Your proudest moment so far..

[KB0LPI]

I thought I'd try to get away from the usual with your best QSO or your best homebrew that worked or QRP DX or other event in amateur radio that made you want to jump up and dance.


I am a newb into HF but caught a CQ for Canada Day from Hawaii last weekend. I was camping in a river valley in central Iowa with a IC-718 and AH-4 with a piece of wire I threw into a tree, running on battery. Cell phone reception wasn't even possible. I could hear the KH6 station with a pile-up and let any VEs I heard through first for CD points.

I called back about 6 times after hearing QRZ. (I had about as much chance as talking to God, but why not?)

When I heard that KH6 call back Kilo Bravo Zero ending in India I just about fell off the back of the picnic table.

I completed the contest exchange, but being out of cell phone range and being able to talk to Hawaii with no antenna other than a 76' chunk of zip cord was still awesome (to me).

I'm sure I'll have moments more glorious than this one, but for now, this one stands out. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Tell me yours... http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[WA9SVD]

Proudest? Hard to say, there have been many, many that have been personally satisfying...CA to Hawaii on 2 Meters; Chicago to Cuba on 6 Meters in the mid 60's; some Civil Defense work in the 60's, providing EMCOMM at a few airshows (actually, no EM was actually needed fortunately, so the COMM was all routine!) Having the unfortunate opportunity to have to call CHiP to report a highway accident.

But proudest?

I guess I'd have to say it was a few months ago, helping a new club member make her first HF contact while I was control operator. No great fete to most of us; downright routine, as it was a stateside contact on 20 Meters. But to a new operator whose only experience was with a 2 Meter H-T: PRICELESS!

[N2RJ]

Proudest?

Plugging in a newly built SoftRock 40 and not having it smoke, and actually having it work like it was intended to.

[KI4ITV]

It would definatley NOT be spotting Pitcairn Is. on the 50mhz. cluster last night. I worked the station on 20m, hihi.
Not sure how it happened but I did it! Caused quite a stir and was even mentioned to the station on the air....arrrgh.
Is there a worlds biggest brain fart thread on here somewhere??

[n3ef]

My first cw QSO, June 16, 2005. Iv'e been operating strictly cw ever since and look forward to making contacts every day. That first one is nerve-racking but when it was over I felt the magic of cw.

Eric N3EF

[AB9OX]

Seeing as how I have just barely skimmed the "learning/listening" surface of amateur radio and haven't actually transmitted on air yet, I would have to say passing the General Exam is mine #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif # It isn't much, but it's a start.

[ky5u]

1. Working the Space Station from my car going 65 MPH on Interstate 10.

2. Contact with the Japanese station on Antartica.

3. QSO with the command center of the British Royal Navy.

4. Contact with Pearl Harbor on Sunday Dec. 7th 2003 at 11:58 AM (Central) in CW.

My point is that every minute you're an Amateur, there's a chance for something exciting to happen!

[WA9SVD]

Quote[/b] (AG4YO @ July 05 2007,06:05)]1. Working the Space Station from my car going 65 MPH on Interstate 10.

2. Contact with the Japanese station on Antartica.

3. QSO with the command center of the British Royal Navy.

4. Contact with Pearl Harbor on Sunday Dec. 7th 2003 at 11:58 AM (Central) in CW.

My point is that every minute you're an Amateur, there's a chance for something exciting to happen!
Right. It will be interesting to see how the thread develops, and what some people consider important and others consider routine.
I missed a contact with the LAST shuttle SAREX mission when they told me to stand by because they were in contact with another station... by the time they were through, they were also GONE. DANG!

It WILL be an interesting thread.

[kn4ds]

I'd have to say working MIR on 2 meter phone, not packet. Somewhat rare as MIR was running mostly packet then, and I'd thought I'd try for a packet contact. I heard voice instead and reconfigured and called, he came back to me.

Dr. Norm Thagard was operating R0MIR and that's only notable because he was the first American to go into space on a Russian rocket.

This was in 1995, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever... 50 watts from a Yaesu FT-2200 into a 1/4 wave ground plane I'd made from an SO-239 and 5 pieces of Romex.

I still have and use the radio and the antenna http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[wg7x]

Many chances to be proud in this hobby.

Personally, I'm fairly proud that I can (usually) resist the urge to fire off stinging replies to some of the posts here on QRZ.

But that is not radio is it?

I guess that my proudest moments come when one of our students comes up to me and thanks me for organizing the upgrade classes that enabled them to go to General class.

73 Gary

[WS2L]

Building a Heath HW9 and when I was finished the darn thing worked and it was dead on frequency.

[WA9SVD]

Quote[/b] (wg7x @ July 05 2007,07:54)]Many chances to be proud in this hobby.

Personally, I'm fairly proud that I can (usually) resist the urge to fire off stinging replies to some of the posts here on QRZ.

But that is not radio is it?

I guess that my proudest moments come when one of our students comes up to me and thanks me for organizing the upgrade classes that enabled them to go to General class.

73 Gary
Good show, Gary. THAT is what Elmering is all about, and should be the true essence of Amateur Radio. It always has been, lets hope it always will!

[K4GUN]

Considering that I've had my General for almost exactly 3 months now, I don't have a lot of experience and the question is easy to answer. It was my first overseas contact. I hit Serbia on my first call into a pileup on 20. To me, that was an amazing feat, especially considering the modest radio and antenna set-up.

As of yet, I have only hit 3 European stations so that first one really stands out. I'm sure that will be routine for me at some point, but for now, that's my "proudest" moment in amateur radio.

[K0CRX]

The day the mailman delivered my Novice ticket in July of 1960. What a day!!!

[K7KBN]

1. Receiving JY1s (the late King Hussein of Jordan) QSL. Hand delivered by a member of the Jordanian Consulate! WITH His Majesty's complements and all that!

2. Working /MM on USS Kitty Hawk in the mid-60s. I had replaced the tubes in our 75S-3 and had it just sitting in the lower end of 20 CW while I worked on replacing the function switch on the 32S-1. We were on our way back to San Diego from a six-month deployment to Yankee Station, and were within minutes of crossing 160 degrees east, which was where we could start running phone patches.

As I was getting the new switch attached to the front panel, I heard a station tuning for a few seconds, then calling CQ...de ZD9BE. Tristan da Cunha, South Atlantic, a solid S8 signal! I backed down the RF gain, figuring that the whole world would be calling him...but nobody did. He started repeating the CQ as I plugged the transmitter in and turned it on. Nothing burned or popped. I called the bridge and asked the Navigator if we had crossed the 160th yet. He said that if we hadn't, we were within visual range of it and gave permission to bring up the station under limited power (leave the 30L-1 off for now).

I tuned, called him, and he came back, giving me a 599! He said he'd been calling CQs for weeks and I was only the third QSO he'd been able to make. His antenna was literally lying on the ground there on Tristan (lack of trees?). My antenna was a top fed 16-foot vertical. Not the best, but it was all we could manage. A nearly antipodal contact with 100 watts INPUT and an iffy antenna (though admittedly one with a great ground plane).

[AG3Y]

Several years ago, I participated in an Air/Sea rescue via ham radio. I was involved with a phone patch net on 15 meters when an honest-to-goodness "Mayday" was heard on the frequency.

It turned out that a sailboat was floundering in rough seas in the Caribbean and had lost all means of navigating. The engine was flooded ( literally ! ) and the sail was torn. The boat was in BIG trouble!

Well, after a successful rescue, ( in which the Coast Guard came on frequency and took over the communications ) I told the story to the newspaper, and got a feature writeup including a picture of me at my station. That was when I owned a complete Collins setup with a teletype included in the mix. It was quite an impressive photo! And a great day for Amateur Radio !

73, Jim

[N8GAV]

Other then the day my children and grandson were born oh yea the day I got in holly "Headlock" I would say building a HW101 and SB220 with out burning down or blowing down my parents house. Wish I still had that 101.......

[KE7NMS]

My proudest radio moment so far was recently replaced.

It used to be getting my General.

Now it's making a HF contact via a Internet Controlled HF Rig.

I am sure that one will get replaced soon also.

Outside of radio? .. Hearing my dad say he was proud of me. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[kc8qdo]

making my first contact on 10 meters.... that was over sea. Was about bust a move:p

[KI4ODO]

Quote[/b] (AG4YO @ July 05 2007,06:05)]1. Working the Space Station from my car going 65 MPH on Interstate 10.

2. Contact with the Japanese station on Antartica.

3. QSO with the command center of the British Royal Navy.

4. Contact with Pearl Harbor on Sunday Dec. 7th 2003 at 11:58 AM (Central) in CW.

My point is that every minute you're an Amateur, there's a chance for something exciting to happen!
You got that right! My first weekend on HF I talked to a special events station on the USS New Jersey, pretty cool when you are new to HF. Last week I worked a maritime mobile sailing accross the Pacific, very cool. My first DX contact on CW was an Italian station. Working tiny islands in the south Pacific. Seems like every week there is something new and cool that happens on HF.

Outside of radio, the day I earned my black belt, the days I harvested my first deer, and my first deer with a bow and arrow. And the first time I cut the lawn of what my wife and I consider our dream home. May sound silly, but that's just me.

[ky5u]

Like a couple of you, getting my ticket was a proudest moment. Especially doing all elements in one sitting.


http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i139/ag4yo/qrzpost.jpg

[wa4brl]

Passing my 5wpm code test in front of my Elmers, receiving my own Novice license and callsign, making that first scary CW contact, getting to 28wpm on the Novice bands, upgrading to General, then Advanced, then Extra, etc., etc. #There are so many proud moments in my Amateur Radio "career", but there's one incident that makes me almost burst with pride. #

In the mid 1970's I taught my first Novice class. #Nervous as I was my first time trying to teach, I made it through - and so did the students. #All fourteen passed their code tests. #They took the written exams (which I was not allowed to see or review) and I sent the packets to Getteysburg. #Eight or ten weeks later I started getting the phone calls. #"I got my license!!!", "I got my license!!!", "I got my license!!!", was the message, repeated fourteen times. #I simply can't describe the pride I felt from helping my students achieve their licenses. #I've taught many Novice, Technician, and upgrade classes over the years, but the results of that first one always rise to the top for me.

[M3GID]

Quote[/b] (AG4YO @ July 05 2007,18:31)]Like a couple of you, getting my ticket was a proudest moment. Especially doing all elements in one sitting.
Hey that was really good, congratulations!

Certainly one of my proudest moments was watching my 8 and a half year old son pass his Foundation Exams for his first amateur licence, and to round off the perfect day, his mother sat and passed hers too, just to keep him company! Now we're all licensed, ain't that something?

73 y'all
de Geoff
M0GID

[N2RJ]

Quote[/b] (AG4YO @ July 05 2007,12:31)]Like a couple of you, getting my ticket was a proudest moment. Especially doing all elements in one sitting.


http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i139/ag4yo/qrzpost.jpg
Yeah, been there done that as well. All elements in one sitting in 2001. Not only that, but my code pass was based on 25 characters in a row of PERFECT copy.

I was also the first person in Trinidad to upgrade from 9Z (0wpm) to 9Y (13wpm).

I was the only one for a while, but some people did it later on.

[WA2ZDY]

http://www.wa2zdy.com/extra_certfcate_2.jpg

[KC2RPP]

My proudest moment was finally figuring out how to use Echolink :P

[WA9SVD]

Quote[/b] (AG3Y @ July 05 2007,09:56)]Several years ago, I participated in an Air/Sea rescue via ham radio. I was involved with a phone patch net on 15 meters when an honest-to-goodness "Mayday" was heard on the frequency.

It turned out that a sailboat was floundering in rough seas in the Caribbean and had lost all means of navigating. The engine was flooded ( literally ! ) and the sail was torn. The boat was in BIG trouble!

Well, after a successful rescue, ( in which the Coast Guard came on frequency and took over the communications ) I told the story to the newspaper, and got a feature writeup including a picture of me at my station. That was when I owned a complete Collins setup with a teletype included in the mix. It was quite an impressive photo! And a great day for Amateur Radio !

73, Jim
Now THAT is a great example of justified pride vs. personal satisfaction. Good work! That's what Amateur Radio is all about!

[VO1GXG]

So far just getting my license has made me jump for joy ! . wish i could get on HF stupid prices . http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[ky5u]

Quote[/b] (KC2RPP @ July 05 2007,14:17)]My proudest moment was finally figuring out how to use Echolink :P

Now that you mastered Echolink, you need to work on how to use emoticons correctly.

[KI4POT]

I'm pretty new to this hobby, but I'd have to say my proudest moment so far was when I made my first HF contact using a homebrew wire dipole at my Inlaws' home. I can't take any credit for the contact itself since the other guy is known for having a big station and great antenna (I'm a QRPer), but he heard me and confirmed the contact.

Chris

[ai4ep]

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif my first C W contact .

the magic of radio still amazes me when I just think of how it is working. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[w5alt]

Probably my first QSO with my Dad (K5PEV, now SK) back in 1970 on the 40m Novice band. I don't think I've felt much prouder than when he said I had a good fist.

73,
Walt, W5ALT

[wa4brl]

Quote[/b] (w5alt @ July 06 2007,22:17)]Probably my first QSO with my Dad (K5PEV, now SK) back in 1970 on the 40m Novice band. I don't think I've felt much prouder than when he said I had a good fist.

73,
Walt, W5ALT
Now that's the tops!

[KA2P]

There's been many firsts in the short time I've been active, but the three that stick out most in my mind:

#3. Contacting California (where I got my Tech+ as a teenager) from NY. My wife said I had the biggest smile she'd ever seen.
#2. First DX bagged in a pileup using split on 40 CW with my K2. I woke my daughter up with my whooping. You'd think I'd won the lottery.
#1. Having my son ask to listen to "beeping" before bed.

[KI4WEJ]

#1 Having my brother slam my jump wings into my chest upon graduating jump school at Ft. Benning, GA!

#2 Successfully passing my General exam today, 07/07/07!

[ky5u]

Quote[/b] (KI4WEJ @ July 07 2007,11:11)]#1 Having my brother slam my jump wings into my chest upon graduating jump school at Ft. Benning, GA!

#2 Successfully passing my General exam today, 07/07/07!
Uber Cool! Congratulations!

[KC9JIQ]

Quote[/b] (WA2ZDY @ July 05 2007,14:16)]http://www.wa2zdy.com/extra_certfcate_2.jpg
I wished the new license were like that! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[WA9SVD]

Quote[/b] (KI4WEJ @ July 07 2007,11:11)]#1 Having my brother slam my jump wings into my chest upon graduating jump school at Ft. Benning, GA!

#2 Successfully passing my General exam today, 07/07/07!
Congratulations. Hope it wasn't all due to lucky 7's.
Enjoy your new privileges.

[WA9SVD]

Quote[/b] (WA2ZDY @ July 05 2007,14:16)]http://www.wa2zdy.com/extra_certfcate_2.jpg
Well, DANG. When I passed MY Extra, all I got was a ULS listing and a stinkin' little piece of paper. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

So much for FCC budget cuts, I guess. Cool certificate. Wish they still did THAT the ol' fashioned way.

[KB1KIX]

So far.....

On air - busting a pileup in Dominican Republic - QRP! from the noise capital of Southern New England.

Off air - field day chair - made a special event call for a friend who was a silent key.

Ranks up there with helping some older or disabled hams in my area get some antennas in trees so they can get back on the air.

To this day, nothing really comes close to helping another ham get back on the air after spending some time away from the radio because they needed minor labor like antennas or cables to be run about.

Jonathan

My best contact or should I say unlikely contact. A ham radio buddy (Norm) and I went out to dinner because he was moving to 6 land.

After dinner we went back to my house and we went down in my basement to look at my home brew 6 meter rig. I turned the rig on and spun the dial a little bit. I told Norm were not going to hear anything because 6 meters is dead right now.

I ran across one SSB signal and I heard a 6 in the callsign.

I said just another 6.

Norm said, wait a minute I think thats a KH6.

I turned my beam west and gave the station a call.

The KH6 station replied "all stations calling standby and the zero station go ahead".

QSL cards were exchanged.

Frank http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[k0dxc]

I'm proud of lots of things that I do. I was really happy when I gave my grandpa a shock(of joy) by telling him I had passed my general.

[N9LCD]

This is BEFORE I got my Technician's license.

11 January 1984, 02:30 ZULU, I was monitoring 5,692 KHZ USB"plane guard" when I heard "1481" a HH-3F helocopter calling Air Station San Diego reporting an apparent landing gear failure and that it was aborting its mission and returning to base.

I monitored for about 10 minutes and San Diego didn't answer. The next 20 minutes were a little hectic:

1 Find area code for San Diego.

2 Call San Diego directory and get phone number for USCG
Air Station.

3 Get through Air Station switchboard into radio room.
(Boy, did that take a heck of a lot of jawing!!!)

4 Tried to explain to a watch stander that their "1481" was
having problems and returning to base early.

Yes, "1481" was out on patrol over the Pacific.
No, it had not called in with any problems.

5 I was about to get "deep sixed" when, in the background,
there it was "1481" calling the Air Station with its
landing gear problem.

6 The watch supervisor goes something like "Gee, you're
right!" and started barking "emergency" instructions.

7 Then he says "Where are you?"

"Chicago."

And rather awe-stricken "And you heard him before
us? What are you running???"

After I tried to explain what an R-390A is, the watch
supervisor goes "Well, it's nice knowing that somebody
out there looks after us."


I still have the D.O.T./U.S.C.G. qsl letter in my file.
Not the fanciest or the most colorful, but at least I
found out that "1481" made it back safely!

PS:

I was running a Motorola-built R-390A with about 140
feet of doorbell wire stapled to the rafters in the attic for
my antenna!!!

JERRY

N9LCD







http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif