well, they send you the password in the mail when you register so they know 
you're really the one that gets it but beyond that it's accessible, I had to 
do that a while back again because I lost my password and that was the only 
way to get in and get my GMRS license.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Kenyon" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2006 8:53 PM
Subject: Re: My 40th Ham Radio Anniversary


> I'll do that tomorrow.  When you get your license you are already
> registered with ULS?  If not, then the forms are there and are accessible
> to renew and/or register or  both?
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, 24 Apr 2006, John Miller wrote:
>
>> you should do that ASAP, you can do that online, you just need to be
>> registered with the ULS  http://wireless.fcc.gov  the forms are there and
>> it's not hard to do.
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Matt V" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Monday, April 24, 2006 8:40 PM
>> Subject: Re: My 40th Ham Radio Anniversary
>>
>>
>> >i need to change the address too when i renew mine
>> > where would i do that online and can i do it before i renew or does it
>> > have to be done together?
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Mon, 24 Apr 2006, Jeff Kenyon wrote:
>> >
>> >> Good evening John and the group.  I passed the novice in 2000 and was
>> >> granted my license in May of that year  It was just before the
>> >> restructuring took place.  I know that on our nets there are 
>> >> constantly
>> >> messages reminding people it is time to upgrade, but does the FCC to 
>> >> it
>> >> at
>> >> all?  In 2010 I do plan on updating and renewing no matter where I may 
>> >> be
>> >> or what I may be doing.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Mon, 24 Apr 2006, John Miller wrote:
>> >>
>> >>> 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
>> >>>>
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >
>>
>