I guess a brief introduction is in order…
My name is Jason. I recently took and passed my Technician and General exams, callsign KR4DYT.
I’ve always had a passing interest in radios, but never had the time, nor the money to pursue it. I’ve had a few CB’s over the years, and a scanner or 2, but I always knew there was more to be found with HAM.
I can credit my dad with getting me interested in radios. He was a licensed CB operator back in the 70’s. He passed in 2019. Among his belongings that I got was a generic QSL card that he had his info written on. He was KHK6502, and his handle was “Harvey Wallbanger”. The 70’s were a different time. If you didn’t know, a Harvey Wallbanger is a drink. I tried it one time. I don’t want to talk about it.
By the time I was old enough to remember, “Smokey and the Bandit” had come out, and CB popularity exploded. My dad wasn’t really into CB’s anymore after that. He once had a tower, and I remember him saying the furthest he ever reached was Nova Scotia (from Georgia). He said by the mid 80’s, you were lucky to reach across the street.
He was also a fireman. It seemed like there was always a scanner on in the house. I remember having an old 8 channel Realistic Patrolman crystal scanner, with the lights flashing every time the radio scanned passed the channel. His fire station was just a mile from my house. It was fun hearing a call go out for that station, then hearing the sirens crank up a minute or so later. Eventually, he got a programmable scanner, and we were able to listen to everything from public safety, to air planes. You could also pick up the neighbors cordless phones and even early cell phones!
I remember him talking about HAM radio, and how much more you could do, but he either didn’t want to, or didn’t have time to learn morse code. The morse code requirements were dropped in 2007, but I don’t know if he was ever aware of that. If he was, I don’t know why he never got back into the hobby, other than he had many other irons in the fire, and didn’t have time.
Eventually, everything went digital and trunked. A scanner capable of listening was hundreds of dollars, and his scanner got turned off because there wasn’t much left to listen to. I wish I had known about SDR’s sooner. I know he would have enjoyed one of those.
So, here I am. I passed both my Technician and General tests almost 2 weeks ago. I have my trusty Baofeng UV-5R, and I’m ready to talk to Nova Scotia!
I already know… there will be no Nova Scotia on this radio, but its all I have for right now. I’ll be upgrading soon, and I’ll probably make a post or 2 on here about how I decided on what radio. Fair warning… a lot of the decision making will probably be highly influenced by price. This isn’t exactly an inexpensive hobby.
I think if my dad was still around he’d get a kick out of me getting my HAM license. I bet I could convince him to study up and get his own. Its more fun when you have someone to do these things with. I still have a boy at home who shows the same interest I did when I was his age, AND I have an adult son who already has his license! He lives just far enough away to make contacting him a challenge.
I think this is going to be pretty fun.
I hope to talk to you soon!
10-4 good buddy, now put the hammer down and don’t worry about those smokies, we got your back door!
Eh….. I meant 73!