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  • Jim Cadien, KC7ZMV
    (WN6JRS, 1957, W6JRS) I was licensed in 1957, age 16, as a novice.  The license arrived in June, WN6JRS.  I remember taking the code test.  It was given by the father of a high school classmate.  He asked if I wanted a little practice code before the test.  I said,"sure".…
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  • John Shidler, NS5Z
    John thats a great story. I didn't realize you were so much older than me LOL.. glad to call you my Ham Pal. Where have the years gone.. we are old fat and gray now, but still tearing up the airwaves.... More...
    17.04.13 07:53
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Mid-1960s 1965 Dan Gaylord, W7IDG

Dan Gaylord, W7IDG

(formerly WN7CVW, 1965)

I worked & worked & worked and thanks to the patience of my Elmer, the late Lew Hanson, WA7AGB, I finally sat for The Test, and in June of '64 or '65 became WN7CVW.

Now to work DX! For the first month or so I couldn't reach beyond Washington and Oregon, except for one prime DX station in W6 land. I got home from mowing lawns one afternoon and found an envelope in my mailbox.  It bore a postmark from Kingsville, TX.  Since I didn't know anyone in Texas I thought that it must be some kind of rare DX, got really pumped up and excited and tore it open. Turns out that it really was a QSL card.... Of sorts. Seems as if my 2nd harmonic from my 3.728 megacycle ( yup, that what they were called back then, ) found it's way up into the broadcast part of the 40 Meter band.

My 15 year old world came crashing down an top of my head! I just knew that the FCC was going to be knocking at my door any minute and take lock me up and take away my Viking Adventurer and my BC-428, an 'O' model at that and all 4 of my most prized crystals!!  I was done for! Life was no longer worth living, so I thought that I had better call my Elmer and face his wrath for messing up so badly, but had to leave a message with his wife.  Lew called and talked my mother into telling me that the FCC was on the phone. I just knew it was ALL over. I can still hear him laughing over the phone when he finally told me who he was.  I was so shook up I didn't even recognize his voice.

Now, with many thousands of hours in the shack and the calls WN7SHN, WA7SHN and W7IDG I look back and know that I will be forever grateful for the time WA7 America's Greatest Broadcaster spend mentoring me in the ways of a good and thoughtful operator.

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1965 Stories

We Need Your Help!

We are in special need of Novice stories from:

  • 1970s - especially 1974 (we have only 3 stories)
  • 1980s - we have only 14 (none from 1980, 1985-86) 
  • 1990s - we have only 2 stories
  • 2000 - we have none

 

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