Happy Birthday Phil!
Great story! I got my Novice call (WN7DBT) in April 1965. My first 
transmitter was an Elmac AF-67, the rcvr was an old military surplus rcvr. I 
had 3717 and 3735 xtals! My Novice ticket expired in Apr. 1966. I got a 
Conditional class ticket  in July of 1966 (WA7FXB). (we lived a considerable 
distance from the nearest FCC examination office in Seattle WA). Upgraded to 
a Drake TR4 xcvr in Sept. 1968.
73, Albert, W A 7 F X B / 4
Greenville NC
EchoLink node: 75240
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2010 12:33 PM
Subject: Wish Me Happy Birthday


> At about 3:15 PM central time 44 years ago today, I received my novice 
> call
> sign of WN0ORO and running as fast as I could go to the ham shack we had 
> at
> the Nebraska school for the blind, I burst through the door and told a
> friend of mine, and a couple of other guys sitting around the receiver, to
> move over because I was getting on the air.  They didn't believe me at 
> first
> but it didn't take them long.  I called my first, on the air CQ, as 
> WN0ORO/0
> because we did not have a station club call sign at the school at that 
> time.
> I was on 37 15 KHz and the guy who answered me was WN0OHO in York 
> Nebraska.
> We became close friends over the years and worked each other as novices, 
> and
> later as generals, for many years on 80 and 75 meters.  The transmitter I
> used was an AT1 running 30 watts input with a dipole on the roof of the
> school up about 30 feet.  Our DX60 was in the shop for repair.  My 
> receiver
> I used that day was the SX99 and I spent, from then on, every minute of my
> lunch breaks, after school hours, and after supper hours, in the ham shack
> and on the air.  I had my novice for 7 months before my general ticket 
> came
> in the mail.  At home, I first started out with a DX20 which ran 10 watts
> output to a 100 foot long wire with no tuner up 30 feet.  I had a BC 345
> receiver at home.  Eventually I got a Viking Ranger 1 for my transmitter 
> but
> for Christmas in 1966, after passing my general, my mother generously
> purchased me a Drake TR4 receiver which I ran for about the next 5 years.
> Those were some of the most enjoyable ham radio years I ever experienced, 
> 44
> years ago today.
>
> Phil.
> K0NX
> AF0H
> WA0ORO
> WN0ORO