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I was first intrigued by the amateur radio concept when I was in high
school, around 1992. My friend Thom and I tinkered around with lots of
electronic and computer distractions. He worked at a local electronics
store and picked up one of the No-Code Technician study books, and
it was easy to convince me to study up and take the exam. We both passed our tests easily. I was licensed as N9NTI, and Thom as N9NTK. For years around the west suburbs of Chicago, N9NT's H through N, all from the same test session, roamed the No-code segments. After a few years, I wanted to do more, so I studied the code and passed my 5wpm test with relative ease. My studies in Electrical Engineering at the University of Illinois precluded me from going further at the time. I did have some time for radio at U of I, and enjoyed operating from Synton "Professional Radio Fraternity" club station W9YH. It was here that I was introduced to the "contesting bug," operating a sweepstakes or two ("check 25? Roger, twenty-five") with some good elmering from the more experienced ops. My radio activity had faded somewhat as I proceeded on with school, and the subsequent move to Raleigh, NC. One day, as I was working on some network gear in a lab, a co-worker's cellular phone rang with a CW pattern. I looked over at him and commented quizzically that the CW ring sent "S M S" (I guess Nokia's engineers thought twice about sending distress signals with each incoming phone call). I learned that my co-worker was a ham, and he filled me in on the license restructuring, some of the new digital modes, and the current "state of the art" in IF-DSP rigs. I walked out of a test session a few weeks later as N9NTI/AE, genuinely surprised-- I hadn't really studied for the Extra theory, but I guess those EE classes at Illinois really paid off! I decided to become a "4-lander" and was granted NI4S a short time later. I'm now getting my station back on the air, exploring HF territory more than before, and having a great time. |