Yep, Dave,

I missed that fifties opening but have talked to dozens of hams over the 
years who were active during that one.

Phil.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David R. Basden" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2010 2:11 PM
Subject: Re: Wish Me Happy Birthday


> Happy anniversary Phil!  I recall my novice days very fondly as
> well.  Unlike you, I didn't wait for my ticket to arrive as I was
> living on an air force base in Alaska with my step father.  For some
> reason it took six months for my ticket to get to me.  A ham friend
> was away on a weather recon flight, so I bootlegged his call.  I was
> found out when he returned and talked to the fellow I had worked on
> 80 CW.  I only did it that once, but it was pretty exciting.  My
> first setup was a DX35 and a borrowed NC120 to parallel 80/40 dipoles
> also up about 20 feet.  That was in late 1956 when the mother of all
> sunspot cycle was building.
>
> 73,
>
> Dave
>
>
> At 09:33 AM 4/25/2010, you wrote:
>>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
>