Hi from KJ4DIY
Hi my name is Howard and my wife’s name is Carol and we have 7
Children and 9 Grandchildren. I’m 64 and this has been a dream of mine
for a long time to join the ranks of The Amateur Radio Service. I’m
looking to learn all I can about Ham Radio I have been a Shortwave and
Scanner Listener for many years but I have always wanted to be an
Amateur Radio Operator. I’m a relatively new only 4 months old in the
hobby.

I enjoyed a piece on the ARRL website about childhood memories of
Shortwave and Amateur Radio. The story brought back fond memories of
my childhood.
My first radio was from Allied Radio in Chicago, Illinois the name of
it was Ocean Hopper It came in kit form I remember the pleasure of
putting it together.
In later years I purchased a Radio Shack DX 160 I still have it and it
works only had to replace the panel lamps once.
I also bought an ICOM R75 Comm. Rec. and used a long wire antenna of
about 250 ft. with a MFJ-956 Pre-Selector/Antenna Tuner.
I had dreamed of getting my Amateur ticket for many years but I had a
hard time trying to learn Morse code.
I was at a local Amateur Radio Store “AES” and Jim Stout W9QC a
salesman there suggested I get my ticket seeing how there was no code
test anymore.
The rest is history as they say.
Just recently I passed my Extra test did all three of the tests in 2 ½
months got 100% on all.
At the age of 64 I’m putting together my first station I have an ICOM
718, MFJ 949E antenna tuner and a G5RV dipole antenna.
I also have an ICOM T7H dual band HT.
I just recently applied for accreditation as a VE with W5YI-VEC and
ARRL-VEC.
My W5YI-VEC accreditation will becoming in the mail soon.
I hope to have many opportunities to QSO with people all over the
world some day
73’s

Welcome aboard, Howard.

In case you didn't know, belief in magic is a necessary requirement for all
Amateur Radio operators. Of course, you didn't see a question concerning magic
or metaphysics on the test you took to obtain your license, but in your heart
you will come to believe in that powerful, intangible force.


All of us in the hobby have felt its influence at one time or another. Some
night when the band is dead as a doornail you'll be tuning aimlessly, not
expecting to hear a single signal because NOTHING could be coming through at
that hour. But then, rising out of the noise like a ghost, there will be a faint
call from another stalwart explorer thousands of miles distant. You pounce,
establish contact and both of you marvel at the fact that the conversation is
taking place at all. A few minutes later, however, the signal vanishes as
quickly as it came. Your rational mind will shrug it off as a quirk of
propagation, but that little tingle in your gut will tell you otherwise.


If you could travel back in time to, say, 1208 AD, you'd probably be burned
at the nearest stake for even suggesting that two human beings could communicate
with each other over great distances without a physical connection. No doubt
they would accuse you of dabbling in magic -- and they'd be right!


As Amateur Radio operators, we work feats of magic every day. Many of us
have become jaded about our powers and we tend to dismiss them as commonplace.
We hardly think twice when we use our equipment to sommon the elemental forces
of the universe. But every so often we need to pause and remind ourselves of
what we are really doing. We need to remember the essence of what drew us to our
unusual avocation in the first place: the wonderful magic of wireless
communications.

Welcome to the Magical Hobby



73, de Hans, K0HB

Yikes, that's jumping in with all four feet(grin)! Welcome to amateur
radio!

IMHO the deletion of the Morse requirement was a positive development, bu
t
I would strongly recommend you consider *voluntarily* learning Morse.
It's a good deal of fun - and it will make DXing a LOT easier with a
modest station. There's quite a bit of computer software out there to
assist in the process.

KJ4DIY wrote in news:883a588d-eae3-4b81-8672-
:

Hi from KJ4DIY


Hi, Howard and Welcome to Ham Radio!

I got my novice in 1957 when I was 11 thanks to the local hams in our
little town in upstate NY. It was a defensive move on their parts because
us boys used to hang out in their hamshacks all the time working DX on
their radios and they figured the ONLY way to get rid of us and get control
of their equipment back was to get us our licenses and help us build novice
stations of our own so they could have some PEACE! It worked pretty
well...

It's been a helluva ride.

Please do not judge any of us from what you see in some of these newsgroups
or may hear on some 75 meter frequencies. We're NOT a bunch of nasty old
men who hate everyone that hasn't been on the air since dirt was new...(c;

My record youngest ham failed his first test when he was 7 because he ran
out of paper printing those big letters on the Novice Morse test. We gave
him plenty of paper the next time around and he got his Novice at 7, Tech
at 8 and General at 9, at which point he moved away. That was a long time
before we could search on the internet to find him, again.

I think you waited way too long to make the jump.

73 de Larry W4CharlestonSouthCarolina
waiting for Hurricane Ike to come blow the place away, again....

..