Please share with your fellow hams a story of your Novice year(s). The story should mainly focus on your Novice period. A story can be a photo or a few lines of text to a full blown story of several pages.
1961 Maurice J. Bender, K3QBL
KN3QBL, was my father, Maurice J. Bender. Everyone called him "Doc". He obtained his Novice Call in 1961 and went on the air. He later upgraded to Technician and dropped the "N" from his call (K3QBL). His transmitter was a Knight Kit from Allied Radio. The receiver was a Hallicrafters S53A. Also shown in the picture is a Heathkit Q-multiplier attached to the receiver. The antenna tuner is a World Radio model using an L-network circuit. Also shown is a Heathkit SWR meter. His antenna was a 75-ft end fed long wire strung from his house to a 20-ft tower in the backyard. He died in 1978 at 71.
After my father KN3QBL received his Novice license he was too shy to get on the air so one night I contacted several novice stations with his rig while he watched me. He overcame his shyness and "hit" the key. He was up and running. If you look at his QSL card with his shack on it you will notice a lot of Novice QSLs that he worked. No more shyness. Later after he upgraded to Technician license and we would talk to each other weekly on 6-meters. He was "hooked".
