1. What got you interested in ham Radio?
In my case, 2 of my buddies. They got their Novice tickets with the
help of W4BVD without even telling me. Well, monkey see, monkey do, so
a month or so later, I had my novice call, KN4DJC. Upgraded to General
about 8 months later, and then to EXTRA when the FCC decided to
allocate sub bands. Don't know if they still do it, but back then,
along with your ticket, the FCC gave out a nice certificate of
congratulations, ect.
Mine is numbered AE6-212. Which means I am the 212th amateur in
district 6. ( and don't ask me why 4s are in district 6 ) BTW, the
head of the Atlanta FCC got AE6-001 and Jack Hudson, father of then
W4MCM, and now W4HR got 002. W4HR just happened to be visiting his dad
at the FCC office when the exams came in. So he wound up with 003.
2. What is your favorite mode and why?
For at least the last 10 years, CW and RTTY. Lot of it has to do with
my deafness, and the fact you don't see many lids on CW at 35-40 wpm.
3. What got you interested in contesting?
Easy, the SS. Loved both the SSB and CW back then, and have several
1st place finishes for Georgia.
4. What is your favorite contest and why?
Still has to be SSCW. Although the deafness mentioned above really
hurts my scores now.
Imagine you are at a gathering with 2 conversations going on at the
same time. In my case, both of them come through as unintelligible
noise. Same thing on CW if both stations calling are within say 100
cycles or so. That's why I like RTTY so much. Turn the volume down,
put on some light music, and just watch the screen. Everything is done
with the mouse.
5. What is your current station line up? Rigs, antennas, etc.
Ten Tec OMNI VIB+ and Titan, although I rarely use it anymore. Have 3
home brewed very long boom yagis for 10, 15, and 20. Last year, I did
a redesign on the 20 and managed to shorten the boom to 42 feet. (
from 54' ) EZnec shows 15.93 dbi forward and 55 db F/B. The big 15 is
on a 38 foot boom. Same gain and F/B. All the big yagis are direct
feed through a balun to a 50 ohm load at resonance. On 40, I have a
home brewed rotatable dipole. 80 and 160 are verticals, usually 1/2
wave, either balloon or centenary line support. Impedance on both is
somewhere around 3000-4000 ohms, so big ground system is not needed.
6. Besides radio, what do you do for fun?
Not too much anymore. Mostly build computers ( think I have 6 now )
and design antennas.
7. What do you do for a living?
Retired US Navy pilot ( Carriers ) and then Commercial Airline
Captain. Naval Aviator Nr. 16,773. Many trips with NQ4I as my
co-pilot. And incidentally, he was one of the best. Never had to worry
with Rick if I left the cockpit. Only annoying habit he had was a
tendency to cover his head with his arms and make pitiful moaning
sounds when I landed at night. But I had him figured out! When he
started screaming "Oh God!", I just pulled back on the stick and
greased it on. ):>
8. What improvements do you plan to make to your station before the
CQ WW SSB contest in Oct. 2004?
Mostly filters to the station. Have bought a Timewave 599DX which
should help a lot with the filtering of noise, and am going to try to
put up a K9AY loop.
9. How long have you been licensed?
Since July 10, 1955. Next July 10, I finish 50 years.
10. What part of the hobby do you like the least?
I think mostly what I view as the degradation in ham manners and
operation. Guess that's a hold over from the old days. I've taken 2
exams in my life which took over 4 hours. The Extra from the FCC, and
the "Command Pilot" exam from the FAA. Nail biters!!
11. Last of all, just sitting and looking at 5BDXCC #81. Not many of
us left now with numbers under 100. Sorta wish the ARRL would publish
who's left.
Miss those old friends.
73
Ed
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