Issue #23: Life Lessons from Ham Radio

Tell us about your Elmer . . . in this issue of Trials and Errors -- Ham Life with an Amateur, I have described my earliest ham radio lessons learned. I owe it to two wonderful Elmers. I hope my story resonates with you and that you'll post here in our forum, to tell us something about YOUR ELMER. 73 for now, Dave W7DGJ (If you haven't seen the column yet, click here to read it).

 

My Elmer, if it is even accurate to use the term, was my own father - Robert Koehler, now an SK? for many years.

At 8 Y/O, he gifted me a Cub Scout crystal radio set and helped me to assemble same.
We then strung wire around the eves of the house and attached the ground side to a water spigot under my bedroom window. The stations were loud enough to hear with the little headset lying next to me on my pillow. I was hooked!
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Crystal radio set discussed

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Dad worked for the Bell Systems (before the breakup) and would bring home his training materials. I read those.
He helped with the math on Ohms law. After that, it was high school radio electronics classes and building kits/repairing old radio sets on my own. The school library had QST, CQ and a full set of the ARRL manuals.
The high school classes (taught by a Mr. Walsh) had students build several different radio receivers from scratch. The capstone project was to build an AA5 superhet radio set from parts and a square of sheet metal.

After HS graduation, I worked briefly for Western Electric as a so-called wire monkey for college tuition money.
College was cut short after losing an argument with a real (insert bad word here) at the local draft board. Joined the USAF to avoid working for the Big Army.

After leaving the USAF, I worked for the largest CLEC in Ak for a number of years. Life can be pretty circular at times.

I see an 'Elmer' as a person used for guidance as you self-study and learn, while keeping you from killing yourself - this from back in the days of radios with lethal voltages inside.

 

Hi Don -- that little crystal set brings back some serious memories. Thanks for the share. Your Dad sounds like he was quite a guy, for sure. And a school library with copies of CQ and the ARRL manuals? Wow. Dave, W7DGJ

 

Dad was a dad - like many I knew as a kid. WWII and RoK vets. Hard working and working hard to raise a family.

This is back when schools offered 'Industrial Arts' classes and did not assume everyone would go to college. The library reflected this to a point.
It helps that two teachers had ham stations in the school (Collins KWM-2s no less!) - for Spanish and French classes.
They were in the language wing of the school building- near the physics dept.

IOW - a very long time ago.

 

Dave Muir whose callsign I never can remember was what I could call my first "Elmer". We lived in a suburban 1/2 acre lot division and his property abuted ours at the rear. I always wondered what those contraptions in his back yard were and why the lights were always on in a back corner room.

It took me a while to recognize the 'voice' I heard coming over the TV set as Dave's voice.

I was about 8 years old as I recall. I had a paper route and Mr. Muir was on my route. One day while collecting for the paper route I mentioned to him that we could hear him on our TV set. He said; "Ohhh, I can fix that so you won't hear me any more. I'll come over this evening and install a filter"

"OH NO!" said I, "I want you to fix it so I can hear you LOUDER!"

He got a good laugh out of that and asked if I wanted to see his 'shack'. I thought to myself... "shack? he doesn't have a shack in the yard!".

But I said SURE! He led me into the back room and the walls were covered with all sorts of science fiction stuff. He showed me his oscilloscope and I had fun watching my voice make squiggles on the screen.

I listened as he had phone contacts with far away places... and did the Morse Code... and well... I was hooked!

Helped me build a crystal radio set.

BUT, Dave was an Army guy, and about 6 months later he was relocated to another place. I lost track of him then.

I never forgot though and started reading and getting books from the library and learning the code. I think it was maybe 8 years later I finally met another ham radio operator, a co-worker of Mom's. Mike Begala - K2CTJ (RIP). He gave me my novice test and helped me get a meager station set up, giving me some pieces of gear, etc...

One of the first nights I was on the air, I nervously called CQ on 80 M and a LOUD signal came back. I nervously copied the callsign... @K2DTC and name KEN. Then when it was clear that I could not continue on the air due to nervousness, he started sending NUMBERS. I could copy numbers! WAIT... WHAT ??? He's sending MY TELEPHONE NUMBER!!! No... what's this? That's not my number! Two of the numbers are reversed! Maybe that's HIS telephone number? What are the odds of him having the same numbers in different order? I was very nervous when I picked up the phone and dialed his number... and the rest is history. He taught me a lot, helped me a lot. I can't remember if he gave me, or if I bought the ARC-5 transmitter that I used through my novice license, but it came from him. Ken was a real Mentor. I haven't touched base with him in a while, maybe I should.

 

Yes, Jeff you should! I wish that Jim and Joe were still around as I would love to reach out and let them know how much I appreciate their tutelage. Great story, thanks. Dave

 

I've had a few Elmers. But, the one I'm mentioning here really helped me get started with CW. It wasn't really anything specific that he did. I saw him work CW one year at Field Day. I was absolutely struck with how cool it was. But, at dinner time on Saturday, he was kind enough to answer my questions, and give me two pieces of advice that were pivotal in me learning the code: 1) He suggested that I get involved with the Straight-Key Century Club (SKCC). He told me that I should register, and get myself a straight key, and participate in their monthly sprints. 2) He encouraged me to 'bury' my microphone as a 'weapon of war' (a reference to a story in one of the sacred books in our shared religion). So, I followed his advice. I unplugged the microphone from my HF rig, and didn't hook it up again for months. I hit lcwo.net, and practice, practice, practiced. I purchased a straight-key at a ham fest. Then, with trepidation, I got on the air, and participated in my first SKCC monthly sprint-a-thon. That really helped build my confidence to get on the air. Then, I branched out, and tried just regular-old ragchew QSO's. My first one was a disaster (at least, I thought so...), but I kept trying, and gradually got better. The next year, I tried my hand at the key during Field Day. I ended up making 30 contacts for the club! My Elmer was impressed with the progress that I had made, and encouraged me to keep going, which I did. I won't say that I'm a speed daemon, but I'm much better at CW now than I was 4 years ago.

Then, I had a cool experience. For the last three years, I have volunteered to be a one of the special event stations for the Straight-Key month that SKCC puts on every year in January. You get to have a different call sign for the night - I was K3Y/7. Apparently, Utah is rare, so I usually attract a pile-up. This last January, as I was working through the pile-up, I was able to pull one call sign out - it was my Elmer's! So, I got the chance to work my Elmer - working in the organization that he encouraged me to join all of those years before! It was a cool moment for me.

 

GREAT STORY Ralph . . . Hope to work you on some SKCC event. Dave

 

As always, great article Dave!

73

 

Much appreciated John! For some reason, fewer comments in the pages here after this one. Either it's a stinker of a column or it's not a topic that someone would come in and dispute, argue about, or agree with (as in product reviews). I hope it's just because the subject doesn't drive as much emotion and people still enjoy it. Dave

 

I think a lot of folken these days don't have/had an "Elmer" which is probably why the comments are down. When I was first licensed, I had a few Elmers that taught me the edicate of repeater usage, basic antenna design/setup and helped me get my Morse up to par to be able to pass the 13 WPM test (unfortunately, my mind no longer retains the CW I struggled to learn, except for a few letters). When I decided to get back in AR, I had a hard time finding new Elmers, but I was lucky enough to find to elderly gentlemen that donated a 80/160 fan dipole to me and helped me get it into the trees. I had a little help from one of them when I put in my 6BTV, but I ended up doing most of it myself. I think the issue is (at least where I'm located), there's not a lot of 2 meter activity and (let's face it), most of us are starting to get up in years. I still try to get out to the local Field day but I always seem to miss the fellowship breakfasts on Saturdays because of other things going on. Myself, I don't "do" AR the same way as I did when I was first licensed, most of my limited radio time is spent running (gasp!) FT8, looking for special event stations and hunting the occasional POTA activation. So to boil this all down, I think your article was spot on and well written (as always), it's just that AR has changed so much that most people don't have the same Elmer'ing experience and mostly use YouTube or the internet to get their information, be it right, wrong or somewhere in between.

73

 

Thanks John. I think you are right. Too bad . . . I think having a mentor is something that is really essential about the amateur radio service. I think that anyone could use a "friend" who is helpful. That's all it is to be a mentor . . . You're right, as I came "back to" AR as well, and when I did so, I used some YouTube stuff, a few books, etc. But I then found a guy who lent me some tools, showed me a few things and so on . . . I didn't thank him in the article because the piece was mostly about the "olden days" of when I got started. W7EFQ should have been thanked as well, as Paul was very helpful to this "come back" that I went through. Thanks John, for the commentary. Dave

 

G'day Dave!

I don't have an Elmer or a story to share (at my own fault for not getting involved with my local radio club yet), but the column still resonated with me and touched on a huge part of what draws me to this hobby: the standard of respect and community in Amateur Radio is unmatched.

Particularly enjoyed your below comment:

I stop and listen to any conversation that I find while browsing web SDRs, and this is what I love. No matter if the exchange is purely "operational" by exchanging callsigns and reports for basic contacts, chats about each operator's plans for the day or new projects they've been working on, or even discussing the weather at their locations, I am completely invested in it. No matter how "boring" people might consider the subject matter to be, we're all here to communicate, explore, and most importantly to have fun while doing it.

I'm still getting my first station together so I do a lot of listening without the chance to respond, but I'll be taking care of that soon.

Thanks very much for writing this column & all the best!

73

 

Hey Max! Thank you so much for your comment. As a young guy yourself, you may agree with the poster above who stated that the new ham today has a lot of "non-Elmer" resources to tap, from columns like this one, to YouTube, to great books both in your country and mine. I'm hoping to bump into you on the air. Thank you for mentioning that one particular comment, as it's important to me. There was a post I had to delete on the forum who was just so nasty, telling me in another column ("Let's Ditch the One-Minute QSO") that I was trying to tell people what to do. Except it wasn't said THAT nice. In reality, there's so much to learn about life and about other radio operators and their regions of the world! Have a blast Max. You are jumping into the hobby at the perfect time. Dave, W7DGJ (PS - Wanted to send you a hello via the Web Contact feature on QRZ but you do not have it implemented. Nice feature, I suggest you give it a try.)

 

My elmer and his wife ( both amateur operators) are still alive, and i talk to them regularly.
He is a retired civilian communications contractor for the USAF. And she is a retired teacher.
He set me up with a couple radios ( one working and one to repair)
( they also manage equipment donated to the club from sk estates)
They also said do not discount any station whether its a pixie, a baofeng, or mighty mite because even they can be heard quite a distance away.
I myself came to amateur radio kind of late because life and family got in the way of the hobby pursuit.
Im now a retired and happy grandfather.
My background in electronics and enthusiasm with teaching kind of makes me a bit of an elmer myself.
And I'll make this quote clear!
"It is an honor to pass on knowledge to those who actually want to learn"