(ex-WN4YMG, 1952) 1952/1955: The CQ Twins (Clint, W9AV & Quent, W6RI) The year was 1955. Dwight Eisenhower was president, and it was a much simpler time, especially in Memphis, Tennessee where 12-year-old Clint Sprott (ex-KN4BOM) has just received his Novice ham license in the mail. Two years earlier, 11-year old…

(formerly WN4UXJ, 1952) My Dad was a ham before me.  He got a license in 1926 from the Department of Commerce since there was no FCC back then.  Dad said his spark transmitter never caused any interference with any TV or radio set that he knew of.  I said there…

(formerly WN4WSF, 1952)

(formerly WN6UJX, 1952) When I worked Steve (Jensen, WN6RHM, his story on this website) on 80 CW I had only been licensed a short time.  Steve's dad (W6VGQ) was quite technical; so I suspect that's why Steve's dad made sure that Steve built his station himself.  As a result, Steve…

(ex-WN6RHM, 1952) I still remember the trip down to 301 Spring Street in Los Angeles to take the exam and the paper tape morse code sending machine. I also had to send as I recall and I was so nervous that they gave me a couple of minutes to collect…

(formerly WN5WAX, 1952; K5SW) My Novice experience began in the fall of '51. An announcement over the high school’s PA system said the HS Biology teacher Dale Reins W5VJU would conduct code/theory classes in the evening for those interested. I opted for it-learned my code, studied theory as well as…

(formerly WN8JIA (1952), W8JIA, W3ZHJ, W1CQL) "You’re a WHAT?" "I'm a Ham Radio Operator" he said, and that was the beginning of a wonderful career and hobby. One Spring day in 1951 near Canton Ohio, riding my bike with my brother I spotted this HUGH antenna, and at 15 years…

(formerly WN6QAS, 1952, W6QAS, AC6Y) I can't count the number of homebrew rigs I've built and used a few times before starting on something new.There's another story behind that for me. My first Novice rig was a simple homebrew 6V6 oscillator using parts scavenged from an old radio using a…

(formerly WN4YOK, 1952) I was licensed in November of 1952 as WN4YOK.  My most exciting contact was with WL7AVP on 40 meters, using my Eldico TR-75 transmitter and Hallicrafters S-38B receiver. I was living in Henderson, KY at the time. I claimed this as the first novice contact between 4…

(formerly WN3SYY, 1952) During the year 1951 I studied and practiced code for the General Class license. I studied the code from a set of 78rpm records and thought I had mastered 15 wpm.  In December of '51 my father drove me to Pittsburgh PA (2 hours away) to take…