(formerly WN2TFK, 1965) In 8th grade, in 1965, at age 15, I was having lunch in the school cafeteria in Cresskill NJ, a suburb of NYC, with my buddies. One said, “I’m going to get my ham license.” Another said, “I’m going to do that too.” Now, I’d had a…

(formerly WN1BFI, 1964) In early 1960, my Dad and my uncle Bob began to encourage me to "play" with electronics. I was probably 8 years old at the time, about to turn 9 in late April 1960. Uncle Bob gave me a copy of an old radio handbook and my…

(formerly WN5JSG, 1964) When I was 12 years old, my father told me about guys who built their own transmitters and receivers and could "talk" via morse code around the world. He told me that my grandfather had been a Continetial Code operator for Postal Telegraph and that as a…

(formerly WN3BCQ, 1964) It was probably October 1964.  I was WN3BCQ and I had been licensed just four months - but I had recently passed my General test at the FCC office in Washington, DC.  Since I was still waiting for my General ticket to arrive, I was still operating…

(formerly WN8OMS, 1964) My interest in ham radio began in 1962 when some one gave me an old short wave radio. I enjoyed listing to international broadcasts and became WPE8GDY in March 1963. Being in high school I didn't have much of an income.  Some how I managed to save…