How did you get started?

[ka0sog]

Reading another post, the subject of how people get started in amateur radio came up. #If I am not misintrepreting it was that ops find amateur radio, amateur radio doesn't find ops. How did you find amateur radio?

I'll go first;
1963 Boy Scouts - Morse Code required for First Class Rank. Then I saw a ham set up at a Camporee.
1975 CB - After a brief period I knew there had to be something better than the language my family was hearing come out of the radio.
1975 and a half SWL - Much better than the stuff coming out of the CB
1984 Novice Class - Finished Grad School and had time to take an Adult Education class through the local school district. Been licensed ever since.

[N2RJ]

80's - introduced to SWL by my dad. Heard a lot of stations and the infamous Russian Woodpecker. Also got interested in electronics. Built a crystal radio and a one transistor radio. Read quite a few books, including "Adventures with electronics." Also had a Commodore 64 and learned to program it in BASIC and assembly.

Late 80's - we got CB radios, but I was not a hobby CBer, nor was my dad or mom. We got CBs to use to communicate and call for help if mom's car got a flat, not to shoot skip. Also got a 160 in one electronics kit from Radio Shack and learned about electronics including oscillators and radio.

1990 - entered secondary (high/junior high) school. We were encouraged to join clubs. I was looking for an electronics club. Found the ham radio club instead. I was hooked. Got the R.A.E. manual and began to study. (R.A.E. == City and Guilds of London R.A.E., the british ham exam.)

1990 -1997 - Worked the school club station 9Y4PCS under the control op 9Y4AL's supervision. Studied the R.A.E. but schoolwork and girls took up most of my time. Built some projects too. Also did some SWLing and got some QSL cards. Also got some frequency schedules when I should have gotten QSL cards.

May 1997 - Wrote the R.A.E.

June 1997 - Graduated high school (including A levels).

July 1997 - started working because I needed money for college.

August 1997 - got my results from City and Guilds - R.A.E. passed.

December 1997 - Got my first license 9Z4DS (codeless) because the code test instructor failed to show.

December 1997 - Got my 13WPM code test, passed. Upgraded to 9Y4RAJ.

December, 2000 - Moved to NYC

June 2001 - Got my FCC license. Passed elements 1-4 in one session. Call sign AB2MH.

And that's the story, folks.

[kc2rxo]

I pretty much since I was bon always tinkered with my dads radio. He asked if I wanted to become a Ham I said sure and we went to these 4 week classes. Then took the test and passed.
That simple.

[n4bfd]

My father was a ham, and I really got started building crystal radios and other kits when I was around 8 or so. I listened to him work everything from 80 meters to sats while growing up.

[N8UZE]

My 2nd husband had always wanted to be a ham (he'd had some relative in his past who had been one). One day he came home from the tire store where they had a poster for an upcoming class (the tire shop owner was a ham).

So he said to me "let's do this together". I had no interest in it at the time but it didn't look to be an unreasonable request on his part so I agreed.

Part way through, it got to be quite interesting. About the time I passed my first set of tests (Novice & Tech written & 5wpm), I decided that I wanted to pursue it all the way to Extra.

Although we eventually went our separate ways, I stayed in Amateur Radio as I enjoyed it for it's own sake.

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

[wa4ilh]

I also was first introduced to Morse Code in the boy scouts. Also, my scoutmaster, Dr. Toub, had a Zenith Trans Oceanic receiver which he would bring on camp outs. It was (and still is) a great receiver for SWL. When I was about 15 years old, we got involved with the Civil Defense which had ham radios. They would have code practice every Thursday night at 6:30 PM followed by some theory and then the Union County (NJ) civil defense net on 2 meters (AM of course). I was only about 16 years old but I was operating the 10 meter net during the big east coast black out in 1965 sending and receiving actual emergency traffic into and out of NYC. Pretty heady stuff for a teenager.
Tom WA4ILH

[KN7T]

My dad was a CT in the USN so he already knew morse code - I originally got interested in CB when I was in grade school but my dad told me about "ham radio" and that it was much more interesting than CB. At any rate, did some SWLing and one of my dad's friends was a local area ham who ended up elmering both of us. Finally got licensed in December 1976. After high school, college studies interrupted my ham radio activities but I resumed them shortly after graduation. Been active ever since.

[n3ixq]

I remember it like it was yesterday. I watched a ham set up in our local park when I was kid. He talked to europe on a piece of speaker wire strung between 2 trees, I was amazed and bewildered on how it happened. I spoke to a HAM in Spain for 10 minutes...I was hooked!!

Went to Vo Tech school and studied electronic technology. Teacher taught us HAM classes, we went to Philly for the test. (Big trip to the city for us country kids) Real old school guy walking the desks for an hour. I passed with Novice... Code test was brutal...I sweated out every one of those 5 WPM....

How many years ago was that??? WOW!!!

[af6de]

I woke up one day and found a Collins 75-S under my pillow and my front tooth missing. I knew the Ham Radio Fairy must have been there, so I got licensed http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[VO1GXG]

The magic of internet's !

While looking for information on antique tube radios there was a link to RAC and thats where i found it . Also i was playing around with CB radio due to trucker films http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[kr9d]

I spent my youth with my best friend dipping soldering irons into whatever seem to need re-engineering. He grew up in an amateur radio family. My own father was a former Signal Corps commander during the Korean War.

As a teen I was also in the Civil Air Patrol, and learned radio operation on 26.620 MHz.

For my friend, it became a profession, first as an electronics technician repairing audio equipment, and for the last many decades as an RF engineer for a number of radio stations. A few years after college, we found ourselves in the same city again and I spent many evenings and weekends providing him with assistance as he built, repaired, and maintained broadcast stations. I moved away from that city over 20 years ago, but have never forgotten those pleasant experiences.

My own professional pursuits involved designing communications networks for traffic signal systems. Linear infrastructure was often infeasible, and I designed a lot of wireless systems, ranging from UHF data radio to 31-GHz microwave, and everything in between.

A colleague with whom I teach short courses is an active contester in a club across town from where I live. He and I have traveled together frequently and I've heard many stories of Field Days and contesting trips to local mountain tops. Finally, that pushed me over the edge, and I'll admit that the relaxation of the code requirement played a hand in the timing. That was my mistake--I missed out on a lot because of not wanting to learn code. Of course, now I'm learning it.

Rick "still finding his way" Denney

[k3wrv]

Boy Sprout Radio Merit Badge. When I completed the requirements, K0CKX said, "Why not take the Novice test, you know all you need to know" 1960-61.

Back then, they didn't call it "child abuse" http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif but was an SWL beforehand.

[WA7KKP]

My OM was a ham and a Chief Engineer at a radio station, so I was immersed in it from my toddler days.

My dad W7YZQ was also one of the pioneers in teletype, and I watched him build his TU, and a homebrew P-P 813 amplifier before I was in grade school. That's how I came to LOVE and ADORE homebrewing -- especially good homebrew equipment.

Took me a while to get fired up -- I was a sophomore in HS when I learned code and got my Novice ticket. I had a fairly nice station -- Drake 2-B and Heathkit DX-35, and spent most of my time on or around 21.150, with a beam on the pole in the back yard.

Then I got my First Radiotelephone licence when I was 18, and got into television broadcasting . . . end of story.

Gary WA7KKP

[KI4TMM]

I got started a little differently. We spent 3 years cruising our sailboat in the southern Caribe and South America. Daily we used the Marine HF (which shares many of the same bands) for weather, general communcations, and tracking friends while passagemaking. We also listened to several different hams that provided daily weather. Many cruisers are also hams and use it to communicate as well as marine HF.

Upon returning I sat for my Tech and General early last Feb. with the Venture Crew in Alexandria, VA. Since we will be going out into the pacific in a few years for a round the world sail we decided that the additional radio communcations will be useful and fun. It also provides me opportunity now to stay in touch with our cruising freinds as it is illegal (without special license) to operate marine radio from the shore.

I am a sailor first, so for me the value is not in the contesting but in the contacts and tracking while passagemaking and at anchor in out of the way places.

Bil
KI4TMM
www.sv-makai.com

[W5HTW]

Quote[/b] (WA7KKP @ July 31 2007,13:55)]My OM was a ham and a Chief Engineer at a radio station, so I was immersed in it from my toddler days.

My dad W7YZQ was also one of the pioneers in teletype, and I watched him build his TU, and a homebrew P-P 813 amplifier before I was in grade school. That's how I came to LOVE and ADORE homebrewing -- especially good homebrew equipment.

Took me a while to get fired up -- I was a sophomore in HS when I learned code and got my Novice ticket. I had a fairly nice station -- Drake 2-B and Heathkit DX-35, and spent most of my time on or around 21.150, with a beam on the pole in the back yard.

Then I got my First Radiotelephone licence when I was 18, and got into television broadcasting . . . end of story.

Gary WA7KKP
I was started at 16 in 10th grade. But you said "Drake 2B and DX35." Wouild love to have one of those today!! (with VFO, but also some crystals.)

Did mostly mil surplus the first couple of years I was a ham. Could buy an ARC5 for 4 bucks at the Army Navy store, receivers and transmitters. Built a power supply with cables that could be switched from one ARC 5 station for 80 meters to one for 40. Had planned on making a switch that changed all the voltages but never did. Just unplugged the cable and plugged it into the other set. And undid the antenna, which was just an end fed wire, something the ARC5s loved.

Play with SW listening from during World War II when I was five years old. I didn't know anything about it, but my Mother helped me learn about stations from England during the war. She says, though I do not remember it, that we actually heard a bombing raid outside the station and then the station went off the air.

By the time I was 12 I was cranking around the old Philco model that had short wave bands, and was trying to figure out what all those 'thumps' where - Morse code. Wrote them down as best I could, by writing the dots and dashes. Needless to say I knew nothing. Referred to my Boy Scout handbook and could make no sense of the stuff I had written.

Finally got into ham radio in Spanish class, when the teacher asked one of the students, "Dave, when you talk to Spanish people on your ham radio, do you use Spanish?"

And the ride was on.

Ed

[kj5t]

My parents are hams and so I was around ham radio every since I can remember. My parents aren't active, my dad has a radio in the truck and would go to hamfests but he wasn't really on the air much. I recall going to Field Day as a young kid and thinking that I would have a license someday. Finally in June of 2001 that would become a reality when I passed my Tech exam. After getting on the air, first with an HTX-202, then with a IC-T2H and later a DR-130 I was basically stuck on 2 meter FM. I enjoyed it and was fairly active over the three years checking into local nets and hanging around on 2 meter repeaters and FM. I made an attempt in December of 2003 to get my general, but I went unprepared and failed the exam.

Later in March 2004 I decided to actually read the theory and take the exam. Later in June 2004 I took the code test. YAY! I was on HF and loving it. By Feb. 2005 I had my Extra.

Just now getting back on the air, should have an antenna here tomorrow or Thursday. Switching radios with my dad for right now (he will be putting my IC-718 mobile since it is a smaller radio and I will be using his IC-745.

[KA4DPO]

The first time I actually saw a ham radio was at my friends house. His older brother was a ham and had a Johnson Viking and a Hammarlund receiver. At 13 that was the coolest thing I had ever seen. I started to practice CW and I got a National NC-173 receiver that I listened to almost every night.

A freind of my dads was a ham and helped me a lot, he gave me a set of AMECO code records and a novice study guide. He also gave me my novice test and helped me fix my first transmitter, a 6L6 oscillator after I let the smoke out of it. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Two months after I got my novice (I was 15) my dad bought me a Johnson Adventurer. What a sweet rig that was (wish I still had it). I had a blast with that TX and after some bad signal reports Gordon (my Elmer) showed me how to build a key click filter and I was in business.

By the way Ed, I did have an ARC 5 receiver that covered 40 meters (6-8 MC I think) but never had one of the transmitters. Gordon gave it to me and a power supply with an audio amp for it. It even had a BFO, worked very well. All of that was between 1965 and 66, been hammin ever since and still love it.

[k0ews]

I grew up around it. #My Dad became a ham when I was a kid. #My uncle is a ham, and was since 1940. #Matter of fact, he worked at Collins radio. #My cousin and his kids are hams, and my brother got his ticket about 15 years ago. #So, it was a matter of time for me. #
I was in my mid 30s, taking my first summer "off" from teaching (usually, I had a second job or took classes.) #That summer, however, I was a stay-at-home Dad, and I needed something to challenge me mentally. #I remembered ham radio, and sat down and worked the code every day, and all the subsequent theory. #This was about 3 months after the restructuring in 2000, so there was Tech, General, and Extra. #I studied all summer, and passed my code, Tech, and General on the first try. #Got on the air and used it, and I've been hooked ever since. #It's a great hobby, and hopefully, some day, my kids will want to give it a try. #My youngest one seems very interested in it, even at age 6. #I guess we'll see.

[kq9j]

Went to the local radio station with my dad when I was very young. Saw all the equipment and thought it was really cool.

Got a Sears "base station" that put out 100 mw on channel 14. Talked to a cb operator across town. Thought that was awesome.

Dad knew the cb operator and took me to see him. I talked to a guy in Florida on this completely illegal cb setup and I was hooked.

Then an actual ham moved in next door when I was about 13. Thought that was really cool too. He gave me my novice test and I was licensed when I was 14. Built a Heathkit HW-16.

Two years later I got a job at the broadcast station. Really cool.

Thirty-some years later, I still think it is all really freakin cool. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[kn4ds]

I don't have a story like so many of you guys... this is likely to ramble... so bear with me.

In the mid 70s, I was exposed to ham radio only as something mysterious in the Boy Scout manual, and in Boy's Life. But that was it.

My step-dad's nephew was big time into CB... linears and all that. My step dad played with it some, but CB just struck me as stupid... I was 12 or so at the time... and I always wondered why they couldn't just talk "normal."

Oh, I had the "radio" bug... but CB just didn't get me hooked... I've never actually owned a CB radio.

In southeast Oklahoma, specifically, Ada, ham operators hide out very effectively. I can't honestly say I've ever seen a tower with a ham antenna on it, to this day, in Pontotoc county. That's not to say they're not there... the database suggests there are hams in Ada. And there are a couple of repeaters. But while visiting, I've never actually heard a ham on those repeaters, despite dropping my 4 land call when out there.

I've worked hams on 2 meters in Oklahoma... from north Georgia... thanks to ducting. But not in/near Ada...

The database currently shows one ham with a Fittstown zip code, and only a couple with Stonewall zips.. I grew up at Fittstown, McLish schools, etc...

At any rate, the hams in Pontotoc county are very good at hiding...

So I never did get to pursue it. Oh, I read about hams, and every time there was a hurricane or other disaster, I heard on the news about "ham radio operators in the devastated area say..."

Then life caught up, and I had to deal with surviving for a lot of years. I did that in broadcast radio... because the bug had caught, and never left. I've built stations, fixed stations, programmed stations, managed stations. Broadcast stations.

In 1994, I mentioned to my 2nd wife that I'd always been interested in amateur radio, but never found any operators and didn't know how to go about it. As it happened, her first husband had been in the Air Force, and was deployed in Gulf War I. She'd learned about MARS, and knew about K4GIW (now W4OY)... well, as she put it, "A guy named Otis at the Georgia College Police Department."

I contacted Otis, he recommended the Radio Shack book... so I got it, and I was on my way.

In January, 1995, I took the Technician exam from K4GIW, K4FRM (now K4GK) and one other... I want to say it was W4WXA, Tom, but I can't swear to that, and I don't have the CSCE anymore.

I passed that, and was issued KE4UWL on 1/24/1995. Back then, things weren't posted on the 'net, so I was calling every day to the FCC... because you could operate back then without the paper in hand...

I'll never forget getting off the phone with the nice lady at the FCC who gave me my call, and stepping outside the radio station I was working for at the time and keying up my HTX-202 for the first time and calling...

K4FRM (now K4GK for those of you in the Georgia section, you know Charles... he's hard not to know) was there and congratulated me.

It took me 20 years, but I got there. I was so proud of that. And I still am. I finally got to fulfill a childhood dream.

So that's how I got started... it's rambling, and not the most elegant prose. But you asked... http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[KE4YGS]

I grew up with a neighbors kid who was learning her Novice requirements from her dad who was a long time ham. I knew of it but nothing about it. In High School I went to a few field days with friends who were hams. Really enjoyed that. Girls and cars came first then. That was around '65-'66. A year in Colledge and I was off to the NAVY and ET school.

Had a lot of friends who were RM (Radio Man) who actually got to operate what I fixed. They ran some CW circuits from our shop at the New London Sub Base. My interest was growing.

Exit Navy and into industrial satellite Communications, raising kids, and working for a living kept me busy til the early 90s when I first did my Tech License at the local Jr. Colledge on a weekend. Didn't get a radio until '96 when I had moved into my parents house to take care of my dad. I bought a little 2 meter Radio Shack rig and got on the local repeater. They had code practice every evening at 8 PM so in a month I went to a ham fest and passed my Novice requirement.

Back into industry and traveling the world in Sat Com. While working in Doha, Qatar I met some Air Force guys who were hams wanting to set up a MARS station. I, for free, did all the engineering for them and actually managed to get them on the air under AF auspices. When I came home this past January I passed my General, bought a older Kenwood 930S and stuck up an antenna and the rest is history. I just logged my all time first CW contact today though. WHAT FUN ! I'm hooked. Joined SKCC and soon to be a fist. May be able to pass Extra by the end of the year.

Been a long time coming but after today it is ALL worth it.

Scotty

[KA3IGW]

Built my first crystal set in about 1968. Spent the next half decade DXing AM stations. Got into CB in the mid 1970's and a friend had an SWL receiver which got me hooked on listening to far away lands. Then sat for my Novice exam in 1980 with my flight instructor. Worked my way up through Tech, General, Advanced, and Extra.

Now my wife is a General, and my son and daughter are both Tech's. Radio has been a lifelong love and I still enjoy SWL, AM DXing, etc.

[K0HWY]

I first became interested in radio communications back in the mid 1970s when I used to go to work with my Dad during summer vacation. He worked for a well drilling company that used VHF low band (35.96 Mhz) radios for communication and I was fascinated by the distant signals I could hear when I disabled the "Channel Guard" (CTCSS decode) on the old GE Progress Line two way transceivers.

Later, I became interested in shortwave listening and accumulated a small collection of QSL cards from international broadcasters. So, it was only a next natural step to venture into amateur radio. So, in 1986, while attending classes at a local community college, I met Larry Pierson, WD4CEB. Larry helped me master Morse code and helped me with a bit of electronic theory and within a few months I was a licensed Novice. My interest in the hobby came and went over the years as a result of other priorities but eventually, I upgraded to where I am now.

On a sidenote, a fellow ham who also knew Larry informed me that he had passed away recently (within the past 2 yrs or so). Larry had moved to Montana and I had hoped to be able to work him on HF.

[KE7NMS]

Growing up in Alaska, nearest neighbor being five miles, I built a crystal radio as a kid. Started to listen to shortwave and then got a c64 dumped in my lap with a 300 baud modem. Radio lost it's "glimmer".

Then I moved to the states, and dad got a car with a CB in it. I played around with it a little bit. I was 15 and computers still had more interest. That and the people were rude.

Got my first job around 17 as a system admin for a small company. Both the owners are hams. They had all the gear, but really didn't use it that often. It was still new to me, and I "thought" I knew all I could learn about computers at the time, so I started to look into it. Computers and girls were still primary in my life though.

Then life happened. Had to find a new job, survive day to day, radio went WAY into the background except for my dads old CB gear. That primarly went into storage. Computers were how I made a living, so I focused on it.

About 2 years ago, I got into a new hobby. Offroading with small clubs. The tread lightly crowds, good crowds. They required one thing thou, a CB. It was needed for saftey. So we could call on the channel when going down a one way trail, and make sure no one was comming up, things like that. Forgetting I had old cb gear, I went and picked up a cheap cobra, a antenna, and plug-and-preyed, and realized I couldn't talk to even the jeep not more then 30 feet in front of me.

So I starting researching why. Picked up a SWR gauge and "tuned" the antenna, and suddenly it worked perfectly for what I needed. That all brought back the memories of playing with the crystal radio. I still let it go for the most part, but decided, "Hey, for emergency communications a radio might be a good thing."

So I started researching building antennas, and trying to get my cheap cb to get out on the air further and further. I mean, what good is something for emergency if it only can go 5 miles and you know hardly any one in the "yuppie land" you live has a CB. More and more research, avoiding the rude people on the "channels", and getting frustrated, I realized something. It's not my antenna, it's the radio and lack of information.

What to do. That's when I was reminded of the hams I worked for. One of the things they mentioned in passing, was that they used the gear as a emergency tool. So I started looking for more information, found freebanders. Kinda backwards, I know, but hang on a moment. Unlike most who flounder in this current time, I *gasp* looked up the laws.

Now yes, in a emergency, one can use what ever they can. What good is it to build though, if I can't legally use it to test??

So while bored at work, I started reading more and more about ham radio, the laws, and general usage and building antennas. Decided to take the practice test for my Tech, and only missed one question. Went and took the test.

I was still under the impression to get anything better then a Tech, I would need to learn code, so I started, very lightly, to teach it to myself and realized in that time it wasn't needed. So I took my General and passed.

Where I am going? Simple. Learn the code anyways, because it can get the farthest with the least amount of gear. Learn to build transmitters and receivers with scrap parts laying around, continue learning antenna theory, and finally. Pass my Extra. In that order I hope.

So in a way, I'm a slow and blind moth. The calling was there, just the light was out of my site and almost got sucked into the fireball of the "evil" side. CB is still in my jeep though, it's required for the clubs. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

My 6m/2m/440 HT goes with me every where. And even now, when I should be asleep, I am here typing on QRZ and listening to my TS-130S on the Skywire Loop I built in my backyard.

Wow, this got alot longer then I wanted. Sorry. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

One last line. Thank you for creating this thread, it reminds me that I really need to start a jurnoul on this hobby so I can track what I have learned, will forget, and something I can pass on when it comes time for me to Elmer.

[WS2L]

Early 1970's fooled around with CB walkie Talkies, building antennas to get more distance. Got a CB around mid 1970's and fooled around with that for a while. 1977 saw my first ham radio set up, a Collins S line and was immediately hooked. Took and passed the Novice exam and got my first ticket around March 1978 when I was 13. The rest is history, never went back to 11 meters and have been operating since.

[KA2P]

late 1980s: Friend had a scanner, a CB, and a shortwave radio. Different friend's uncle was a ham. Watched a live cw qso on 20 meters. Thought it was very cool. listened to a 10 meter repeater (29.660) in the Florida Keys after school...was hooked. I totally wanted the President 2510 from radio shack!

early 1990s: Moved across the country, started high school. Read a lot of ARRL books at the library. A pastor we knew carried his HT around. Started asking questions. Studied for Tech+, got ticket, and borrowed an HT. Listened to guys on local repeater. Checked into local club net a few times. Asked parents for hf rig and dipole...didn't happen. gave up and forgot about ham radio.

late 1990s: went to college, found ham club station was closed, bought shortwave radio. listened in my spare time. bought 2m ht....nothing but garbage on 2m repeaters (435 anyone?). sold ht.

early 2000s: bought first house in treeless suburb. had plans to upgrade to general and put up a vertical, but built telescopes instead. still listened to shortwave. went to grad school and started thinking about ham radio again, but kept putting it off.

2006: moved into a house with a few trees, built a K2 ,upgraded to Extra, applied for a vanity ,and finally got on HF!

[n9yb]

Introduced to SWLing by my father in the 70's.

When my parents moved in '84 there was a neighbor with a yagi antenna. I went over and asked if he was a ham op. He said yes, and I then asked him how can I become one.

Thanks Jerry W9CZI.

-mike

[KC2PBJ]

Way back in the 50's (no, not the 1850's), our junior high school science class had a local amateur radio op spend the day at the school to demonstrate both CW and AM (SSB was not available to most at the time). Got interested, attended the Novice classes at the Civil Defense office, and got my non-renewable Novice in 1960 as WV2OGS.
I've spent the majority of my life as a professional disaster bum but have only recently returned to the avocation.

[NA5Z]

I got in I'd say because of my dad also, but it was a little different theme. Dad's a tinkerer. Loves to build and try things (I'm not much different). In the 70's, he was playing with CB's, but he was learning how how to make his own antennas, etc. But I think he eventually got tired of the trash going on there and shelved it until he ran into some of the local hams who showed him how his interests would be a LOT better served in ham radio. So he goes off and gets his novice license around mid-'78.

So here I am , around 11 at the time and I had always thought Morse Code was the coolest thing ever (I know... weird kid haha) and had picked up at least how to send it on my own using a CPO kit Dad had bought for me to build.

Now here's Dad... pounding away on his straight key on an SB104A we built together, and I'm getting madder n' hades that I can't do it, too... so we worked a little bit on *receiving* code, and Dad being a teacher and all, was instrumental (and patient) in explaining the Novice theory and Part 97 to me, so I managed to get my own license in '79. I still remember the night ol' Bob Monacle came over to give me a code test, too. Good times. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

I think it was a move he sorely regretted later, because I loved operating to the point, that I have to think I was hogging the rig at times. He never seemed to mind, though.

I have to remember to thank him again

[n2cfj]

My late father was a radio instructor in the army air force during ww2. Athough he didn't get his ticket until '61, he was an avid tinkerer and it rubbed off. When I was ready to sit for my ticket, we went together to the FCC in NYC where he got hs extra.

[n9dsj]

Pretty normal path for me....always interested in electronics as a kid and dabbled with SWLing. Older brother was a ham and after grad school decided to get a Novice ticket...went to the FCC office for the exam and they said I had to fail the 13 wpm code test first (I figured that would be easy to fail). Surprisingly, to me, I passed it (even after about 30 years I still remember the questions asked about the "qso style" CW sent and the bakelite magnetic headphones supplied). I then took and passed the (what was then Tech/General) written exam and hence ended up a General class license. I went home and had to re-think my 80/40/15 antennas as I had planned on those being my only HF bands until I could upgrade...My first qso was on 160 meters to PEI, using a 560 ft loop - probably an oddity http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

73,

Bill N9DSJ

[K8YZK]

Dad got licensed in 1962, other things were on my mind until a friend whated to get his license and we studied together and got licensed in 1966, when down to the FCC office in Detroit 3 times before I passed the General. Stayed a General until 1993 then upgrade to Advance and Extra a month later. Took the Extra test in the middle of a parking lot of a Fire Station. The local club President forgot to get the key to open it up for the meeting. Luckly it was a nice day in Texas.

[wa9cwx]

So as not to bore everyone, just some high points . http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Neither parent was into electronics.

Got interested in electronics age 11-12, AM DXing with old radio, discovered AM operating 'hams' on either 160, or 75. Age12 built an 'Ocean Hopper'. Asked my mom to get me a book to study Amateur Radio. Read it till the pages ached.
By Age 13, asking around and walking to different TV shops looking for 'radio people', I found a ham (Tech) who gave me the number of a General. (For testing)

Arranged to go to his house, (couple towns away) REALIZED during the ride, that I DID NOT KNOW the code......DUH http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif ....I studied IN THE CAR, yep, dot, dash, "A", etc. Got to his house...
He gave me a good 45 minutes to 'study' in his shack with an oscillator, passed test......whew.

Been active ever since.

What actually got me 'INTO' radio, was just the magic feeling of listening to stations, still the same today, 45years later.

Frank

[kq9j]

BUMP. Love hearing these stories. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[KG6YTZ]

Ultra-condensed version:

I've always been interested in how things work. #Built a crystal radio [Radio Shack's kit] in 1976. #Caught some AM broadcast DX [WWL New Orleans] in 1979 [alas, no, not on that crystal rig]. #Liked to fiddle with the CB displays at Radio Shack in the late 70's and early 80's. #Bought a mobile radio of my own in August 1987, and a much better one a few months later. #Was most active between then and about 1991 or so [always mobile, never had a "base"]. #Bought a scanner from a co-worker, and listened to the VHF and UHF ham bands quite a bit. #That scanner eventually broke. #I was basically off the air and without a scanner for about another ten years; got back on in 2002, but I was never as active as I had been. #Acquired another scanner, a vintage Bearcat 101, then a Bearcat BC245XLT. #Became a regular poster on Strong Signals (http://www.strongsignals.net). #Got interested in ham radio again. #Found QRZ. #Ran the practice Technician tests many times [and absorbed the material, in case anyone is getting ready to take a swipe at that statement]. #Decided I was ready to test. #Passed 3/16/2005. #Call granted 3/21/2005.

Super-ultra-condensed version: #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Interest in radio and electronics led from very simple kits to CB to scanners to ham radio.

[w8gtf]

My story seems to follow the template of being a tinker and builder and going from there. First off, my mother was a radar & navigation tech in the AF. She had a natural mechanical/electrical ability that sort of rubbed off. As a kid, I always wanted to know how things worked.

In my early teens in the early 90's I got into CB. I knew afew people from the local CB scene that were into HAM. I had toyed with the idea for afew years (into my mid teens), but kept coming back to not feeling I could hack the code portion and after they started no code, not wanting to study. During this time I had the RS electronics lab and made the most of it. I really liked the AM radio project. Around this same time, I was involved with a volunteer fire departments youth program and got the chance to work with the radios there too.

In my mid teen's in the mid 90's I got into computers. At that point, (due in part to my CB experiences), I thought that the whole concept of radio was tired, worn out, boring, and out dated.

Through the last 2 years of high school, into college, and beyond, I was always interested in electronics and continued to tinker with electronics and automotive things.

About a year and a half ago, I met my GF and her father has been a ham since like 1974. I got to BSing with him and he sort of talked me into studying. At the same time my GF picked up the banner and started studying too. Needless to say this made her father really happy.

In fact, me, my daughter, my GF, her parents, and a HAM friend of her father's are all going camping for a week (starting on Thurs). We are all looking forward to getting away from the city and seeing what kind of contacts we can work.

[wa4ilh]

Quote[/b] (wa9cwx @ Aug. 04 2007,16:51)]... What actually got me 'INTO' radio, was just the magic feeling of listening to stations, still the same today, 45years later.

Frank
Me too Frank, ... it's still MAGIC after 38 years.
Tom WA4ILH

[ky5u]

SWL for years beginning at age 8. Had a Uncle that was a ham and loved to see his gear. CB in the mid 60's and early 70's. Took a HAM class in '72 but had to quit due to job requirements. Life in commercial electronics and broadcast enginnering (early on). Shoulder surgery a few years ago meant I had free time and 1 month to the next test session. Got Tech study guide and was 100% on the practice tests after 1 night. Got Morse practice software and after a few days realized I could pass the test. Got General guide and was 100% on the practice tests after three days. Had 2 weeks left so I got the Extra guide and was 100% by test time. Took all elements and passed them.

Made myself a promise to go beyond 20WPM to show respect for those who had to pass that test to be an Extra Class. Was able to do that by end of first year.

This is a great hobby/service. I am glad to be a part of it.

[kq9j]

Quote[/b] (AG4YO @ Aug. 06 2007,10:57)]Made myself a promise to go beyond 20WPM to show respect for those who had to pass that test to be an Extra Class. Was able to do that by end of first year.
I HAD to pass the 20 WPM test to get my extra. That you did not HAVE to but went ahead and did it anyway is simply awesome. You certainly have my respect OM.

[ky5u]

Quote[/b] (kq9j @ Aug. 06 2007,11:13)]Quote[/b] (AG4YO @ Aug. 06 2007,10:57)]Made myself a promise to go beyond 20WPM to show respect for those who had to pass that test to be an Extra Class. Was able to do that by end of first year.
I HAD to pass the 20 WPM test to get my extra. That you did not HAVE to but went ahead and did it anyway is simply awesome. You certainly have my respect OM.
Thanks, that means alot to me. I owe alot to many Amateurs who offered encouragement. CW is still me favorite mode. I'm about 60/40 CW to phone now.