Dennis Berry
Cincinnati, OH
I was first licensed in 1966 while in high school in Louisville, KY. My beginning rig was a rock bound HT-40 transmitter, a not so stable SX-99 receiver, some crystals and a dipole antenna with one end about 10 feet off the ground and the other end about 50 feet off the ground. Some set up, eh?
The gentleman that got me started in the hobby was W4BAZ, who is now a silent key now. Since in those days CW was all we could really use as Novices, my code speed became pretty decent. A neighbor of mine at the time, K4DZM (Joe Miller) was an avid CW traffic operator and taught me the finer aspects of handling traffic. I was hooked, CW nets were my thing. Had a ball and still miss that part of the hobby.
Married life changed all that. Apartment living, school, and children to occupy that free time now filled my spare moments rather than by Amateur Radio. But not to loose faith, I kept my equipment, bought some new radios, erected some make shift antenna's to keep involved, got on 2 meters, packet radio, moved a couple of times, and even upgraded to the Extra Class license. I knew that CW traffic handling would pay off someday. It sure made receiving that 20 wpm a bit easier.
So here I am now nearly 34 years later linking about my next phase of this hobby. I wish I had a bigger yard to play around with antennas. Never really had a yard that was conducive to dipole antennas. They were always a fascinating field to me, no pun intended. I have become hooked on QRP, expecially during the last sunspot cycle. It's not quite as enjoyable now with the sunspots being down, but that's what makes this hobby interesting.
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since Feb 17, 2007