I was first licensed as a ham radio operator in 1966 with the call WN4DJP in Nashville, TN. In 1967 I upgraded to General class. Those were the days when you waited until the examining team from the FCC came to your town to administer the exams.

My elmer was Bill Myers, W4PQP (SK) in Nashville. The Nashville club now has his call sign as a memorial to his efforts in helping many amateur radio operators, such as Chet Atkins ("Mr. Guitar") WA4CZD.

My first rig was the Knight T-60, crystal controlled, 60 watts. My first receiver was the Hammarlund HQ-129X.

 After months of frustrating starts, my first qso was on December 10, 1966 with a student at Vanderbilt University there in Nashville. Even though it wasn't DX, and in the same city where I lived, it was exciting, as only an radio amateur knows about.

My next qso that Saturday was with WN5PKD.

 That Saturday, I made 5 qsos and I was on a high. This was the mid 60's and I as a 15 year old teenager didn't need drugs to get this high!

I continued during that first year as a novice working 80, 40 and 15 meters cw, crystal controlled. June the following year of 1967, I went and took my General exam in Nashville, (back when the FCC came 4 times a year) and passed.

I upgraded my transmitter to a Heathkit DX-100A shown here. Then I obtained a Hallicrafter’s SX101A. These two pieces of equipment can well be called boatanchors because they comprised about 300 pounds of radio.

Next, I traded the DX-100 transmitter for a Heath Apache TX-1 transmitter with the SB-10 sideband adaptor, in order to work single sideband.

 This is my operation for Field Day in the early 70's.

I then sold the Apache in 1973 for money to buy a Heathkit HW-101A transceiver. I put this kit together myself.

In 1978, I sold the HW-101 and purchased a Yaesu FT-101EE transceiver, which I still have.