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Bryan Lord, NE0V
(formerly WN5CTC, 1963) I was 13 at the time of the Novice Roundup and to my knowledge I was the only Novice at Fort Sill. The post MARS station was 2 blocks from my house and I would sometimes go there and hang out or operate under their station's license.…
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Latest Comments
- 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
Early-1960s 
1961
1961
1961
(formerly WV6RAD, 1961) When I was 11 years old I noticed a large roof mounted beam antenna on one of the nearby apartment buildings on Guthrie Avenue in Los Angeles. I went up to the second story apartment knocked on the door, introduced myself and asked what the large antenna…
(formerly WV2ZOW, 1961) Got a REMCO crystal set for Christmas when in 3rd grade while living in Colonia, New Jersey. Big blue plastic thing. That, and the book "The Boy's First Book of Radio and Electronics" by Alfred P Morgan, sparked my interest in radio. While looking through Montgomery Ward…
(formerly WV2REC, 1961) Fond Memories of Charlie Finkelstein, FCC Examiner The year was 1961 and my Novice ticket was scheduled to expire in a matter of a few months. My call at the time was WV2REC and in order to swap that V for an A in my call sign,…
(formerly WN8AGV, 1961) I agree with you,my novice year was a lot of fun. My friend Dave Kaiser, K8DYX (sk) gave me my novice test and I received my novice ticket on August 4th,1961. Soon I had a Johnson Viking Adventurer transmitter, a Gonset G-33 receiver and a 40 meter…
[Editor’s Note – The story that follows is told by Doc’s son, Dick Bender, W3SYY; 1952 Novice WN3SYY] 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…
(formerly KN8AIT, 1961) Prior to the many changes made by the Federal Communications Commission in the past years that turned all FCC license testing to Volunteer Examination Coordinators, the exam system as a little different. Here is one Amateur Radio Operators experience in taking those exams. It was April 1961,…
(1961; 1977) I first received my novice call in 1961. I was a member of the Carmi Township High School (Carmi, Illinois) radio club. Ken Hurt was the instructor and sponsor. [see photo, right: WN9DDV is far right.] W9IIU, Bill Baker, (a local radio personality on WROY 1460 KC) had…
(formerly WN6AGR, 1961) I was a Radio Operator in the Navy and my first assignment was at the Naval Radio Receiving Station on Oahu Hi. This was up in the middle of the Island, just out of Wahiawa. I was hitching a ride to the beach one day and this…
(formerly KN8ZHD, 1961) I'd been interested in what went on inside the radio and TV sets for a long time before we moved to a new town in 1959, Canton, Ohio, but never really had anyone around me that understood my interest or could provide more direction and advice than…
(formerly KN5JFG, 1961) It was so long ago that I had to get a calculator out to figure out when I was a novice. My best guess is that it was in 1960. I was about 14-years-old or there abouts. I'm just guessing. But I don't have any trouble at…
(formerly KN0BHM)
[Editor's Note - Popular Electronics magazine for a time featured a novice each month]
(formerly WN9AVT, 1961) I first became aware of radio around the 5th grade through a book in the library titled SOS at Midnight by Walker A. Tompkins. My interest was further stirred by one of the Hardy Boys books – The Short-Wave Mystery. These two books started my SWL career…
(formerly KN3QDD, 1961) An elementary school friend in Maryland had a Heathkit AR-3 "communications" receiver. We used it to listen to Voice of America, Radio Moscow and other loud broadcast stations. I nagged my Dad to get me one, which he did in about 1959. He didn't trust his ten…
(formerly WN4JOM, 1961) I learned about HAM radio while attending Sebring Boy Scout Camp back in 1961. Scouts needed to learn the Morse code in order to obtain the rank of First Class. A camp counselor, Steve Fried (WA4AMC), had a HAM station set up at the camp and he…
(formerly WN9AUM, 1961) I was fascinated by the new "transistor radios" and in about 1958, when I was nine years old, I convinced my parents to buy me a Zenith Royal 500, which I promptly took the back off of to see what was inside. It was hand wired. I…
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