Actually, for me it's 36 years as of October 14, 2005.
I became WN5ADC on that date in 1969, and upgraded to General the following
summer at age 15.
My rig was a Viking Ranger and Hq110. The Hammarlund Hq110 was bought new by
my parents for my Christmas in 1968. The Ranger came from a store in Mobile,
Alabama in the summer of 1969.
It was the old Ranger with the 11 meter band in it. The tuning meter was in
the plate lead of the 6146. I learned that quite by accident, and believe
me, I never forgot it!
Most of my Novice time was spent on 40 meters with a folded dipole which was
made and fed with 300 ohm tv line from my local shop.
Just before upgrading, my brother helped me build a 15 meter rotatible
dipole from the ARRL handbook. It was a bit short, and used a 5 turn coil at
the center for loading.
While that was perhaps not the most efficient way to load an antenna, that
dipole did something that no other antenna will ever do. It gave me my first
dx contacts - Australia and Holland, both on the same night.
At least two other guys used that antenna after I acquired a triband beam.
The Mississippi School for the Blind did not have a radio club. I was the
only ham there until my senior year when 3 other guys earned their Novice
tickets.
None of them ever got on the air, but one did become a Tec Plus about 15
years ago, and is still active.
Like Dave in Virginia, amateur radio merely increased my drive to work in
broadcasting, which I have done for the past 30 years following college.
I now have a TS570, with antennas for 80 through 6 meters, plus 2 meters and
440 FM.
I recently acquired the DX60 which belonged to my lifelong friend and mentor
Charles Melton, K5ZFM, a blind teacher and minister. His wife built that
transmitter on their kitchen table, and it was part of the first station I
ever touched. I have had it restored, and will have it back on the air later
this summer along with my original HQ110 receiver.
So, when 10 meters opens again, look for my controlled carrier AM signal on
29.0 MHZ. Meanwhile, I'll run it on some of the cw boatanchor frequencies.
Mike Duke, K5XU
American Council of Blind Radio Amateurs
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