 My First Rig |
 My Second Rig |
 My Third Rig | |
 My Dad |
 Beer Can Beam |
 My Fourth Rig | |
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My awareness of and beginning in ham radio started in May of 1954 when I was visiting with the superintendent of school in Mobeetie, Texas where I was reared. He asked me if I wanted to ride up to the football field with him. He turned his mobile radio on and talked to someone and I was hooked. I immediately started studying the code and books to get my ticket. I got my novice ticket in June, 1954 and my conditional in January, 1955. I got my advanced and extra in 1985. I have been active on the bands every since getting my first ticket. After being graduated from High School, I did not elect to go directly into the electronic field but guess you could say I did in a round about way. I went to college and majored in chemistry with minors in math and physics, but I stayed very active on the ham bands. I did not start out with the spark and gap but was not too far behind it. After working 32 years for an oil company I retired early so I could enjoy more of the hobby. I have been a VE for several years and helped other people become aware of what ham radio offers. I believe that amateur radio is the best hobby that anyone could have. There are so many different areas that one can use with ham radio that it is a never ending challenge. I personally like the CW mode the best that I have used and I have used a number of different ways of communicating with people around the World. I could write a pretty good size book about my experiences in the last 48+ years. |
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As I have stated earlier CW is my favoite mode of communicating with others. I am not a real fast speedster like lot that I talk to but I use this mode as a means of relaxing. I guess since I learned the code when I was young was a big advantage to me. It was like learning a new lanuage but in the time of science fiction and secret codes that young people thought was so exciting. And living in a small town and the TV reception was poor to none it was a means of meeting people from around the world and one could gather information about how others lived. As you can see from my first rig which by the way was loaned to me by my 'elmer' it did not take much equipment to work the world on CW where if I had done it using phone it would have required much more elaborate rig. . |
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My mobile CW opeations goes back to the early 80s. I never really liked talking on a mic and driving 25 miles each way to work I wanted some means of talking with 'fellow' hams. So I found that CW was the answer. I can remember several of the QSOs that I have had over the 20+ years. Guess the longest one was with KA1MKJ that lasted 5 hours when I was driving to Del Rio, TX from my home QTH. I have several DX contacts also. |  |
