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<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Wonderful story Scott. I really enjoyed it. This is very interesting stuff. Perhaps others can share their stories and we can learn more about each other. Maybe we have more Boy Scouts out there? My Dad was a Scout Master for many years. I was very lucky.</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">73, Don AA5AU</div><div><br></div>
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On Wednesday, December 23, 2020, 03:01:58 PM CST, w5wz@w5wz.com <w5wz@w5wz.com> wrote:
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<div><div dir="ltr">About Me & Ham Radio (the short version)<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">In 1983, I was introduced to ham radio as a Boy Scout (age 13). Around <br></div><div dir="ltr">a campfire, we witnessed QSOs with far away places. It was the greatest <br></div><div dir="ltr">thing I had ever been exposed to. In fact, that was my only exposure <br></div><div dir="ltr">until I was 26 years old. I was at a co-worker's home and he casually <br></div><div dir="ltr">showed me his radios. My interest was again ignited, and 3 weeks later <br></div><div dir="ltr">I was first licensed at age 26 in August 1997 as KD5CAS. The vanity call <br></div><div dir="ltr">W5WZ was issued in Nov 1999. During my time as a ham, I have been <br></div><div dir="ltr">mostly interested in DXing and contesting on the HF bands.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Why an interest in ham radio? As a kid, I loved reading and I loved <br></div><div dir="ltr">maps and globes of the world. I warmly recall two of my great-uncles <br></div><div dir="ltr">(ironically, both were named Bill), both WWII veterans, visiting us from <br></div><div dir="ltr">time to time. They would ask me to get my piggy bank; actually, my bank <br></div><div dir="ltr">was a metal world globe. They would drop a few coins in it, and then <br></div><div dir="ltr">they would show me places they had been and tell me about the people <br></div><div dir="ltr">they had met. Later, I would read about those places in our set of <br></div><div dir="ltr">encyclopedias.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">About Me & Ham Radio (the longer version)<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Our scoutmaster had arranged for a local ham to attend one of our <br></div><div dir="ltr">campouts and do a ham radio demonstration.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">I remember the man using a fishing rod to throw lines into trees to pull <br></div><div dir="ltr">up a dipole antenna. The first demo was to use a repeater to autopatch <br></div><div dir="ltr">and call the scoutmaster’s wife. We boys got a big kick out of that <br></div><div dir="ltr">because Ms. Gloria always answered the phone in a dramatic <br></div><div dir="ltr">Southern-style “Hel-lo”. Next, he demonstrated SSB and CW, working many <br></div><div dir="ltr">stations around the world from beside our campfire that night.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">However, I suppose that I didn’t express enough interest at the time to <br></div><div dir="ltr">be taken seriously (as if a 13-year-old knows what he wants). So 13 <br></div><div dir="ltr">years passed before I met another ham. At age 26, I was helping my boss, <br></div><div dir="ltr">Jim, split firewood with my hydraulic splitter. We finished the task <br></div><div dir="ltr">ahead of schedule. Jim, W5LA, invited me inside. He asked if I knew <br></div><div dir="ltr">anything about ham radio. I relayed my Boy Scout experience. After just <br></div><div dir="ltr">a few minutes, he’d made QSOs with several European and Asian stations. <br></div><div dir="ltr">I once again was hooked.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Jim elmered me along the path to get my license. Only 19 days passed <br></div><div dir="ltr">from that re-introduction at his home to the testing session and <br></div><div dir="ltr">subsequent license grant. On August 19, 1997, Amateur Radio Station <br></div><div dir="ltr">KD5CAS was born as a Technician Plus. Yes, I really did learn 5-wpm code <br></div><div dir="ltr">in 19 days.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Soon, it was Field Day 1998. I had been a ham only 9 months and had <br></div><div dir="ltr">really never heard of contesting. Our club was to operate from the <br></div><div dir="ltr">football stadium at West Monroe High School. I was appointed to be a <br></div><div dir="ltr">member of the Field Day committee and assigned to rent a pop-up camper <br></div><div dir="ltr">with air conditioning for the CW station to be housed in. We also had <br></div><div dir="ltr">the sheriff's department Em-Comm bus, and a local TV station’s remote <br></div><div dir="ltr">switching trailer.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">I had brought my home station to be used on 40 and 15m SSB. Very <br></div><div dir="ltr">modest, it was a stock (no filters) Kenwood TS-430, an MFJ969 antenna <br></div><div dir="ltr">tuner, and a 135-ft dipole fed with ladder line. It was set up in the <br></div><div dir="ltr">TV station trailer. At that time, our club always had one person to <br></div><div dir="ltr">operate the radio, and another to log using NA by K8CC on the computer. <br></div><div dir="ltr">No one used rig control, and the computers were not networked, nor did <br></div><div dir="ltr">anyone use SCP.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">I was sitting behind 2 guys as they operated early on Saturday <br></div><div dir="ltr">afternoon. Ken N5WKI was logging and Ray W5EW was running the radio on <br></div><div dir="ltr">15m SSB. Ken needed to take a nature break, so Ray didn’t ask, he told <br></div><div dir="ltr">me to sit down and log for him. A total rookie, I sat down and began <br></div><div dir="ltr">logging for Ray. However, I could touch-type over 60 wpm, so there was <br></div><div dir="ltr">an advantage for me. Ray is a pretty good contester, and he was running <br></div><div dir="ltr">at over 60 QSOs per hour. Eventually, Ray needed a break and told me to <br></div><div dir="ltr">slide over and operate the radio and log until he got back.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Some 30 minutes later, he returned to find me still holding the <br></div><div dir="ltr">frequency and running at 90 QSOs per hour. At that point, he said I <br></div><div dir="ltr">didn’t need any help and left me to my own devices.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Three weeks later, I enter the IARU and won the LA section. The doctor <br></div><div dir="ltr">has confirmed there is no cure.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">--Scott, W5WZ<br></div><div dir="ltr">--Eagle Scout, Class of 1987<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">_______________________________________________<br></div><div dir="ltr">LCC mailing list<br></div><div dir="ltr"><a href="mailto:LCC@louisianacontestclub.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LCC@louisianacontestclub.org</a><br></div><div dir="ltr"><a href="http://mail.louisianacontestclub.org/mailman/listinfo/lcc_louisianacontestclub.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://mail.louisianacontestclub.org/mailman/listinfo/lcc_louisianacontestclub.org</a><br></div><div dir="ltr">Message delivered to <a href="mailto:aa5au@bellsouth.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">aa5au@bellsouth.net</a><br></div></div>
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