View Full Version : Your First Contacts?
kb7aqd
06-22-2004, 04:35 AM
Al, WD6ETH, helped me get on 40 and 15M CW with a two-watt QRP HW-7, and we put up a 66 foot dipole up only about ten feet in my back yard. I called CQ, and immediately forgot the Morse code for my first few contacts.
Finally, KF5NM from Louisiana answered my 15M CQ call, and I could actually copy him without dropping my pencil and scratchpad.
What were your first contacts? What was your first station?
My first station:
Heathkit HW-7 at two watts.
Antenna: Low 66 foot dipole for 40/15M
Power: two six-volt batteries.
It's amazing how my new IC703 sounds so much better than that first little rig, and I am not running that much more power!
What was your first contact? What mode did you run? What was your first station?
73
Robert KB7AQD
Phoenix, AZ
KC0LFV
06-22-2004, 04:47 AM
My station was: 100W Yaesu FT-757GX - 80 M Inverted V homebrew dipole
Other station was my elmer across town on LSB - K0OJ
wa6apn
06-22-2004, 05:12 AM
My first QSO was Jan 1960,with wv6kxp, my call then was wv6kal. Equipment was a homebrew single 6L6 xtal controlled xmtr and a surplus BC-455-B 6mc to 9mc rcvr. Antenna was about 60' of surplus military field telephone wire end fed. wv6kxp was only 2 miles away, was pretty relaxed as he and I took our novice test at the same time. Still have a bunch of milsurplus equipment. 73, Tom / wa6apn http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
k0ews
06-22-2004, 05:13 AM
My first station was a 2 meter HT given to me by my Dad. #He said once I got my ticket, he'd give me a radio and he did; I still use it. #
The first radio I actually bought was an MFJ QRP rig, and I still remember my first contact. #I still have that rig. #A couple months later, I got an Icom 718, which I still use today, and have since built and really enjoy my Elecraft K-1. #I enjoyed it so much that I have all the bands available for it now. #I take it everywhere, and will take it with me this weekend for Field Day, just for fun!
k4kyv
06-22-2004, 07:37 AM
My first QSO was in August, 1959 on 80m CW in the mid afternoon during a weekday. #Rig was a homebrew 6AG7 xtal oscillator driving a single 807 in the final. #The final tank circuit was link-coupled to the antenna. #Xtal frequency was 3714 kHz. #The rig ran 30 watts DC input, with only about 300 volts on the plate, using power supply components salvaged from an old Zenith floor model broadcast receiver. #My station receiver was an American Bosch broadcast receiver circa 1939. #I had removed the power supply components from the chassis and built a homebrew BFO in the space, and rebuilt the power supply on a separate chassis. #The antenna was a halfwave dipole, using TV type 75-ohm twinlead. #That twinlead was about half the size of zip cord.
The station I contacted was located about 10 miles away. #When I first fired up, the rig wouldn't load, so I called the ham who had given me my Novice test. #He came over and looked at the rig. #He immediately re-arranged the fixed link on the tank coil and the rig loaded up. #He was still in the shack when I made the contact. #Don't remember which station called CQ first, of if my contact just happened to hear me tuning up.
Today, I #rarely ever hear any signals on 80/75m in the afternoon on a weekday, especially in summer. #Hear very few CW signals on 80m any time of day any time of year. #In retrospect, I shouldn't have torn apart that Zenith radio, which was working at the time I acquired it. #I went on to become very active on the 80m novice band the rest of that summer and fall. #There were always plenty of signals on the band both day and night. Never worked any other band as a novice. #Passed my General in December of that year. #I was 17 at the time, and many, if not most novices were close to my age. #I finally blew up that twinlead when I tried to load 300 watts into the antenna, in my first attempt at "high power".
Don K4KYV
WA2ZDY
06-22-2004, 08:29 AM
February 1975, a 6L6 xtal osc on 7123kc running maybe - MAYBE - 5w out to a sort-of dipole strung around the attic. Receiver was a Halliscratchers SX140 in pretty rough shape. First contact was a fellow novice near Philadelphia - maybe 50 miles away.
Five lousy watts and an even lousier antenna and I made plenty of contacts and had even more fun. Would I trade today for those days? No, but would I trade ANYTHING for the experience? Never.
9V1VV
06-22-2004, 09:30 AM
August 2002 !!! CW contact with K6ZO, Ed. First time I had touched a Morse key for 17 years...
K4TET
06-22-2004, 01:34 PM
My first contact was as WN4OAW in June 1976. #I worked W5OCO in Magnolia, AR from Decatur, GA. #40 meters. As with most Novices and the first QSO, I was terribly beset by butterflies. #I was as glad to have made the contact as I was that it was over. #Crystal controlled on DX-60B and HR-10 with a dipole. #For nostalgia, I have QSL card framed.
n3ijw
06-22-2004, 01:47 PM
My first contact was with my next door neighbor, K4RET, the night I received my Novice license in the mail back in the spring of '85. I was trying out my HR-10B, DX-60B, and HG-10B into a dipole supported on one end by his tower. Wanted to make sure everything was working right before I ventured out on my own into the ether. Needless to say we were both 599.
FIrst "actual" contact was when W4IVB answered my shaky CQ on 40 meter CW later that evening.
Man that was exciting. Florida was DX as far as I was concerned!
...also hard to believe that was almost 20 years ago http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif
Philadelphia Subs,late December, 1964.
I spent almost 3 weeks calling CQ (logged every CQ) on 80 and 40 meters. The station consisted of a Heath DX-40 transmitter, (purchased from Ham Burger in Wyncote PA) A Hallicrafters SX-110 receiver purchased from Sears, and a pair random length antennas, one for transmit and one for receive.
The transmitting antenna was plugged directly into the center of the SO-239 in back of the DX-40, no ground, and as I found out later, impossible to tune up on either band. I just kinda tuned for max reading on the plate meter http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif Finally found a ham in the area who helped me with the antenna and tune up procedure and made my first contact on 80 meters in early January 1965 with WA3BJI I think in Tamaqua PA. It was all I could do to get through the QSO with his name and location.
By that time I had ordered a Heath Twoer, learning how to solder and wire, and was ready to try 2 meter AM, but that's another story.
73
George
K3UD
K7KBN
06-22-2004, 02:07 PM
First QSO logged in first logbook: #July 7, 1959. #Worked KN4IQH on 15M. #I was KN7KBN at the time.
Transmitter was a Globe Chief Deluxe (75W input, crystal controlled, which I had just built.) #This was a pair of 807s driven by (I think) a 6AG7. #
Receiver: Hallicrafters SX-99 (I was the third or fourth owner, and had just bought it from Dave, K7BRW). #Antenna was a Hy-Gain 10/15/20M vertical, also bought from Dave.
I was SO nervous!
W5HTW
06-22-2004, 02:23 PM
July, 1956. Received the Novice ticket a week or so earlier. W4HTW loaned me his homebrew 6AG7-6L6 transmitter and I used a Sears portable receiver. Used an AC AM BC table model radio to beat against the Local oscilator on the Sears to make code work better. Dipole consisting of 300 ohm TV lead, fed by same. No SWR bridge, and link tuned output. About 12 watts input. First contact was with, I believe, KN4JUC. He and I had taken our tests together and received the ticket in the mail the same day. I was KN4JSG. I had two crystals, and I recall one of them was 7.153. Novice band back then wsa 7150 to 7200. I think the other crystal was 7172. Worked 11 states in fairly short order with that rig. Got the General in 1957, and bought a "real" receiver - Hallicrafters S-85, and a couple of Command transmitters for 40 and 80, and the rest is history
Ed
K0RGR
06-22-2004, 02:47 PM
I was spoiled as a child. My dad was a longtime ham and had built a pretty impressive station. When my Novice ticket arrived in the fall of 1965, though, we were somewhat unprepared. I needed a low-powered, crystal controlled transmitter.
We managed to find a crystal for his Central Electronics 10B exciter that would put me somewhere in the 80 meter novice band. We managed to bypass the big KW linear and squirt about 5 watts into the antenna - a HyGain Hytower vertical.
I think my first QSO was with WN6QNE in the north Bay Area, a distance of probably 100 miles.
The 10B was soon replaced by a 15-watt 'spy' radio, vintage 1947, which I used on 80 and 40 for several months.
K9STH
06-22-2004, 03:26 PM
My first contact was around the end of May, 1959. It was with KN9SPO over in Illinois (I was in northwestern Indiana) on 40 meter CW. I was using K9BPV's Apache (cut back to the 75 watt input requirement with a Novice band crystal) and his highly modified Hallicrafters S-20R receiver.
After I made the contact, Dave called K9LHC and we went over and picked up a used WRL Globe Chief 90A transmitter (160 - 10 meters 6AG7 driving a pair of 807 tubes). I eventually bought the rig from Jim. Used that, along with a Hallicrafters S-107 ("reboxed" S-53A). When I upgraded in November of 1959, K9LHC brought over the WRL SM-90 screen modulator and the WRL 755 VFO that he had used with the Globe Chief 90A. At the time, I was a sophomore in high school and Jim was a senior.
I have re-created my original station including the screen modulator and VFO. If anyone is interested, there are some photographs on http://home.comcast.net/~k9sth
Glen, K9STH
May 1957...Fort Collins Colorado. Just received my novice license from FCC. Callsign was KN0JSP.
Rig was a Hallicrafters S53A reaceiver and a Heathkit DX-20 transmitter.
Antenna was a dipole fed with RG 59/U coax, and a DPDT knife switch for transmit/receive. No QSK then. Xtal control.
Power output was whatever you could get the transmitter to put into the antenna. No way of measuring it. Just hoped you'd "get out". First contact was with a fellow novice across town...KN0DTJ, Brian. We had lots of fun.
Studied hard to get our "Generals"; then we could, in good conscience, buy a VFO, a nice shiny Vibroplex bug and junk the old J-38 straight keys. Some of our buddies bought microphones and bigger transmitters instead. I never did. I bought the bug, but kept the J-38...probably still have it somewhere in my junk. It was a long time before I bought a microphone. The S-53A and DX-20 are long gone. But it was a good start to 47 years of good ham radio for me......I've been active one way or another ever since that day. Still rarely use that microphone..... http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
KG4YUV
06-22-2004, 05:01 PM
First contact on HF under my own call, just about 3.5 months ago...
Somewhere on 40 meters with a Swan 350 with a D-104 "chicken-choker" mic with about 250 watts PEP into a G5RV sloper in the trees.
Can't beat that audio from those tubes! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
To be honest I love that Swan (too bad it's not mine, it's on loan to me http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif ) and I think that everybody should have the chance to use a tube rig before you get too used to solid-state... that is one nice radio. #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
K5USS
06-22-2004, 05:26 PM
My first contact was to Glen (K9STH)! I had just recieved notice that my call had been granted so I called Glen on the phone and asked if he would turn on his 2m FM rig. That contact was made on 146.52. Was over at his house 10 minutes later to get my first QSL card too!
BTW, thanks Glen, you have created a monster!
Charlie
K5USS
I was at scout camp on the Oregon coast (August 1959) when the envelope from Gettysburg arrived. Got a message from my mother that I was now KN7JBQ.
So that night I sat on a hillside overlooking the ocean and sent a CQ via flashlight toward a fleet of fishing boats a couple of miles offshore. And was astonished when one of them answered.
No ham call on the other end, but a guy who knew code!
We had about a 20 minute QSO. Pretty cool!
73,
Bill
WA2ZDY
06-22-2004, 08:55 PM
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (KG4YUV @ June 22 2004,11:01)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Somewhere on 40 meters with a Swan 350 . . .[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Boy, you said a mouthful!
Well, if my first contact as a Novice had not been with my "Elmer" I probably would have never had the courage to fire up the transmitter. As it was, he and I got on 80m CW and talked a whole distance of about 15 miles. He was using a Collins 75A-4 and Central Electronics 100V, and I was using a Multi-Elmac AF-67 and a Hammarlund HQ110C !
The "QSO" probably didn't last much longer than 10 minutes, and I can remember that I was shaking like a leaf and wet with sweat at the end of that time. He called me on the telephone to tell me how pleased he was with the contact, and point out what I needed to do to make the next one better. ( Great Elmer, he was ! )
But the next QSO came a day or so later and was much easier to do, and as they say, " the rest is history! "
I went on to get my Rag Chewers Club certificate, work all states but Rhode Island, and several countries, all on CW before upgrading to Advanced in about 6 months. I got my Extra after a year of working the HF bands with CW and SSB on another friend's Collins and Central Electronics Rigs.
Great Memories! TNX ES 73 FRM AG3Y SK
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (K7JBQ @ June 22 2004,12:29)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I was at scout camp on the Oregon coast (August 1959) when the envelope from Gettysburg arrived. Got a message from my mother that I was now KN7JBQ.
So that night I sat on a hillside overlooking the ocean and sent a CQ via flashlight toward a fleet of fishing boats a couple of miles offshore. And was astonished when one of them answered.
No ham call on the other end, but a guy who knew code!
We had about a 20 minute QSO. Pretty cool!
73,
Bill[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Bill,
That is a great story!
When I was in scouting in the early 60s we tried the signal fire/ blanket method whereby you used the blanket to key the fire http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Sometimes it actually worked.
I can imagine you all alone on the hill, flashlight in hand, new license at home, having the first QSO with the fishing fleet. These are things that maybe only happen once by pure chance.
73
George
K3UD
George,
It was, as they say, a "moment."
The amazing thing, in retrospect, was that the guy knew the code. Or maybe not, since it was drummed into our heads as scouts (how I got involved with radio in the first place) and there were a lot of ex-navy guys thereabouts, as the base at Tongue Point hadn't yet closed.
But it was a thrill for all that.
1970, 15 meters, as WN6ESN. Drake 2NT, CW transmitter. Hallicrafters SX-100 receiver. Dipole, 20 feet up. I lived in Sierra Madre, Ca. My first complete QSO was with a General Class op in La Mirada. Both towns are in L.A. county. Pure magic.
That wasn't as big a thrill, however, as the very first station who ever came back to me. I lost him, but were my palms sweaty. That J-38 key sits next to me now. It still has the bit of masking tape that I put on it to reduce the sweaty, oily, slipperyness.
K3STX
06-22-2004, 11:48 PM
I remember it like yesterday: Oct. 26, 1978 finally got an answer to my CQ from WD0HCW on 21.175 MHz. My transmitter was an old Heathkit DX-100 and receiver was a HR-1680. Antenna was a good ol' dipole and my hand key is the same Radio Shack piece of junk I use today. Ahh, those were the days.
paul
KG4YUV
06-23-2004, 02:29 AM
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (WA2ZDY @ June 22 2004,13:55)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif0--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (KG4YUV @ June 22 2004,11http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif0)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Somewhere on 40 meters with a Swan 350 . . .[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Boy, you said a mouthful![/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif lol, that would make a good title for a book, wouldn't it?? #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
"Somewhere . . . . "
There's probably more truth to that statement than what was originally intended ! #LOL !
73 from Jim AG3Y
KA3RFE
06-24-2004, 07:04 PM
April of 1988 with a VE station. I never got a QSL card from him and don't know where I put my old log.
I had a Yaesu FT-757GX and a B&W folded dipole on 80 meters during daylight. I didn't know 80 meters wasn't much good during the daylight at the time. I was a novice, what did I know!!
Took me two weeks after getting the license in the mail before I had enough courage to get on the air.
The second time I tried a CQ, a station with a ZZ prefix came back to me. It scared me so badly that I turned the rig off!!
73, Pete KA3RFE
K9STH
06-25-2004, 01:42 AM
My first real DX contact was with KC4USB in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. Now, Canada didn't count because VE3 was closer than the southern end of the State of Indiana (and I was in northwestern Indiana at the time).
I had a 7050 KHz crystal that tripled to 21.150 MHz (the Novice band was 21.100 MHz to 21.250 MHz at the time - CW only 75 watts input crystal controlled were the FCC regulations at the time). I called CQ and the KC4 came back to me! After we "rag chewed" for a few minutes and the KC4 signed, my telephone immediately rang!
On the other end was a local W9 who not only ran a lot of phone patches for the KC4 but it turned out that he also was a QSL manager for them! He told me that my QSL card was already filled out and to come over and get it.
Since I was just 15 at the time, and you had to be 16 in Indiana to drive a car, I jumped on my bicycle and went the about 2 miles in well under 10 minutes. Frankly, I don't remember if I told my parents where I was going or not!
Anyway, within 10 minutes of finishing the QSO I had the QSL card "in my hot little hands"! I know that there are probably a few more real DX contacts that have had a "true" QSL card in hand faster. But, I believe that my getting the KC4 card is within the top 0.1 percent of being the fastest! Still have the card almost 45 years later!
Glen, K9STH
ke4mej
06-25-2004, 10:36 PM
Lots of great stories here, i sure have enjoyed reading them!
I haven't been licensed nearly as long as most that have posted, and i really don't remember my first contact...i'm sure it was on a 2m repeater though, since i came in as a "No Code Tech" in 1994.
What i do remember, though, is my first CW contact. #I had finally decided to get serious, and had passed my 5 wpm test and upgraded to "Tech Plus." #I had been listening to the bands, and copying the ARRL code practice, and finally decided it was time to get "on the air." #I tuned around for quite some time, but didn't hear any qso's that were slow enough for me to copy. #I finally decided that it was time, found a clear spot in the "novice" portion of 40m, and sent out a very tentative "qrl?" a couple of times. #After no response, i sent out a short "cq." #There was an immediate response, a station in Florida, several hundred miles from my location in Georgia. #He was sending perfectly formed code to my ears, sounded just like my 5 wpm tapes that i had studied so hard! #I know my sending on a straight key must have been torture to his ears, but we had a very nice 30 minute qso. #I know, you can't say much in 30 minutes at 5wpm, but to me it was wonderful, even though i finally had to tell him that i had to stop - sweat was pouring off my brow, my hands were shaking, and my sending was getting worse by the minute! #After i recovered, i made a few more contacts that evening. #I was hooked! #A few days later, i heard the gentleman i had made my first contact with calling CQ, and gave him a call. #That qso lasted over an hour. #He told me during that one that we were running somewhere around 12 wpm.
That's one qsl card that i still pull out from time to time and read again, just to bring out the memories. #He wrote a nice long comment on it, and still get a kick out of the last line:
"The best of 73, and good luck pounding the brass. #Suggest you invest in a paddle though hi hi."
Thanks, Rich, for being so patient with a new operator back then.
73
Chuck
I've already given mine earlier in the thread, but just a couple of thoughts:
1) My thanks to Robert for starting one of the most enjoyable discussions I've ever had the pleasure to read, and to all who have added their stories.
2) Might not this be the foundation for a truly great book? "First QSO," published by ARRL? Would be great for new hams and prospective ones to know that even the big guns had sweaty palms the first time out.
73,
Bill
I too enjoyed this thread....
particularly the one about sitting on the hillside with the flashlight...
what a neat story!
If Morse Code is forgotten, experiences such as these will not be able to take place...I hope that never happens....
Ed
AL7N http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
ka8jhm
06-26-2004, 12:53 AM
First contact was about 25-26 years ago, one week after receiving my novice ticket, Rig- Kenwood TS520SE, ant. center fed di-pole, HY Gain 5 band trapped pdq5 I believe- to Silver Spring Md. The operator thatanswered my CQ was to say the least, very helpful and convinced me that I made th right choice in becoming a ham.
I have since lost my logs and connot remember his call.
I do remember my second contact, that same afternoon, to one Ainsley Phillips in Biloxi, Miss. Again I do not remember the call.
My initiation into radio, via morse code was very enjoyable, and I still like the mode.
Bob ka8jhm tbtm
My first contact was in 1985, on the 40m Novice band, 5 WPM CW. I was running a tube type Galaxy III into a homebrew inverted vee dipole with the center support being my folks' TV mast (nobody was watching TV at that moment!). The QSO was with a John Wilson, KA7VYS (later WG7K, now silent key and vanity-re-licensed to someone else). It was his first contact also! He lived just across town from me. We went on to meet on the air several more times and formed a friendship that went on for 10 years, till he passed away from a heart condition. His favorite mode was CW and we used to compete with how fast we could send and copy. I actually really miss the guy.
w5alt
06-26-2004, 01:32 AM
My first QSO was in September 1970 as Novice on the 40m band. I'd have to look at my logbook to find the call, but the first real QSO was with another Novice in Arkansas. (I called CQ earlier and when someone answered me, I froze. Couldn't get the call and couldn't send a reply. It took me about an hour to get the nerve to try again.) I was operating from a dormitory room at UT Austin and the antenna was some 20 ft of wire that I scrounged from an old motor. I was on the 5th floor, had bribed a janitor with a case of beer to get the window open. Diagonally across a courtyard was a washer-dryer room. I took the vent off the dryer, dropped a string to the ground, dropped another string out the window, ran downstairs and tied them together, then pulled a wire across the court yard - all just after midnight when no one was around watching.
I made a "field strength meter" (or something) out of a christmas tree bulb, a coil of wire and a diode to figure out if I was actually getting any signal out. I made a loading coil out of some wire on a large cardboard tube, attached it to the antenna wire, and taped it onto the window glass. I tuned the transmitter and adjusted for maximum christmas tree bulb brillance with minimum plate current as I recall, but it's been awhile. I've often wondered what the SWR was, but it's probably better that I didn't have an SWR meter.
TX was a KnightKit T-60 that I refurbished. #Sure wish I had kept it for nostalgia. Receiver was a Hallicrafters SX-99 which I still have and it still works.
http://mars.comportco.com/~w5alt/knight-t60.gif
http://mars.comportco.com/~w5alt/sx99.jpg
You can't imagine how great it felt to have someone actually answer me with that set up!
73,
ke4mej
06-26-2004, 03:12 AM
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (K7JBQ @ June 25 2004,15:48)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Might not this be the foundation for a truly great book? "First QSO," published by ARRL? Would be great for new hams and prospective ones to know that even the big guns had sweaty palms the first time out.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Great idea, Bill. #I know i would enjoy reading it. #This thread alone has been very enjoyable for me! #The book would probably be an editing nightmare for the brave soul that decided to take it on...which stories do you leave in, which do you have to cut? #I know i'm not up to the task of putting it together, but if anyone is, put me on the list of buyers!
73
Chuck
kb7aqd
06-27-2004, 02:27 AM
Thank you for sharing all your experiences! Besides the first contacts, I also enjoy cataloging the first time I use a new mode, or new rig, or new antenna -- or work a new prefix! This stuff never seems to get old!
73
Robert
KB7AQD
KC9EOG
06-27-2004, 03:29 AM
My first contact was as a NCT on a 70 CM repeater with N9ULL and that was July 2003. My first HF QSO was in Feb. 2004 on 7.122 with W0DEW, with me scared to death. I was using a random wire that came into the shack and it did something to the furnace's thermostat because the dang thing reset itself to 95 F. By the time my 45 minute QSO was finished, I was pouring sweat. I didn't know it had happened;I assumed I was extra nervous.
I like how they used to do it, building a station while waiting 8 to 12 weeks for the ticket. It has a nobility to it like some mythic apprentice warrior having to make their own sword before they begin their training. If I had been around then I wouldn't have felt that way however! 73
KC7UP
06-27-2004, 04:12 AM
Although I have used CW since I was 18 and in the navy my first ham qso was with KA4NZC Aug 3, l980 as a novice. I ran a Drake TR4Cw into home made 3 el yagi for 15 meters. I had a Blue Racer I had while in the service and have to this day. I never learned to run a keyer as I remember all the hours spent learning to run a bug. My first contact had my heart fluttering and talking to myself.
Curt
wa8rti
06-27-2004, 12:24 PM
In 1964, my first transmitter was an 40/80 meter homebrew with a 6AG7 oscillator and 807 amplifier that I ran at about 30 watts. The power supply was built from parts taken from an old TV set. My receiver was a Knightkit R100 that I put together. I later traded the R100 in on a Drake 2-B. The R100 would drift like crazy and I lost more contacts than I made.The 2-B on the otherhand was rock solid and with selectivity that you could get down to just a single CW signal. My first contact was with my cousin who was about 5 miles away and my hand was shaking so bad that I could hardly work the old straight key it. What fun. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
4X42238
06-27-2004, 12:27 PM
Hello my name is Eyran Millis SWL since 1986. My first Heard QSO was On 7.8.1986 Between DJ6SQ Om Horst To 4X4KU Om Gabriel on the 20 m Band. Useing Collins 51 j-4 Reciever on SSB.Today after almost 18 years I have about 38,000 QSOs. Mostly looking for DXs & IOTA... 298 DXCC Confirmed and about 460 IOTA CFM............... 73 Best DXs! Eyran 4X4-2238.
KC5SAS
06-28-2004, 02:41 PM
First QSO was in 1995 on 2meter FM voice over the 147.0- repeater in Hammond, Louisiana using a HTX-202 HT I had bought 6 months prior along with my 'Now You're Talking' study guide. I didn't study the whole 6 months but scanned the band and attended the club meetings until finally taking my test at a hamfest and getting my ticket. By the time I was able to transmit I was already a regular in the club.
My first QSO was in December 1962 as KN3VZG. I didn't have my own rig. I used my elmer's,Ken WV3WPA. He had a Heathkit DX-40 and a Hallicrafters HQ-110 receiver.
Ken showed be how to adjust the grid drive and then Dip the plate tune and load the pi network and to throw the receiver switch into standby and the knife switch betweeen the transmitter and receiver to the 80/40 meter doublet that was stretched between the cupolas of the dormitory at school.
After a few shakey "cq's" in the 40 meter Novice Band (around 7150 kcs in those days) a fellow from Ohio came back. Don't remember the call. Lost the log. Never got a QSL. But that was the first QSO and the beginnning of many decades of fun.
73
Frank
WA5KRP
06-28-2004, 05:18 PM
Had my first contacts in 1992. Never got used to them and wore glasses ever since.
7 Trees,
WA5KRP
Texas
W2LYS
06-28-2004, 07:50 PM
Danny -
You're making a spectacle of yourself...
Harry
W2LYS
WA2ZDY
06-28-2004, 08:46 PM
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (wa5krp @ June 28 2004,11:18)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Had my first contacts in 1992. #Never got used to them and wore glasses ever since.
7 Trees,
WA5KRP
Texas[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
I can SEE where this is going.
Being serious now . . . this is a great thread. I'm enjoying it and I sure hope folks keep adding to it. Whatever fun you have and/or will have in the future, and no matter how fancy a rig you may have down the road, the junk you made your first contacts with, the experience of suffering through Radio Moscow heterodynes on 40cw, or whatever else you may go through, you will ALWAYS look back on the start and say you had the most fun as a newbie.
Walt, I didn't know you went to UT Austin. One niece is there now and her brother played football at Texas Tech. My son has decided go to Austin. His plan is to move down to the ranch for his senior year of HS and be ready for UT when the time arrives. Of course he's only starting 7th grade in September, but he's got a plan and I see him sticking with it.
w5alt
06-29-2004, 01:56 AM
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (WA2ZDY @ June 28 2004,16:46)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Walt, I didn't know you went to UT Austin.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Yep, no Aggies in this family, but quite a few Tea Sips. And most of the US trained engineers with advanced degrees I meet down here are Tea Sips, too.
But Austin and UT have changed dramatically in the 29 years since I left. Last time I was there giving a graduate seminar, I hardly recognzed the place.
73,