Re: [IRCA] Sort of On-Topic radio announcement...

["Dennis Gibson" <wb6tnb@xxxxxxx>]

Congratulations! When I was in junior high school (I think they're called 
middle schools now) I was fortunate in that one of the teachers was a ham 
and taught a ham radio class with the intent of preparing students for 
getting a ham radio license. The school district  let him to put up some 
antennas (a cubical quad for 10/15/20 meters and a dipole for 40/75 meters). 
He'd have QSO's and sometimes a student got to talk to the ham on the other 
end. I took the class in 1969; I was 13 years old.

I learned the theory but had a horrible time with the morse code. I almost 
gave up but all of a sudden one day the morse code clicked and I had no 
further problems with it. In the summer of 1969 I took the Novice Class 
license test and was rewarded with the call letters WN6JCL. My Dad helped me 
put together a modest station. Back then the maximum output power allowed 
was 75 watts and the transmitter had to be crystal controlled. He helped me 
put up a 40 meter dipole, which also worked on 15 meters. My first QSO was 
on 40 meters at night with a ham only about five miles away; it was just a 
coincidence that he was so close. He said if I wanted his QSL card I would 
have to come over and pick it up in person, which I did the next day. I rode 
my bicycle.

I'm 53 years old but have never forgotten the thrill of my first QSO. My 
first DX QSO was on 15 meters with a ham in New Zealand. I told him he was 
my first and he included a New Zealand penny with his QSL card.

I will probably never own a house so after leaving for college I've mostly 
had to get by with no HF. I still enjoy VHF and UHF and help the local club 
with two way communications for some events; most are for a charity.

Welcome to the world of ham radio. It's changed a lot but there's still lots 
of fun to be had.

73

----- Original Message ----- 
Date: Sun, 9 Nov 2008 19:30:15 -0800
From: cafe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [IRCA] Sort of On-Topic radio announcement...
To: cafe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Mailing list for the International Radio Club
of America <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

35 years ago, at the delicate age of 13 or 14, I used to spend a lot of time
at our local library reading up on Electronics, radio, etc.

While there I met a 65 year old retired gentleman who was a Ham
that wintered in Victoria B.C. - We got to talking and would occasionally
run into each other at the library and then go for coffee -
We would talk about his career in Radio and the Canadian Military - He a
WWII veteran that was stationed at Ucluelet of all places.

At the time I was interested in becoming an Electronics Technician (which I 
did in 1979...)

I promised him that I would become an Amateur radio operator one day -
Time passed. He passed on. But I remembered the promise.

Today I wrote one of my exams -- the Canadian version called the "Basic" 
with
privileges above 30Mhz.

I scored over 90% (95% I think...) which gave me honors with HF Privileges.
I hope to do the CW and the Advanced shortly.

Depending on the availability, my call sign will be:
-VA7WWV
-VA7RCI or
-VA7EAT

It's kind of a proud and satisfying moment for me that I thought I would 
share.

Cheers. And 73,

--
Colin Newell - Editor - coffeecrew.com | coffee.bc.ca | DXer.ca
Web-Design / E-Commerce / Writing
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

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