I know what you mean, I remember last year when it was time for my first 
renewal of my license I was taken aback for a minute that 10 years went by 
that fast and I am still now as involved as I ever was and probably more.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Buddy Brannan" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2006 8:17 PM
Subject: Re: My 40th Ham Radio Anniversary


> Oops, this not only went private to poor Barb, but I sent it before I
> was done...
>
> Well, since we're all waxing nostalgic, I reckon it's my turn!
>
> October 24th (well, to be technical, October 20th, so says my first
> license, now unfortunately long gone--but got it on the 24th), will
> see my 19th anniversary as a ham this year. Next year--20 years-- 
> who'd've thunk it? It's sort of like...I don't know, you never really
> think you'll grow up, and you never really think about having done
> anything for 20 years when you just get started. But here it is, this
> side of 19 years, 20 years in site.
>
> I've actually known about ham radio for ages and ages. In fact, I
> have a vague memory of being about five and with a teacher and
> walking into the ham radio station at the New Mexico School for the
> Visually Handicapped when I was there and (obviously) very, very
> young. I just remember some radio static, asking, "What's that?", and
> someone telling me it's the ham radio station. In typical five-year-
> old fashion, I just said, "Oh." And forgot about it.
>
> Well, I guess I didn't really forget about it, though. I saw a book
> when I was nine and thought, "Oh, ham radio, I think I've heard of
> that." Reading the book, I thought (in typical stupid 9-year-old
> fashion), "Oh. You can't play music on it? What good is it then?!" I
> managed to meet some hams some time after that, but didn't give it
> much thought then either. But it just wouldn't quit! Because a while
> after that, we moved from Arizona to Texas, and I met an O&M
> instructor who oriented me to the school I was going to, or
> something, and, on the way home, he showed me his (you guessed it)
> ham radio, made a phone patch to my mom, and I thought, "Oh well, now
> isn't that interesting?" But it still didn't quit, because a few
> years later, I found a book called "How To Become A Radio
> Amateur" (Copyright 1950) and thought, "Oh, I've heard of that",
> checked the book out, didn't understand a damned thing in it (well,
> not much, anyway), and decided I'd get a ham radio license. (You see,
> I can even learn, eventually.) I even thought, "Oh, well, I guess
> I'll learn that morse code because I have to, but I don't think I'll
> like it. I'll probably never even use it." How surprised was I that I
> really not only learned it very easily, but absolutely fell in love
> with it! Having a head for stupid details, I remembered that this O&M
> instructor was a ham and somehow managed to let him know I wanted to
> be a ham, too. So, Steve not only helped me get started, put up
> antennas, lent me a receiver, helped me procure my first station,
> took me to hamfests and field day and all sorts of things, but he
> became a great friend.
>
> Anyway, just six months after picking up that initial copy of How To
> Become A radio Amateur, and several outdated study guides later (with
> patient help from Steve), I passed my novice test. By the way, if
> anyone knows where I can lay hands on a braille copy of this book,
> I'd be forever grateful; if I knew that TSB was throwing theirs out-- 
> the very one that got me started--I'd've asked for it, but I didn't
> know, and it got thrown out without any input from me.
>
> So that brought me to that Saturday, October 24th, 1987. I was
> talking to a friend on the phone, and I think motor Week had just
> gone off the TV. And my initial thought when my (uh. sister?) told me
> what my new call letters were...was, "Yuck!" (You see, I really was
> secretly hoping to get issued KB5LID mostly because I have a twisted
> sense of humor.) But it grew on me...like a cancer?...and a week
> later, I was making my first few contacts at Steve's ham shack. I
> really wasn't as nervous as I thought I'd be, but then, I'd been
> practicing for ages! My first contacts were on 15-meter cw; first
> with KA1JDG, then WA9YMI. I think my first QSL card came from YMI. I
> then made a couple of 10-meter phone contacts, which weren't nearly
> as much fun as I thought they'd be (they were lots of fun, though!),
> then one on 40-meter cw. The 15-meter novice band was my favorite
> band thereafter, for several years. Even after I tried 10-meter
> phone, 20-meter phone, lots of phone, lots of cw on several bands, 15-
> meter novice band was the home of many, many memorable contacts. It
> was the band I got the worst signal report I ever got, and probably
> the worst signal report just about anyone ever got. JH1WIX, whom I
> contacted again several months later, gave me a 219 signal report.
>
> I was a 20-WPM Novice for a month, then got my General. Worked lots
> of traffic nets. Made lots of wonderful friends. And the one striking
> thing about ham radio for me, as a 14- and 15-year-old kid, was that
> the hams fairly unversally treated me as an equal and with
> respect...not like some dumb kid.
>
> BTW, my first rig? A set of Drake twins. Fantastic rig. And as much
> as I absolutely loved (and still love) cw, I used a straight key
> exclusively for about three years, tried a Heath keyer for a while,
> went back to the key, tried a bug and loved it. Now I use an
> electronic keyer, but I really want another good hand key for my
> desk. And a bug. There's just something about sending cw with
> mechanical things. I should say, too, that unlike many of my modern
> ham brethren, I didn't actually get on 2 meters (apart from Steve's
> mobile) for about a year after I got licensed, and a good nine months
> after I got my general.
>
> So, even though my activity sort of drops off (like now, for
> instance), I still love ham radio, and cw is my first ham radio love.
> There were some amazing times, like that night in 1989 when I cruised
> 20 meter cw and had dx come back to my cq's for several hours; one of
> those contacts was Lyuba, UA1OSA, who (I found out later) has a sort
> of interesting background--look her up on QRZ. If I'd known then. ...
> But I didn't, and having the dx just sitting there without much
> effort was just amazing to me. Wow but that was an amazing evening.
> Sure wish I still had access to those logs, but I don't. Or what
> about those evenings on the Central Gulf Coast Hurricane Net, when a
> big hurricane was coming and my friends on the coast, some of them
> just weren't leaving. They got through OK, though. Just lots of
> stuff. Now I'm starting to play with QRP. Still can't quite bring
> myself to try hf digital modes, though.
> --
> Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV : Independent Watkins Associate #361534
> Email: [log in to unmask] : Phone: 888-752-8339
> --------------------------------------
> For over 135 years, Watkins has brought you products to improve your
> health and your home: http://www.tastyshop.net
> ...And a Watkins business could change your life! Get all the info on
> our business and the exclusive resources available to my team: http://
> www.tastybiz.com
>