     |
 Welcome to
the online shack of W3FJW  ex WA7IEF Don't know where this site is going yet, so stay tuned... |
| After a 25 year absence
from the world of amateur radio, I figure it's about time to get active again. I'm missing too much. ILRP, I Link, psk, dsp, homebrew (gear not beer),...... Time to dust off the SB104A, make a few mods, try to find a few of those damn DM8880's so all my digits work (Athena Electronics has 'em but won't sell 'em to me cause i'm not an OEM (as if they're gonna find an OEM to put them in new equipment when there's only about 1200 of those chips left in the world), put another MPF 102 in the remote VFO, drink a few 807's, and in general just have fun. |
| By way of introduction, My
name is Ron, born in1940 in Shamokin, PA at a cost of $80, and now live in Tacoma, WA and
have since 1964. I was first licensed in Pennsylvania in 1954 as WN3FJW and in '55 made it
to W3FJW. Used a 2 mile barb-wire fence for a radiator in those days along with the
customary bedsprings or downspout when needed (no tuner, link coupled). Rig was a homebrew
6V6 osc and S38B receiver. I later added an 807 final. CW only. Couldn't afford much
back then. Joined the Army in '60, and let the license lapse 'cause I was more interested
in the wahini's and scuba diving in Hawaii where I was stationed at Schofield Barracks for
3 years. Rotated out and settled in the north west where I've been ever since. Got bored
about '67 and found an elmer to give me a test & wound up as a Tech. Built a World
Radio Lab TC6 ($29.95 I think), got a Lafayette vfo and started having fun again. Made new
friends, went on bunny hunts, joined the REBELS (camper #176) created my share of TVI and
went on a lot of campouts & potlucks. Built just about everything that Heath put out
between 67 and 82. Sure wish I would have kept that stuff. Worth a fortune on eBay today.
In 72 I went up to Seattle to take the General test at the FCC field office and passed the
written easily but got bogged down with the code and wound up with a "Tech Plus"
so I stayed on 6 meters & above building antennas & amps until about 77 when I
decided to build the latest "State of the Art" Heathkit ensemble to get back up
to speed on my cw. That went well for awhile until I discovered the new computer Heath was
offering. The one with the Z80 chip in it. Again, ham radio was left in the background and
computers and compuserve at 300 baud were the thing. My gawd, an 8mc (hz
hurtz) processor
with 4k, a 10mb drive, HDOS and CPM. It couldn't possibly get any better than that. Ageing
& the necessity to keep a dry roof over my head started taking over about that time
and everything went into storage. Sold most of the stuff over the next 15 years, but kept
the essential parts of the HF gear. About 3 months ago, one of my long time pals K7ITX (first one I worked on 6m & met at 3 in the morning on a workday, but that's another story), who had also left the amateur radio bug get buried in the cobwebby recesses of his mind somehow got the idea to rescue the old $25 Regency HR 2 meter rigs he had stored about 30 yrs ago and shake the bugs, dust and rat droppings out. That started everything all over again. To make a long story short, I visited the FCC website, found out about the license restructuring that had taken place 2 years ago, got my FRN, looked at the SB104 sitting in the closet all covered with dust, the resurrected HR2 sitting next to my computer and said "what the hell" and took the easy way out and paid my $10 to the VC at the Tacoma Radio Club and became a General again. Immediately thereafter I discovered the Amateur Radio section on eBay. Now I'm poor again and waiting for all the goodies to arrive..... See you on 20 soon, and ILink on 2 if I can ever get it to work. |
| It's now 26 July 2002 and I have been granted my original call by the FCC. Going to seem funny using a 3 call in seven land, but I'll get used to it. |
Sunday, December 17, 2006 23:38:29 |
