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Jeff Angus, WA6FWI
(Formerly WN6FWI, 1971) My dad used to work at North American Aviation. So periodically, we would head down to their recreation center and check out the various clubs and what not showing off their various skill sets. I was fascinated by the rack mounted amplifier and the tower next to…Read more...
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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.
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-1950s 
1953
1953
1953
(formerly, WN1DWJ, 1953) I first became interested in Radio back in the early 1950's. My Aunt introduced me to an associate of hers who was a ham and he invited me to attend the "ElRay" amateur radio club on Lexington Street in Waltham, Massachusetts. I lived in Watertown, Mass at…
(ex-KN2DGR, 1953; K2DGR; W1DQJ) Novice Days 1953 I was a teenager - 15 years old, the January or February of 1953 when I passed my novice exam. In those days you had to go down to an ancient building in lower Manhattan and deal directly with a cigar-smoking FCC…
(ex-WN7VZX) I'm not a writer but we'll see what I can do. Might enjoy the [photo above of a] "typical" novice transmitter from the early 1950s. Remember Heath haven't come out with their soon to be very famous AT-1 [6AG7 - 6L6, 5U4 cw only transmitter for $29.95] and most…
(formerly, WN5ZIT, 1953) I was issued the call sign WN5ZIT (4-29-53) and upgraded to Conditional W5ZIT about 4 or 5 months later. Getting my code speed up from 5 WPM to 13 WPM was the main factor in my upgrade. I progressed to the advanced class and then the extra…
(formerly, KN6CHR, 1953) KN6CHR, Paul, I went on the air in 1953. My Elmer was Frank, W6TTU. I operated mostly on 80 meter CW in 1953 with a Philco NT-200 (6V6/6L6) and a S-40receiver. Later climbed the ladder to a 75A4 and a DX-100. W6RHM and W6UJX were regular contacts…
(formerly WN6THP, 1953) My novice career was a washout. I was first licensed as WN6THP in 1953 at age 20. I had to drive up from Laguna Beach to take the exam in Los Angeles. I had worked for two years out of High School for the telephone company hoping…
(formerly KN6DGW, 1953) My neighbor Paul and I got interested in Morse Code when we were about 11. He had two code buzzers with a brass plate on them depicting the code. We scrounged some wire from the trash out back of the local TV repair shop, ran it along…
(WN4ZNQ, 1953) Those Novice Days It was the fall of 1952 and the place was Falls Church High School located in northern Virginia in the town of the same name. I saw a notice posted on the school bulletin board saying that there would be a one hour club period…
(1953) I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS DOING IN 1953 AS A NOVICE AT 18 YEARS OLD. I HAD A JOHNSON ADVENTURER AND A ARC 5 RECEIVER AND A LONG WIRE ANTENNA, NOT KNOWING THE RESONANCE OF THE THING. I USED A DOUBLE POLE DOUBLE THROW SWITCH TO GO…
(ex-KN2DWL, 1953) My first home rig was the Eldico TR-75 TV and the Hallicrafter S-40B and the antenna was a 40 foot long wire feed with approximately 20 ft. of rubber insulated 18 ga. wire and a trusty knife switch for the changeover. My first contacts made were from Bayonne…
(1953) In 1951 or 1952, there was a story in Boy's Life, a boy scout magazine, about a young man who built a radio and went on the air without a license, and was caught. That story intrigued me. I was hooked on two way radio. I went out and…
(formerly KN6BLG, 1953) The FCC did a Great Thing by initiating the Novice license about 1951. As a teenager in the Los Angeles California area in May 1953 at the age of 14, I Timidly took the old Pacific Electric Suburban streetcar from Burbank 'all the way' to downtown LA…
(formerly WN5ARB, 1953) Maybe it was the code requirement for First Class rank in Boy Scouts, I do not remember for sure, but a group of us decided to become hams. I do know it would not have happened without the help of John Sikes, W5NQG, Pete Anderson, W5BHP, Ivan…
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