Getting started

As a boy in Cincinnati, I remember turning on an AM radio and listening to WCKY each evening.  It was like magic - turn it on, in a minute or so after the dial light came on, it would warm up and you could tune stations from all over the country.  After an hour or so of listening to it, the radio would get toasty warm itself.  Some of them had lighted dials, and others (like some Zenith's) had green "magic eye" tuning indicators.  These were even more magical!

My Dad helped me construct a crystal set that could hear a couple of local broadcast stations.  Then, in the eighth grade, a friend of mine,  Dave Lynch and I decided to take the Novice License class in the Arlington Jr High school shop.  Later that year, I acquired a beat-up Knight Ocean Hopper receiver while on a newspaper drive with the Boy Scout troop.  I rescued it from an older woman had it in her barn to be thrown away.  My Dad and I (mostly Dad!) got it working and it was magical (although I recall a couple of ear-numbing events with it as well).  I could hear all kinds of shortwave signals from around the world.  (For more information about getting started in ham radio, click the ARRL logo, above.)

So, Dave and I worked on our Novice license theory and Morse Code practice.  I was first licensed in April 1963 as a Novice, WN2HDS.  My Novice license exam was given to me by Dave's dad,  Ed Lynch, K2UKE, later AB2J.  (Ed is now a "Silent Key".)  A little later, Dave got his novice license too, and became WN2IQL.  He's now   A year later, I upgraded to General Class on the third try (going to New York City each time to be tested at the FCC office there).  At Arlington High School, we had a radio station, K2HSI, that was in the electric shop, and superintended by Mr. Ken Folster, the electric shop teacher par excellence.  Many happy hours tuning the National NC-240D around the bands, and attempting to work stations with either the Harvey-Wells Bandmaster, or the Heathkit DX-35.  Mr. Folster's training, and the ham radio hobby served me well when I entered the USAF, and set me up for a life later as an electrical engineer.  I took and passed the Advanced Class exam at the FCC office in Los Angeles in 1969 while stationed near there in the USAF, and then in 1978 I passed the Amateur Extra Class exam given by the FCC and changed my callsign to KB2HV.  I retained that call until I'd lived in Texas for 6 years when I submitted for a change of callsign to reflect my new home.  That's when I became AC5AA, by the luck of the draw and a little timing on my part.  

As a Novice ~  WN2HDS

My first Novice station was a Heathkit GR-91 receiver (not a very good receiver) and a homebuilt 30W 6DQ6A transmitter that I built on an old TV chassis.  The power supply was in an old AM radio cabinet!  I didn't talk to many others with this setup - if the transmitter worked, I couldn't find 'em with the receiver.  I did have a few exciting QSO's, though.  Enough to keep me going!

The photo (left) was taken in 1967 or 68, just before going into the USAF.  I built everything seen in this picture except the Heathkit DX-20 which originated at K2HSI, and I rebuilt and got back on the air.  It took an entire summer of mowing lawns to purchase the kit for the Knight R-100A receiver (on the right).  The radio desk was built by my dad from an old IBM keypunch desk.  I built the stands for the Knight R-100A and T-150A out of the same 1" gray Formica covered material.  Although the T-150A was a less-than-adequate performer, I did make a number of DX QSO's on this setup with a pair of dipole antennas hanging in the trees.

Uncle Sam says, "I want you, boy!"

After entering the USAF, there was little opportunity to be involved in the hobby until I had completed basic training at Lackland AFB in Texas, and tech school at Chanute AFB near Champaign, Illinois.  At my first assignment at Norton Air Force Base, San Bernardino, Calif., I visited Henry Radio in Anaheim and did a lot of window shopping.  I was transferred to Yokota Air Base, Japan, and wasn't able to install a radio in the barracks until I got moved to Tachikawa Air Base - this base had been closed, and was treated as a "plush" assignment given to those who maintained good conduct.  The photo shows my first arrangement - the rig is a Yaesu FTdx-400 which used a pair of TV sweep tubes to generate 500W peak output.  There's an excellent example of the military "Catch 22" that went along with this.  I couldn't get my AMRS license until the facilities engineers approved my antenna installation.  Of course, you guessed it, they wouldn't approve the antenna installation until I showed them a license.  This was my first real lesson in negotiating skills!

My callsign was KA2AH.  Eventually, a fellow ham, Bob Dochterman, WA4HIG, joined me and we pooled resources to build a nice station.  Bob was assigned KA2AA - nice callsign! I built us a combined station desk by taking the center (third) wall locker and "rearranging" it.  The two doors went, one each, under our mattresses.  The saggy cots got immediately better on our backs.  Then, off to the base hobby shop where I cut the main operating table and shelf, the supports, and stained and finished them.  It didn't take long, and it sure looked great when done! 

(scan image of Tachi room w/KA2AH & KA2AA stations) -- more to come . .  .