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
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