[LCC] Our journey's through Ham Radio

[w5wz at w5wz.com]

About Me & Ham Radio (the short version)

In 1983, I was introduced to ham radio as a Boy Scout (age 13).  Around 
a campfire, we witnessed QSOs with far away places.  It was the greatest 
thing I had ever been exposed to. In fact, that was my only exposure 
until I was 26 years old.  I was at a co-worker's home and he casually 
showed me his radios.  My interest was again ignited, and 3 weeks later 
I was first licensed at age 26 in August 1997 as KD5CAS. The vanity call 
W5WZ was issued in Nov 1999.  During my time as a ham, I have been 
mostly interested in DXing and contesting on the HF bands.

Why an interest in ham radio?  As a kid, I loved reading and I loved 
maps and globes of the world.  I warmly recall two of my great-uncles 
(ironically, both were named Bill), both WWII veterans, visiting us from 
time to time.  They would ask me to get my piggy bank; actually, my bank 
was a metal world globe.  They would drop a few coins in it, and then 
they would show me places they had been and tell me about the people 
they had met.  Later, I would read about those places in our set of 
encyclopedias.



About Me & Ham Radio (the longer version)

Our scoutmaster had arranged for a local ham to attend one of our 
campouts and do a ham radio demonstration.

I remember the man using a fishing rod to throw lines into trees to pull 
up a dipole antenna. The first demo was to use a repeater to autopatch 
and call the scoutmaster’s wife. We boys got a big kick out of that 
because Ms. Gloria always answered the phone in a dramatic 
Southern-style “Hel-lo”. Next, he demonstrated SSB and CW, working many 
stations around the world from beside our campfire that night.

However, I suppose that I didn’t express enough interest at the time to 
be taken seriously (as if a 13-year-old knows what he wants). So 13 
years passed before I met another ham. At age 26, I was helping my boss, 
Jim, split firewood with my hydraulic splitter. We finished the task 
ahead of schedule. Jim, W5LA, invited me inside. He asked if I knew 
anything about ham radio. I relayed my Boy Scout experience. After just 
a few minutes, he’d made QSOs with several European and Asian stations. 
I once again was hooked.

Jim elmered me along the path to get my license. Only 19 days passed 
from that re-introduction at his home to the testing session and 
subsequent license grant. On August 19, 1997, Amateur Radio Station 
KD5CAS was born as a Technician Plus. Yes, I really did learn 5-wpm code 
in 19 days.

Soon, it was Field Day 1998.  I had been a ham only 9 months and had 
really never heard of contesting.  Our club was to operate from the 
football stadium at West Monroe High School.  I was appointed to be a 
member of the Field Day committee and assigned to rent a pop-up camper 
with air conditioning for the CW station to be housed in.  We also had 
the sheriff's department Em-Comm bus, and a local TV station’s remote 
switching trailer.

I had brought my home station to be used on 40 and 15m SSB.  Very 
modest, it was a stock (no filters) Kenwood TS-430, an MFJ969 antenna 
tuner, and a 135-ft dipole fed with ladder line.  It was set up in the 
TV station trailer.  At that time, our club always had one person to 
operate the radio, and another to log using NA by K8CC on the computer.  
No one used rig control, and the computers were not networked, nor did 
anyone use SCP.

I was sitting behind 2 guys as they operated early on Saturday 
afternoon.  Ken N5WKI was logging and Ray W5EW was running the radio on 
15m SSB.  Ken needed to take a nature break, so Ray didn’t ask, he told 
me to sit down and log for him.  A total rookie, I sat down and began 
logging for Ray.  However, I could touch-type over 60 wpm, so there was 
an advantage for me.  Ray is a pretty good contester, and he was running 
at over 60 QSOs per hour.  Eventually, Ray needed a break and told me to 
slide over and operate the radio and log until he got back.

Some 30 minutes later, he returned to find me still holding the 
frequency and running at 90 QSOs per hour.  At that point, he said I 
didn’t need any help and left me to my own devices.

Three weeks later, I enter the IARU and won the LA section.  The doctor 
has confirmed there is no cure.

--Scott, W5WZ
--Eagle Scout, Class of 1987