Some of my most enjoyable life experiences have been related to ham radio.
When I was a very young boy, I loved to visit my Grandmother and sit on the
floor in front of her floor model Zenith radio. It was am and shortwave and
was one of those old radios that were considered a valued piece of your
living room furniture. It had a big round dial that I could see even though
my eyesight wasn't very good in those days. I tuned in hams and listened to
them and was totally mesmerized with the idea of being able to hear ordinary
guys talking to each other from all over the country. I asked people what
those guys were, and when I learned they were called hams or amateur radio
operators, I did what I always did when I wanted to learn more about
something, and that was go to the library and research it. I checked out
every book I could find that dealt with ham radio. Then, I ordered a set of
books from the ARRL: "How to Become a Radio Amateur," The Radio Amateur's
License Manual," and another little booklet called: "Operating an Amateur
Radio Station." I also purchased a Knight Kit shortwave radio called the
Ocean Hopper and put it together with my Dad's assistance. That was a very
inexpensive, 3 tube, super regenerative receiver, but it allowed me to stay
awake many nights listening to hams and foreign broadcast stations.
A small group of us guys at the Michigan School for the Blind studied
together at a local ham's house to get prepared to take our Novice license
exam. We all passed, and at age 13, I became KN8HSY. My very first station
consisted of a homebrew transmitter loaned to me by W8AJM, and old time ham
who helped me get on the air, and a BC-454, military surplus receiver that
covered something like 6 to 9 Mhz. I only had two crystals for the 40 meter
novice band, 7176 and 7182, as I recall, and so, I worked 40 meters almost
exclusively as a novice. Besides, my receiver only covered the 40 meter
band. The first Christmas after I received my novice ticket, my parents gave
me a Hallicrafter's SX-71 receiver, which was a huge step up for me, and
then, I passed my General license exam and became K8HSY. By then, I had
saved enough money to purchased a DX-40 with an outboard VF1 VFO. At that
point, I was really cooking with gas!
I remember chasing DX into the wee hours of the night. While I worked some
AM, most of my contacts were on CW. That was also the days of the AM/SSB
wars.
Since those early days full of fond memories, I've owned many pieces of ham
gear, Viking II, NCX-3, Hammarlund HQ-110, Drake R4b and T4b, Galaxy Marc5,
TS-520, TS-440, TenTec Paragon, Alpha 374, Among several others. My favorite
rigs were the Drake pair and the TS-440, and I sure loved that Alpha linear.
I've also earned the Extra Class ticket, and have held numerous calls over
the years including W7GPF, W5UVL, N5GSY, AC4HM, and now, I'm back to my
original K8HSY call. I've used lots of different antennas, but for working
75 and 40 meters, I especially like the Double Bazooka, but for working 20
-10 bands, I like a quad, and my 5 element Tri-bander.
Ham radio has really changed since my beginnings in 1957. The equipment has
become considerably more complicated and expensive, but it also performs
much better for the most part, e.g. selectivity and sensitivity are both
much better. The average age of the active hams is pretty old, and the new
hams don't seem to have the same level of interest in the hobby and few ever
become very active. I'm very concerned about the future of our hobby. So, we
all better enjoy it while we can.
73,
Ron, K8HSY
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