RadioBanter - View Single Post

January 31st 06, 06:41 AM posted to rec.radio.amateur.boatanchors

wrote:
Just a question that has been rattling around in the gourd. What age
group are B/A enthusiast-type folks here on the Net?

52. Got interested in elctronics in 5th grade, 1964-65. When I moved to
a new house a neighbor gave me (now long gone) two ARRL handbooks from
the 40's and 50's but was not a ham. I read those until they fell apart.

Never could learn the code and went into computers instead.

In 1993 I earned a no-code tech. I tried everything that I could even to
the point of talking a cpo on the train to work and talking to myself
in morse code. But I never could copy enough to pass.

I asked the local VEs and then the ARRL VEC about taking a sending (only)
test and they refused without a doctor's note. I then found out about Code
Quick and learned to copy in about 2 months.

I got as far as the 13wpm test and then had to stop taking tests in
preperation for moving here. When I left the states in 1996, I was able
to copy about 35wpm. But could never get above about 10wpm with a
straight key. I've never been able to "get it" with a bug or a keyer, my
brain is not wired to think in letters.

The U.S. advanced was good enough for an Israeli extra license. I had
not used it in years and have recently gone back on the air.

Radios are rare here so there is no chance of building a boat anchor collection.
Each transmitter must be on your license and an import permit is needed for
them.

What I do have is usefull and still works well, a Drake TR-5, Ten-Tec
Triton IV digital, Argonaut 509, and a "modern" rig, a Kenwood TS-430s.

73.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 IL Fax: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/