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  • Jamie Markowitz, AA6TH
    (formerly KC6DCD, 1988) My Novice days were some of the best times. Naturally I mostly worked CW. On 15 and 40 meters. SSB was available on 10 Meters at that time, but the code just appealed to me more, and I'm glad it did. My code mentor was Bill WF6W.…
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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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Most Recent Stories

  • Dick Clark, K6GLB
    (formerly KN6GLB, 1954) I was sixteen when I was granted KN6GLB in 1954. By then, the novice license had been available for three years and commercial interests were starting to capitalize on this new market. Faust Gonset, in particular, brought the perfect match, the Gonset Communicator for 2 meters. At…
    Written on Monday, 08 August 2011 06:28
  • Carl Johngren, K1CKK
    (formerly KN1CKK, 1957) Have had my call since getting my novice ticket in 1957 as KN1CKK while I was in the 8th grade. A fellow student and his Dad were hams and I took the test from his Dad while sitting around their kitchen table. I am now 68 and…
    Written on Monday, 08 August 2011 06:26
  • Steve Jeske, N0CRS
    (formerly WN0MJW, 1974) Being a long time SWL , I figured it was time to get a license.Had a neighbor lady, a ham who admistered the test to me and Bill Wilson. Got on the air after the ticket arrived and contacted my first at high noon. He was in…
    Written on Saturday, 06 August 2011 06:44
  • Vince Weal, K4JC
    (formerly KA3ALC, 1978) I suppose my interest in radio really began when I was about 7 years old, and my older brother Dennis went to Southeast Asia as a guest of Uncle Sam. He left behind an old shortwave receiver which he set up in my bedroom. I was fascinated…
    Written on Saturday, 06 August 2011 06:21
  • Bill Bibeau, K1FPV
    (formerly KN1FPV, 1963) My interest started in Amateur Radio several years prior to becoming a Novice. At the age of 12 or 13, I saved enough money from my paper route to buy a shortwave receiver. It was a Knight Kit Span Master regenerative receiver which I built on my…
    Written on Thursday, 04 August 2011 07:08
  • Tony Randel, K6BBT
    (formerly WN6LGW, 1968) I enormously enjoyed my time as a Novice. I probably upgraded too fast. That was 1968.My best days on ham radio were the first 6 months – as a Novice. It was really a thrill back then. Naturally, that comes with the perspective of age. Often times…
    Written on Sunday, 31 July 2011 06:30
  • Gary Huff, K9AUB
    (1955) I remember my novice station.  It wasn't much by today's standards.  I started building it in 1954, but didn't get my license until June 1955.  A 6AG7 single tube Colpitts oscillator transmitter built on a wooden box because I couldn't afford to buy a metal chassis.  (I didn't know…
    Written on Wednesday, 27 July 2011 05:53
  • Jerry Keisler, WA5KZA
    (formerly WN5KZA, 1965) I do not have a copy of my novice license but I do have a copy of the Section Award for the Novice Roundup in Oklahoma for February 1965.
    Written on Sunday, 24 July 2011 13:34
  • Jerry Shirar, N9XR
    (formerly WN0RXE, 1976, WB0RXE, KY0J, WB5L) As I started my senior year of high school, I checked in to a class given at the city community center by local hams for the novice license.  We lived on a farm outside of Lawrence, KS and the Douglas County Amateur Radio Club…
    Written on Monday, 18 July 2011 18:59
  • Dolph Holmes WA2NTW
    (formerly WN2NTW, 1972) Message: After a few years of being a non-licensed member of two radio clubs I studied and took my test to get my novice. Part of the motivation was I had received my Third Class Radiotelephone so I figured if I could just get the code it…
    Written on Monday, 18 July 2011 04:06
  • Nate Bargmann, N0NB
    (formerly KA0RNY, 1983) Credit for my interest in things electronic goes to my dad who, although never a licensed radio amateur, did work on local TV sets and that fueled my interest in electronics and telecommunications.  He received his electronics training in the army during the Korean conflict although he…
    Written on Sunday, 17 July 2011 06:43
  • Paul Swietek, KB7QND
    (formerly KA1ZBO, 1991) Message: My radio story began in 1988 with my 8th grade science teacher.  He was a pilot and had an aviation scanner on his desk that he would listen to at lunch time.  I was curious.  I remembered that my dad had an AM/FM radio also with…
    Written on Sunday, 17 July 2011 06:39
  • Ron Holtz, WN9HJW
    (formerly WN9HJW, 1971; NN4RH, AI4CB, KG4WNE) I got my Novice license in 1971, at age 15. My interest in ham radio started with an interest in CB. A friend lived about a mile away, and we tried to use CB walkie-talkies to talk to each other. There came a point…
    Written on Sunday, 17 July 2011 06:26
  • John Price, KO0KY
    (formerly KA5LMR, 1981) Message: I received my novice ticket in April of 1981. I was so excited, I took the afternoon off work and headed home to my Heathkit DX60B and Rat Shack receiver. I had a 15M dipole about ten feet high at the apex, surrounded by power lines.…
    Written on Sunday, 17 July 2011 06:24
  • Phil Rinaca, KQ4D
    (formerly WN4MVC, 1963; WB4DAK) My novice was issued in 1963 after much help from K4ZMM.  I had no confidence in my ability to pass the test.  Andy even set me up with a BC-454 receiver and loaned me a transmitter I think may have been a Johnson 75 watt.  My…
    Written on Sunday, 17 July 2011 06:15
  • Quentin Galbraith, K5TVC
    (formerly KN5TVC, 1959) DX-20 and SX-28 into long wire. Had a ball........
    Written on Sunday, 17 July 2011 06:13
  • Joe Springer, KC6ZZT
    (formerly WN2ABS, 1966; WB2JTV) It was mostly all those WWII spy movies with CW operators in them, that got me interested in radio. I had just graduated high school in 1966, and in my first year in the local Community College a teacher administered the test. I was issued WN2ABS.…
    Written on Sunday, 17 July 2011 06:09
  • Paul Goslin, KC9UIY
    (formerly WN9BFH, 1968) Got my novice when I was 12 as my dad got interested in radio, but he could never grasp the code.... I was a musician at the time, so the code came fairly easy to me. He bought us a Heathkit transmitter, which we assembled together, and…
    Written on Sunday, 17 July 2011 06:02
  • Wayne Day, N5WD
    (formerly WN5WDB, 1968; WA5WDB, KF5ZC) I had been trying to make friends with someone who could give me my Novice test for a while.  My dad had just retired from the US Air Force and we were moving around a bit as he tried to find a permanent job.  We…
    Written on Sunday, 17 July 2011 05:59
  • Ray Tougas, W7ASA
    (1972) I was a rabid SWL as soon as I could reach the dial of my friend Mark R's, father's Zenith Transoceanic. Mark was the brains of the outfit. My forte was endurance, I'd listen until his father would tell us that it was time to turn it OFF. Then…
    Written on Tuesday, 12 July 2011 06:07
  • Bob Allison, WB1GCM
    (formerly WN1TDN, 1974) Greetings from WB1GCM. After being introduced to radio through the 11 meter band at age 14, my Mother suggested I join the Glastonbury (CT) Amateur Radio Club; they were going to hold Novice classes. My Elmer who taught the class, Mac Harper, W1FYM, was a good teacher,…
    Written on Monday, 11 July 2011 07:39
  • Randy Ballinger, WB9MMJ
    (1975) I remember getting my novice in 1975. I spent almost every night on 40 meters talking to some of the other people who were also there most nights. One call that stands out is KL7IIR. There were many others and I still have my log books to look back…
    Written on Saturday, 09 July 2011 07:49
  • Craig Clark, K1QX
    (formerly WN1IGG, 1967) I went to Hebron Academy in Hebron, Maine where we had a radio club run by two upperclassmen, Dennis Fink WA1GPW and Richard Ossoff, K1WHM.  Our faculty advisor was Mr. Twitchell, the Physic teacher.   Our meetings were every Saturday morning and I was quickly bitten by the…
    Written on Saturday, 09 July 2011 07:43
  • Chip Cohen, W1YW
    (formerly WN1HBX, 1966) It’s hard to tell with kids what is worth pushing or not. They try things on like fads, and usually don’t stick with anything. At least that’s how it was in the mid 60’s. For some reason my parents thought that’s how you treated pre-teen kids—let them…
    Written on Saturday, 09 July 2011 07:39
  • Ralph Javins, N7KGA
    (1957) I was also one of those who started with a Novice Class License, and I lived 65 miles from Washington, D. C. at Naval Air Test Center Patuxent River, Maryland, so I qualified for testing outside of the sanctum of the FCC office for the old Conditional Class also…
    Written on Saturday, 09 July 2011 07:22
  • Dave Haupt, W8NF
    (formerly WN8RKF, 1974) I first heard of amateur radio via a booklet entitled "Steps to a ham license". It came with a series of monthly kits produced by The American Basic Science Club which my parents had graciously purchased for me somewhere in the mid to late 1960s.  That was…
    Written on Saturday, 09 July 2011 07:16
  • Mark Ewing, WA5VQM
    (1968) I've had a lot of fun over the years and still find the hobby fascinating but those novice years...wow. Maybe it was the times but I had an absolute blast. I was 12 years old in '68 when I got my ticket. 75 watts (input) and crystal controlled. Somehow…
    Written on Saturday, 09 July 2011 07:01
  • Ed Cole, KL8UW
    (formerly KN8MWA, 1958) I was probably twelve years old and when I first encountered "Ham Radio". I had gone to the home of a couple friends whose parents had a shortwave radio (one of those table models with several bands). The sliderule tuning display showed several services like "police", "aircraft",…
    Written on Saturday, 09 July 2011 06:46
  • Jack Wooldridge, WA6FYD
    (formerly WN6FYD, 1960) I was a seasoned CW intercept operator when I decided to get my ham license in 1960. Since 1948 I had spent my career in the Army Security Agency copying code. I was only involved in copying but I had taken a course in sending at Ft.…
    Written on Saturday, 09 July 2011 06:39
  • Kurt Cramer, W7QHD
    (1951) My father was an Amateur.   He was 9DRQ back before I was born.   After WW2 he sold the Missouri farm and got relicensed as W0DBO (1950?).   We moved to Arizona shortly after that (early 1951).   He had a 75A1 receiver and a Harvey Wells transmitter.…
    Written on Saturday, 09 July 2011 06:34
  • Luke Rainville, K6LO
    (formerly KA6DHH, 1978; N6CAV) Message: I first heard of Ham radio from my father, back in 1975.  He was not a ham, but having served as a radioman in the Navy during WWII, had an interest in shortwave radio. We had an old Zenith Trans Oceanic in the downstairs rec…
    Written on Saturday, 09 July 2011 06:27
  • Steve Silsby, WA4BRL
    (formerly WN4VQY, 1971) I've been fascinated by radio and electronics for as long as I could remember. When I was in fourth grade, my father ordered a Knight-Kit 12-in-1 Electronics Lab. He tried out all the different circuits, but I would always rewire it back AM wireless broadcaster. I'd "broadcast"…
    Written on Saturday, 09 July 2011 06:14
  • Mark Swartzell, AA0CX
    (formerly KB0BGH, 1987) I got into ham radio in 1987 with my Novice call KB0BGH. What a DOG of a call sign! Woof woof! No one could get that one right. Or maybe it was my sending, come to think of it!! Hi Hi. Upgraded to General asap, got N0KEC,…
    Written on Monday, 04 July 2011 07:03
  • Nate Firestone, W3SVJ
    (formerly WN3SVJ, 1951)
    Written on Monday, 04 July 2011 06:56
  • Tom Lewis, N4TL
    (formerly WN2UIJ, 1965) N4TL’s 1965 Novice radio historyWritten December 1, 2010 It seems like I always have been interested in radios. When I was a young boy I would watch my dad would fix them. My dad had taken a mail order radio course after WWII. I read through all…
    Written on Monday, 04 July 2011 06:00
  • Page Pyne, WA3EOP
    (formerly WN3EOP, 1965) My name is Page and I'm the current WA3EOP.  I don't know if my story is especially interesting but here is how I remember it.  I found out about Ham Radio initially from an issue of Popular Electronics in the very early 60's, got my copy at…
    Written on Monday, 04 July 2011 05:56
  • Gary Buda, WA0NDN
    (formerly WN0NDN, 1965) At age 12 having earned enough money from my paper route, I purchased a Heathkit GR-91 general coverage receiver.  My dad taught me how to solder with that kit.  It was frustrating trying to learn the Morse code on that rig, it just wasn't sufficiently selective, even…
    Written on Monday, 04 July 2011 05:48
  • Mark Gershen, KF6YAN
    (formerly WV6MUY, 1960) As a Novice I built a one-tube 6146 oscillator transmitter from either the handbook or qst, plus separate power supply; the latter was mostly from the radio shop junk box. I also built a mechanical (used a relay) 1-tube cw keyer from probably qst; later a Heathkit…
    Written on Monday, 04 July 2011 05:43
  • Don Bender, K3MMB
    (formerly KN3MMB, 1960) [Editor’s Note – The story that follows is told by Donald’s brother, Dick Bender, W3SYY; 1952 Novice WN3SYY]   My younger brother KN3MMB, was Donald A. Bender.  He was licensed in 1960 and later upgraded to Technician, dropping the "N" from his call.  He used our father…
    Written on Monday, 04 July 2011 05:35
  • Don Huff, W6JL
    (formerly KN6KDE, 1955) I am ex KN6KDE, Novice from March 1955 to July 1955, just a short few months.  It has been my experience that most anyone really interested in ham radio was a Novice for only a short time (who needs longer?).  My friends that I met on the…
    Written on Monday, 04 July 2011 05:29
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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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