KX0U
ex-WB5UDE
Jim Glover in Bellevue, NE USA EN21ae
I've been fascinated with radio and electronics
since I was single-digit years old. The things
electricity can do seemed like magic
to me. The crowning glory of that magic is the
ability of electromagnetic radiation to convey
communication through space. Participating in
that magic is something I've always regarded as
a fantastic privilege.
I'm not sure what to count as the beginning.
- Age 8: Being fascinated
that the music emanating
from my sister's "transistor radio" was coming
from the "big city" about 50 miles away
- Age 10: Buying a very poorly performing
AM clock radio for $1 at a garage sale, and discovering
I could enhance its reception by wrapping the
end of a long wire around the coil on its back
panel
- Age 11: Receiving as a birthday gift a
"50-in-one" electronics lab which allowed me to
make, among other things, a crude AM band
transmitter
- Age 11: Receiving as a Christmas gift a
pair of 100 mW Citizens Band channel 14
walkie-talkies, and finally having legitimate
"two-way" radio to play with
- Age 12: Buying a very good Zenith table radio
for $5 at a garage sale, putting it on my bookshelf
headboard, and, with it, discovering that the
nights brought in AM broadcasts from all over the
United States
- Age 13: Buying a Zenith Trans-Oceanic
portable shortwave BCB receiver for $15 at
a garage sale, and discovering worldwide SWL
- As a teenager, playing with electronics
toys and kits (as my very meager budget
permitted)
- Age 17: After debating about whether it
would be worth it to get a ham license, since
there's a lot of radio/electronics stuff to be
enjoyed without one, realizing that with a ham
license, I'd never, in a lifetime, even begin to
run out of fascinating things to do and learn,
and so, deciding to take that plunge, and
earning a technician license
- Age 18: Upgrading to Advanced
- Age 18: As a member of the amateur radio
club at Louisiana Tech University, getting to
know the pleasure of 100 watts and a tri-bander
beam up about 180 feet, operating the club
station W5HGT
Fast forward through decades of operating off and
on, mostly CW on HF and FM on 2 meters, plus
switching majors from Electrical Engineering to
Computer Science (which I found almost as much
fun as radio, and believed would be a good career
move), working, family life, and so forth.
So here's where things stand now:
- Until moving to EN21ae, I was the manager
and primary NCS for a weekly
"Tech Net" on 2 meter FM, devoted to technical
questions, answers, and discussion, related to
Amateur Radio. I enjoyed this very much. I'm
now enjoying participating in the Bellevue
Amateur Radio Club's excellent Tech Net.
- One of the most rewarding things I've had
the privilege of being involved with as a ham
was when I spent a couple of weeks serving as
the liaison between a group of volunteer hams
and the Red Cross as they worked to relieve
suffering in the aftermath of the record breaking
day of tornadoes in Oklahoma occurring May 3, 1999.
- Playing with digital modes on HF has been
a lot of fun, and has been a useful tool for
coping with the rising ambient noise level. I
really enjoyed Olivia for a while, offering the
ability to ragchew with weak signal conditions,
perfect for making the most of my "LPCA" (Low
Power, Crummy Antenna).
- For the last few years, when I get on HF,
I'm usually enjoying FT8 on 40 - 6 meters.
I'm looking forward to adding 80 when I can
get a better antenna up.
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MORI Tech Net
