Your most memorable events as a ham

One of my most enjoyable times as a ham came in 1996. I became an amateur operator in 1994 as a Tech. and upgraded to a Gen. by 1995.

The solor cycle was at its lowest when I got my H.F. privleges so I was really wanting a DX contact.
I felt like a kid in a candy store with no money, every now and then you could hear a South America station but most of them wasn't very good at speaking english.

Well one night I couldn't sleep so I went out to the shack and turned on 20 meters, it was about 30 A.M.
Well I threw out a CQ, and I heard this station coming back and it was a DX padition from Gaum. I have made a lot of DX contacts sence then but that was my most memrable to make a DX contact like that at the low time of the cycle. Please check out my web site at: www.geocities.com/kb0oxt9972/
KB0OXT Jerry Shadrick

 

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (kd7rhe @ July 17 2002,05:19)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">This is for that guy who wanted something from the World War Two era. Ham Radio was banned 3 days after the atack on Pearl Harbor and for the duration of the war. There was no Ham activity during WW2, the government kicked them all of the air and made Ham radio illegal during the war years. It was to hard figuring out what was normal Ham traffic and what was some German or Jap spy sending code to the motherland so they made it easy and just banned all ham traffic. There was no Ham radio again untill the war ended.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
There was also some fear of Germans homing in on radio signals, in addition to the factor mentioned. Most broadcast stations were off the air at sundown, and since we also had blackouts, in theory, at least, the Germans couldn't find us! Ham radio was ressurected after the war because ham radio operators, drafted into the military, were easily put to work in military radio, as they not only knew Morse code (the primary method of communicating then) but knew how to keep cantankerous radios operating in the field using available supplies. This was where the term "pool of trained radio operators" came fronm. It had nothing at all to do with our public service efforts. The Department of Navy, though, strongly resisted the reinstatement of ham radio - ever. We survived only because we had been so valuable during the war. WE already had the necessary skills; all we needed was brief military training and we could be put into the field, including into combat. Following WW-II, many hams found that, by virtue of having a ham license, they were deemed qualified for civilian jobs, as they knew the electronics of the day. That held true into the Sixties, when digital technology began to take hold, and hams were no longer current.

Stories of hams who went to war, and put their skills to work for the nation would be very interesting. I hope some who are still out there will respond to this forum and tell us how they contributed to the war effort, by nature of being a ham. Perhaps some of these hams would like to contribute to a possible book on the subject? It could hold true not only for World War II, but for Korea. By the time Vietnam came along, ham radio operators were far less valuable to the military. But those who pioneered the military radio efforts, including in World War I, would certainly have interesting, perhaps even exciting, stories to tell. Like the Codetalkers.

Let's hear from you guys and gals who held ham licenses and operated radios for the military war effort in any war, including Vietnam, if your ham license was a factor.

73
Ed

 

Just to continue from the previous post --

Edwin Armstrong, the inventor of FM, developed his superheterodyne technology during WWI. It would be VERY interesting if there are any wartime hams out there who recall events during that time, maybe some of the early Armstrong sets. That surely was a very exciting time for radio.

I've read two biographies of Armstrong and would be very curious to email or speak to hams who might have met him in person or seen the early radios he helped design.

 

Thanks to all the hams that have told their stories! I am a new yl, and love hearing and reading about these moments. I would love to hear about antennas( the good, the bad, the unique and how you got them to work) and field day stories. I think it is great what the pioneers did, and how they have brought us to where we are today. So far, my most memorable event was my first qso after getting my general ticket. Thanks, Wade wa5dkd. It isn't far from CO to TX, but 40m during the day is fun. And thanks to my om w0swr for having the patience to answer all my questions and getting me setup for that first hf qso.

 

Oh, the magic we call Amateur Radio...

My most memorable moment was sitting in the shack of my elmer Phil (WB7RXY) years before I got my ticket. He had put out a CQ on one of the HF bands and got someone in California (W6CUI as I recall), then spoke with someone "locally" on 2 meters, and then, he invited me to speak on the air. I'll never forget that, nor will I forget how quickly I was able to speak to someone thousands of miles away as if I were sitting right next to them.

Another memorable time was during a Field Day event about 5 years ago. I was working 2m all-modes (FM/USB/LSB), had a ground plane and a dipole up about 35 feet above me (I was at 4000+ ASL on the top of a mountain), just not getting any sideband activity, so I switched over to FM, just to see if I could hit any repeaters. Imagine my shock as I brought up a repeater over 145 miles away, full quieting, on about 10 watts off the ground plane. Fortunately, this repeater had an autopatch, and it was located within the "local" calling area that my (now-ex) girlfriend lived in, so I dialed up the autopatch and had a nice chat with her. When she asked me where I was, I told her I was 20 miles south of my QTH, up on a mountain, sitting in a cow pasture with an overheated Jeep, two antennas in the air, and talking to her from 145 miles away. She honestly thought I was right in her hometown, paying her a surprise visit

I've had other 2 meter QSO's, as well...my absolute first QSO upon receiving my ticket was with a local ham on our local 2m repeater...he wondered why I had a 2x3 call instead of 1x3 (at the time, all Technicians were "supposed" to have 1X3 calls). My first international QSO ever was over one of the local repeater links to a VE7 station. That was another very memorable occasion...I felt as if I had joined an elite club then.

Of course, there's the times I've used a "distant" (over 30 miles away) repeater to talk to someone just up the block, out toward the city limits, or across town, or have dialed up a link on my handheld to speak to a friend over 350 miles away in Seattle while sitting in my (now-ex) girlfriend's house, or have listened to the Space Shuttle's packet bleeps every 90 minutes when they send up the SAREX (I'm still hoping to work the ISS sometime), but nothing, absolutely NOTHING, will ever replace that thrill I got that one magical night in Phil's shack.

Doug KB7RKY

 

That reminds me of my first "notice" of radio and my awe of the
radio waves just being there in the air all around me. It was a
"store bought" crystal radio shaped like a rocket and you clipped it
onto an aerial and ground. I tuned in the local AM station as impressed
enough to remember it in my mind even today. In fact (being a poet as well as
Ham and EE) I wrote a poem about:

         "Rocket Radio"

         In childhood days
         I was a scientist
         living my dreams to come.

         I asked myself questions -
         how, what and why? Thought I
         knew what the future would hold.

         It was white with red fins
         shaped like a rocket; tuned
         with a sliding nose cone.

         No batteries needed
         and none included
         just wires and crystal earphone

         I clipped the lead
         to the chrome finger-stop
         on the black Bell rotary phone

         Science was magic
         and I was amazed as
         invisible waves became sound.

         I listened in awe
         as local station KMAD
         came through loud and clear.

         And at night sometimes,
         with everything still
         Chicago whispered in my ear.


         1/09/01 - Kenny A. Chaffin


I doubt many here are interested in poetry, but if you are, see my poetry page
at http://www.kacweb.com/poems/
the one above is part a reading I did and was published in Star*line.
The poems from the reading are at:
http://www.kacweb.com/poems/rmbfpoems.html


Thanks for the memories everyone!
KAC
WB0E

 

Believe it or not, another first for me in the hobby came just days after I posted the original article in this thread, and I thought I'd pass it along to all the other great stories.

It was Monday night of this week, and I decided to try 40m CW. It had been a long time (at least a year) since I had been on that band, and even longer since I had attempted CW. My inverted vee antenna is fed off of a balun strapped to the side of my crank-up tower. So, at around 10:30 pm, I cranked it up and made some minor repairs to one end of the dipole, and I was on the air again.

I tuned around and answered a couple of CQs, and had some nice rag chews. Then a third CQ came in, a little weak but readible. I could tell they were /MM, or maritime mobile, so must have been a ship at sea. The call was K5HK/MM QRPp. The first report I gave him was 409! He was under the noise and lots of QSB. Gradually his signal improved and I was able to find his coordinates (a few hundred miles off the west coast), his rig, and his name -- Carl. Carl was running only 1/2 a watt!! His rig was a Norcal SMK1, a QRP kit he had built. The antenna was a vertical.

Eventually his signal reached S9 as the static crashes from thunderstorms abated (after 11:30 PM or so). I could not believe he was only on 1/2 a watt! He said it was a cargo ship and he was the main ship's electronics technician and had been in the business for some 25 years. We had a nice long rag chew as he sent nearly flawless CW (on a straight key, no less&#33 and conditions continued to improve. By the end of the QSO he was a steady S9. He then signed off and began QSO with another station.

To me, it was a real testament for what can be done with simple equipment made by your own hand. The thrill was not only that he was at such low power, but that the only store-bought gear was the rig at my end (my antenna also homebrew). I have never before carried on a QSO at such a distance with that low of power.

I hope to someday repeat the event, but this time with MY rig being a homebrew or kit, and also at 1/2 a watt!

73s all, Bert WF7I

 

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (wb0e @ July 19 2002,09:37)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">That reminds me of my first "notice" of radio and my awe of the
radio waves just being there in the air all around me. It was a
"store bought" crystal radio shaped like a rocket and you clipped it
onto an aerial and ground. I tuned in the local AM station as impressed
enough to remember it in my mind even today.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Well, if you miss the old thing you will be happy to know that the Rocket Radio is back!  My kids got me one for Father's Day last year and I pull it out and play with it once in a while.  They had them at Restoration Hardware, a chain of stores that sells 1920-1960's replicas of all kinds of stuff.

I just clip mine onto the bare wire that leads to my earth ground and listen to the Cubs lose (they always seem to lose).

 

Most memorable has to be '95....... got my tech+code on first try. Couldn't wait to get on 10 meters and make my 10 contacts for 10-10. I had been listening for days, not a soul to be heard. I cq'd anyway, and spent the next 2 hours working like 45 stations in 9 states! Met some of the friendliest people I could ever imagine! Got my ten 10-10 numbers the first hour! One older ham even recorded my calls and played it back for me. Boy! Did I ever sound like the Okie I am!  

All that fun.................. on a band that was as dead as could be!

73, Mike
kc5nyo

 

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (K1ZC @ July 19 2002,09:41)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (wb0e @ July 19 2002,09:37)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">That reminds me of my first "notice" of radio and my awe of the
radio waves just being there in the air all around me. It was a
"store bought" crystal radio shaped like a rocket and you clipped it
onto an aerial and ground. I tuned in the local AM station as impressed
enough to remember it in my mind even today.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Well, if you miss the old thing you will be happy to know that the Rocket Radio is back!  My kids got me one for Father's Day last year and I pull it out and play with it once in a while.  They had them at Restoration Hardware, a chain of stores that sells 1920-1960's replicas of all kinds of stuff.

I just clip mine onto the bare wire that leads to my earth ground and listen to the Cubs lose (they always seem to lose).[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
I had one of those...only they called it the "Spy Pen Radio." It was shaped like a pen, and it only seemed to pick up one radio station, but it was enough to make the bug bite!

This was back when I was in 7th grade, and I had just bought the radio/pen from a mail-order catalog (Johnson Smith Co.). Instead of using a crystal, it used a diode, a few turns of copper wire, and a ferrous slug tuner. I remember taking it to school and trying various metal objects in class to tune in the one radio station it always picked up...my science teacher's file cabinet worked best

Doug KB7RKY

 

My "Most Memorable EVENT As An Amateur Radio Operator" was the day that amateur radio as a whole (including the FCC, Local Official Observers and My Local Amateur Radio Club found me GUILTY before allowing me the opportunity via appearance and or trial to prove my innocence, regarding my amateur radio infraction case.

It seems: ONLY IN AMATEUR RADIO are we "Guilty Before Proven Innocent". THAT'S SAD!!!

In the meantime, I will go home to my JESUS (hence the formation of my callsign WW4WJD) knowing that I have done my best as a Christian to shine in his likeness.....though I, far from a perfect man!

For Now....Thank You God for .565 SIMPLEX and my 3 amateur radio mentors (the 3 Mark's) who have stood by my side to this very day!

and if you are wondering......WW4WFU......"It's all in our PERCEPTION folks". (THINK ABOUT THAT)

 

I have only been licensed for a year, but have had some very memorable events.  Most of mine have been from watching my daughter's (KG4OPC) excitement as she enjoys ham radio.  Nothing could be as exciting as watching a child make their first hf contact.  Or watching as she is running up and down the hallway excited and breathless telling everyone at Field Day that she just worked West Texas.  You would have thought it was rare dx, but to her it was just as exciting to work Texas for the first time.  If I had to choose just one thing that stands out though, it would have to be the look on her face when she realized that she had passed her extra exam.  She was so excited that she couldn't stop shaking, and for the next few hours would just grab me and hug me really hard just from sheer happiness.  Like most hams, I will always remember my first voice and cw contacts and working rare dx stations after calling for several hours, but watching my daughter get hooked on amateur radio will always be something that holds a special place for me.
73,
Angela
WN4C

 

One of my most memorable moments came about 3 months ago. I had just put up my 150' longwire and was working hams on 20m when I heard a station from Fairbanks AK we had a very nice qso for about 20min passed on our 73's. Several weeks later I worked a gentleman in CO we got to ragchewing I told him about my set up & he asked what kind of stations I was working. I told him about the dx & one very good qso from a ham in Alaska, he said he had a ham friend of his standing next to him who was from Alaska and he was wondering what the other hams call was. Beleive it or not it was the same ham. So we exchanged qsl cards twice once from AK & once from CO. Think I'll alway's remember this one. Dan N9SWA

 

I can remember one of my better contacts both using the "HF" radio on 20mts and the Computer.

I was in contact with Keith G4RZQ located on the Isle of White, we were just having a ragchew when I recieved an email from a SWL to say he is listening to both Keith and myself, he had looked up my call on QRZ.com.

The SWL's name is Lawrence Leech and he informed both of us via email that he would like to get into Ham radio.

Lawrence is located in the Highlands of Scotland, he told both of us via email that he did not have any Ham clubs in his area to persue his ambition in becomming a Ham.

Keith G4RZQ told Lawrence on air and later through email the address of a Ham in his area.

Lawrence informed us both via email that it was only about five miles from his home QTH.

We all kept in contact and Lawrence informed us both that he had been in contact with the Ham in his area and was doing his studdies for his Ham Radio Licence.

It just goes to show that you can help others so far away.

 

Boy I've had some memorable moments...

My very first contact on HF was something I will remember for the rest of my life.   I won't post about it here, it has been published in the BRARS (Blue Ridge Amateur Radio Society) and the MARAC (Mobile Awards club at www.marac.org) and can be found at:
W5UGD's first contact...

Even my callsign is memorable (to me) and you can read about that on my QRZ profile...

However, I will post a couple of the funniest things that I have witnessed recently...

A week or so ago I was calling "CQ CQ CQ Hawaii" on 20 meters, trying to get Hawaii, which I had been doing over and over and over for weeks.   This nice fella come Russia or South Africa calls and we have a nice little chat... At the close of our QSO, he signs and says "<call and location> QRZ".  And starts making contacts on the frequency had I had been using.. hahahaah   What a unique way to procure a frequency!

And here's one that I know you will find funny.  Today I got on the radio and couldn't hear but a few stations and they were not moving my S-meter at all... In fact, the S-Meter was reading a constant S9 and peaking to 20db over.   Even with the ATT on it was reading S7.  I posted to a forum for County Hunters about how messed up the band was today, and I emailed a very seasoned County Hunter and told them the same thing.  
It had every appearance of one of those huge flares we've had recently, with the exception of there being no volume, no white noise to go along with that S9 reading.

It was then that I discovered that I had turned the RF gain down on the rig instead of the volume after a late night radio session!!!!!!!!!!!

I had to quickly follow up my posts and let people know that I was at a fault.  I can't wait for the replies! haha

John - W5UGD - www.superhosts.net/hamchat.html