fine --no problem. The test was 15 WPM which was pretty slow. I had been working 30 WPM all along. The radio inspector didn't even finish the test when he saw that I was yawning in between words.
I've been enjoying ham radio ever since. I've never been much interested in contests. I worked Field Day my first year and that's it. Mostly I work the maritime mobile nets. I'm quite active on the Baja Net where I have developed many fine friends. So, I'm kinda stuck on 40 meters these days. I have a Kenwood 430 in my motorhome and a G5RV which have served me well for about 8 years now. More about the Baja Net on its own link.
Don't go away until you check out all my ham links.
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