I was WB5ADC from August of 1970 until November of 1996.

When I was preparing to submit my list of vanity call choices, I sat 
down with a keyer, and sent various 2 and 3 letter combinations to see 
how they sounded, as well as how it felt to send them.

A few combinations sounded okay, but were awful to send, while others 
just didn't sound smooth no matter how I sent them.

My first choice was N5MD, just because it would be cool to have my 
initials as my call. That wasn't a bad CW call either. Another person 
with the MD initials received that call before my application was processed.

K5XU was my second choice. As soon as I began using it, I realized what 
a great call I had gotten for CW. It is okay for voice work, but it 
really rocks on CW at any speed.

I had very little trouble remembering to use the new call on CW, but it 
took me two forevers to not stutter through WB5, uh, K5XU, on phone.

Looking back, I hope Mark Dempsky is as happy with N5MD as I am with 
K5XU. I would not trade calls with him.

-- 
Mike Duke, K5XU