Club Station: W8KYK
Name of
Club: Nocturnal Netwits
Welcome to my WEB Page....
We're going
to try to bring all of you up to date as to how we got into this hobby.
Well, it started back in 1956, when I got my FIRST license, KN8BBE.
I took the test
in February, of that year, and was promised, by my Father, W8KYK, that
I would
go to the BIG radio show in Dayton, The DAYTON HAMVENTION. The
year
before, I wanted to go so bad, I played hooky from school, and hid
in the trunk of
the car, hoping to go. My luck was going good till Dad picked
up George Lightfoot,
W8KH, and opened the trunk. Lots of swearing went on, and the
10 mile trip
back home, shot me down for that year. I did get a letter, from
my Dad, telling me
to get the license, and I would go next year. Old George, would
help me with the
code, whenever he called. George was an Engineer at WHBC, and
would call
to talk to my Mother or Dad, and If I answered, he would whistle CW
to me over
the phone. I also practiced with an old friend, using an old
Regen receiver tuned to
75 Meters.
.
I hooked the receiver antenna to a 75
meter Zepp antenna, and when the
Receiver would oscillate, by adjusting the Regen control, it made a
transmitter.
We were like Marconi, the two of us, calling each other to tell
what stations
were on, and by accident, I adjusted my Regen control, and Terry said
he
got a carrier. Little more fooling around, we found out that
it was my radio.
A few modifications, and we were on CW. Later, we found out by
adding
a carbon mike to the antenna, we can modulate the oscillator...Little
il-legal
even at that time, but it was fun. I also did what every New
ham did, when
there is a transmitter available, and my Dad would not be home for
two days,
I operated his Home Brewed 20-A. Oh ya, I did
get QSL cards, too,
and my Dad always questioned it. He finally caught on, when Harry
Marry,
W8UOS, called me and I worked him thinking all was ok. He told
my Dad
that some Young voice was on SSB, and he didn't think it was him.
My Dad
put a lock on the 20 A and that was that. That was the Good ol
Daze...Hi Hi...
Well I studied the code, drew oscillators,
power supplies, and went over the
regulations, till I was doing it in my sleep, and in February, I sent
in for the Novice
exam, and took it from W8KH, the second Saturday in February.
Those days,
if the FCC didn't notify you in two weeks, you passed, but the wait
was for the
call. Since My Dad would NEVER operate a radio that was bought,
I had to
follow the same way. I built a 60 watt Transmitter, using a 6146
oscillator,
for 40 meters, on 7173. That was my only 40 meter crystal.
My receiver
would be a modified BC-224, and the antenna would be a Zepp, with a
Home brewed Tuner. I had the Transmitter finished by April, but
still no license.
By April 23, Dayton Time, Still no license, but I did go. My
Dad knew I would
be getting it sooner or later, so he made me a tag saying KN8QRX, just
waiting.
Boy, for a Kid the age of 10, ALL the new equipment, and fun,
I fell in love
with a keyer from Halicrafters called the TO keyer. I played
with it for hours
there, then I brought it to my Dad's attention, hoping
something would come from it.
Well, as you already know, it had to be built, so my Dad, knowing W9TO,
got the
circuit, and built the TO keyer, and added a Vibroplex key to the station.
I was
told I had the best fist around.
My license came the first week in May, and
I was finally on the air legally...Hi..
For two months, I worked 40 meters, working everything I can work,
till a
radio store called Wireless Radio, owner Al Albert W8TTJ, went out
of business.
All the Hams were there looking into parts, tubes, and other goodies,
and me looking
for crystals for a new band, 80 meters. Al had a number of crystals
for 80 meters
that would work fine in the Novice band so I bought one for every 10
kc.. At that time,
the Novice frequencies for 80 and 40 were 3700 to 3750, and
7150 to 7200, 75 watts,
crystal controlled. With my purchase, I wanted to make something
All novices wanted,
but didn't have. A VXO to move anywhere in the novice band.
As long as the transmitter
used a crystal, you can swing it plus or minus the operating frequency
to cover the complete band.
I built the unit, and added it to a converted Command Transmitter,
and presto, I was on 80
meters. Now I can work both bands with the same antenna, as long
as I change the coil
in the antenna to 80 Meters.
I had to mention that, because as all New Ham Operators,
was not a real ham operator,
unless he or she GOOFED up, and got an Official Observers notice
of a violation.
Well on a day in September, I was working 40 meters, when a friend
of mine, Mike
Eisenbry, called me and said he just got his license and he wanted
me to be his First contact..
He only had an old Heath kit DX-40, and worked 80 meters, so
since I was finished
with my QSO on 40, I switched co-ax cables to the old Command set and
started to tune
it up. It didn't look right on the meter, but I really didn't
think what it was doing when I was
loading it up. I can remember the QSO as though it was yesterday.
I was on long enough to
send: " WA8FIC DE K8BBE K8BBE...RRR OK OM TNX FER CALL...UR RST
IS
599 CANTON OHIO...NAME IS CHUCK...BK TO YOU...WA8FIC DE K8BBE...SK"
Mike replied on the phone, and that was it. I got FIVE OO tickets
and Two from the FCC,
complaint: working outside the Ham band, Freq, 7440 KC. . .It was not
bad enough I
was outside the band, but I was exactly on a Military TTY station.
My tuning was on
the second harmonic of the crystal. With the 40 meter coil in
the tuner, I was 599...
Boy that one was hard to explain.
.
Me at my Dad's station.
The REAL K8BBE 1951
I bet I put 100,000 miles on this
car riding around the basement
talking to my Dad when he was
10 meters.
Upgrading to General.......
In every hams life, back in the 60"s, to upgrade, one must go to an
FCC examine point
and take a test. To upgrade to General, one MUST pass the sending
and receiving
of one minute solid of CW at 13 words per minute. By this time, I had
worked 36
countries, and worked about all the states three times over on CW,
and lots of six
meter AM and Tone modulated CW too. My Dad had said, a good code
operator
should be able to copy NSS. We had an old military receiver,
that would receive
very low frequencies. I used to tune in NSS on 18 KC to copy
GOOD CW at
about 22 wpm. After a few months of this, I was ready to go for
it. It was getting
close for the Dayton Convention, and we reserved our rooms at the Key
Motel,
just down the street from the ole Builtmore hotel, the hamvention's
first location,
and sent in an application to the FCC to take the test there.
Friday night,
arriving at the hotel, I found the FCC was going to give the test at
a local school
Saturday morning. Nervous, I tried to sleep, hoping all would
be ok, and I would
be able to go home knowing I passed the test. Saturday morning
came, and about
twenty two of us entered into a classroom to start phase one
of our upgrade, passing
the code. The classroom was a typical room, thirty so desks,
and one up front for
the teacher, It was hot that day, so the windows were open.
Across the street,
stood an old fire department, with two trucks . The classroom had one
old clock, I'm
sure you all remember them, that jumped every three minutes till it
reached the hour.
A bell beside it, to tell the students to go to the next class.
A typical class room.
We all filed into the room, where we were greeted by an FCC official,
named
Cotton, setting up an oscillator and speakers for the test.
He didn't say one word to
us while he was setting the equipment up, till he was finished.
He then said in a
sharp voice, "Can everyone hear this". No answer, so it looked
like we're ready
to go. He then said "The test will have a series of six V's.
These will not count.
Start after that.", and the test started. ...-
...- ...- ...- ...-
...- Text message.
We were all nervous, but it started out fine. 45 seconds into
the test, the school
bell rang, and messed up that first minute. trying to compose
myself again, looking
well into the first minute, all was going fine again, till the fire
bell, across the street
went off. DAM....lost again.....we still have three minutes left,
calm down, and go
got it. Another 45 seconds, and the fire trucks started their
engines, sirens going off
all kinds of commotion. I looked around and saw everyone had
stopped receiving,
the code, and knew the FCC official would take this into consideration,
and restart
the test. Well the five minutes were up, I had bits and
pieces of the QSO, nothing
made sense, but maybe I had enough to do it. If not, I thought
too we would have
another chance. The official said in a gruff voice "Pass the
papers to the front of the
class." We all waited, and the results soon came. No one
made it. Re-apply
in ninety days. Someone asked, Please let us try it again.
All the commotion, we
were unable to copy. Old Cotton, a CW operator from the marine
days, said
"If a ship was sinking somewhere in the Atlantic, and it was sending
it's location,
would you, receiving the distress call, lay your pencils down, due
to some interference?"
and walked out of the class room. Needless to say, none of us
were to happy about
that, but he was right. Later on, a few years later, I
had the pleasure to meet Cotton
again at Dayton, under different terms, and mentioned it to him.
We both had a laugh
or so about it. I will have to say, I did have to drive to Detroit,
to do it again, but
I was READY for anything they threw at me. Passed it with flying
colors. I will have
to admit, there was no bells, or sirens this time, only clean CW and
me setting directly
in front of the speaker.