 jadinolfI love you FredPremium
join:2005-07-09
Ojai, CA
kudos:8
 ·DSL EXTREME
2 edits | Please excuse my post but..... I'm W6OHI and have been licensed since 1968.
I was just thinking about what led me to Ham Radio. Like many of us it was CB (Children's Band)
Just curious. My original call was 1W0914. Does that date me? 
Anyone else?
OH Dr Strange, I was in Norwalk, CT at the time. Born and bred.
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 DrStrangeTechnically feasiblePremium
join:2001-07-23
West Hartford, CT
kudos:1 | Those call letters are a bit dated, aren't they? I remember the newer Kxx-nnnn call letters. By the time I started hearing Kxxx-nnnn CB had 'jumped the shark', at least around here.
CB was more of a tangent for me. If it weren't for CB, I might have been licensed in the 1970s instead of waiting until 2010. I still have a lot of fond memories of CB, though.
Now for my entry into the 'old call' thread: Before I went into CB, I lived around the corner from W1ANA. »www.ootc.us/pixw1ana.html When I saw that 'shack', I felt like a kid who'd gotten an exclusive tour of the toy department of Macy's in NYC. Unfortunately, he passed away a year or so after we met. |
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jadinolfI love you FredPremium
join:2005-07-09
Ojai, CA
kudos:8 Reviews:
·DSL EXTREME
| Thanks for the reply. Yes, the call was indeed dated. Got it in 1958 or 1959.
A 1964 call that I had was KMX6927.
Then on to ham radio. 
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 SmokChsrWho let the magic smoke out?Premium
join:2006-03-17
Saint Augustine, FL | reply to jadinolf
KID-0311 IIRC.... Now KD4QOF on the Hicks And Maniacs band(s).. |
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 drjimPremium,MVM
join:2000-06-13
Long Beach, CA
kudos:3 | I had some friends that were 18QAxxxx, and I was KPJ-6732 for a while, then passed my Novice in 1964 and never looked back.
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One man's Magic is another man's Engineering. |
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jadinolfI love you FredPremium
join:2005-07-09
Ojai, CA
kudos:8 | reply to jadinolf
I once had what may have been the one and only CB Callbook. Of course, my call was in it.
Would love to still have it.
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Reviews:
 ·Comcast
·Comcast
| reply to jadinolf
warning - long post 70s CBer here too. KNF5597 was the call. The friends made then have have held to this day. I was an obnoxious kid that would bounce between the kids' channel (7) and adults in my town (23), equally tolerated by both. But I tinkered with the hardware, always upgraded things and was a fairly good "screwdriver expert" for friends. Made noise toys out of hair pins, Wired a race car with a 3 channel rig with the crystals reversed so the driver could talk to the pit.
I enjoyed QRP before I knew what QRP meant, shooting skip barefoot and switching between an Astro-plane commercial beam and some homemade antennas to see if my creations were good enough. SSB065 was the "unit number" from S9 magazine.
I'd listen to Silicon Valley hams on 2m using my Patrolman 6 Band radio - people that worked where I wanted to be. I noticed they were very professional in communicating and had a nerdy sense of humor. I was envious.
I read 73 magazine when I found it amongst the slew of CB magazines. More nerd humor.
I never did move to Silicon Valley in it's heyday. Never did get a ham ticket. After the sunspot cycle on 11m died down taking with it my DX hobby, most of the CBers had put their radios in the garage. The radio club quit hosting "breaks" and the social part dried up.
My father in law N6SMJ (SK) got licensed when he retired (he also was a CBer from the 70s). I helped put up his antennas and in general tinkered with his station, adding tuners, switches, standby power, etc. He was on a few nets and socialized with other OMs in town. I installed a 2m in his car. Also installed a 10m rig using the old CB antenna modded for 10. Funny story, one night I was driving to SF to pick him up at the airport, using his car. I made several contacts with west coast & Hawaii on the radio on the ride up using his call. Had to see if my skilz were still there.
Ten years ago a coworker pushed me to get on the air again, this time on the ham bands. He runs a repeater. So I take to listening to Gordon West tapes on my 90 minute commutes and pass the tech.
I've got a dual band in the car (neat install, I must say) I don't talk much. Not much to say I guess. I listen to .52 to pick up people in the distance, or talk to travelers.
My best use of a ham ticket is to explain my occasional strange behavior. Don't matter if I am trying to wardrive wifi spots, take time lapse pictures or assemble odd apparatus in public, I can answer "it's ham radio" and it calms the worried folk that read to many homeland security bulletins.
73
David
K6AYB |
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| reply to jadinolf
Re: Please excuse my post but..... Are you guys confessing your sins for being in CB? I got my novice in 1966 and I never knew anyone who would touch CB. The only use we had for it was to make fun of those who were into it. |
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SmokChsrWho let the magic smoke out?Premium
join:2006-03-17
Saint Augustine, FL Reviews:
 ·Clearwire Wireless
| said by howardfine:Are you guys confessing your sins for being in CB? I got my novice in 1966 and I never knew anyone who would touch CB. The only use we had for it was to make fun of those who were into it.
I don't know about that, I've heard all the same crap I heard on CB on the HAM bands. At least with CB, I would know about hazards coming up on the roadway. HAM hasn't helped with that yet. |
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Reviews:
·AT&T Southwest
·Charter
| said by SmokChsr:I don't know about that, I've heard all the same crap I heard on CB on the HAM bands.
Not when I was around. But I gave up my license in 1983, I think. I remember sitting in a parking lot listening to CB'ers saying, "This here license gives me the authority to do a hundred miles an hour on the highway in an emergency." And there were so many people piling on top of each other, including hookers trying to pick up people. Pure garbage. Every ham had a CB'er joke. |
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| reply to SmokChsr
said by SmokChsr:said by howardfine:Are you guys confessing your sins for being in CB? I got my novice in 1966 and I never knew anyone who would touch CB. The only use we had for it was to make fun of those who were into it.
I don't know about that, I've heard all the same crap I heard on CB on the HAM bands. At least with CB, I would know about hazards coming up on the roadway. HAM hasn't helped with that yet. I will give you that, CB is certainly useful for that. I listen to channel 19 when I'm in traffic on road trips, makes for good entertainment too.
But apart from 14.275 and the higher regions of 75m, ham radio is much more civilized compared to CB.
Anyway, I operate mostly during contests these days. |
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 Radio ActiveMy pappy's a pistolPremium
join:2003-01-31
Fullerton, CA | reply to jadinolf
Late 70's. KBUB7828, and my dad was KBAIxxxx. |
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Reviews:
·Cox HSI
| reply to jadinolf
CB was my first exposure to 2-way communication. My family used CB for an informal "ship to shore" between our boat and cottage along the Connecticut shoreline. The call we were assigned from the FCC was KMA-1498. Over water the range was fairly impressive between a walkie talkie and base station, although we didn't stray much more than a few miles from our own beach. This was back in the middle '60s as I recall.
What interested me more was listening to the New York Marine Operator between 2.0 MHz and 3.0 MHz on our little Utica 4 Band Receptor. It wasn't much of a stretch to tune up into the 75 meter band and listen to some of the AM contacts going on there. I think that got me interested more than anything else.
Rob W1AEX
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 W7PSKJust MePremium
join:2000-12-04
Everett, WA | reply to jadinolf
KIY-9782 |
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Re: Please excuse my post but..... In the late 60s-KCL-5045. Early 72 Left CB and entered Ham Radio. Now-K1PPR- Passed my extra a few weeks back.
Norwalk,CT Born and raised also.
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I don't suffer from insanity-I enjoy it |
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Radio ActiveMy pappy's a pistolPremium
join:2003-01-31
Fullerton, CA | reply to Radio Active
said by Radio Active:Late 70's. KBUB7828, and my dad was KBAIxxxx.
Sorry for self-reply. My dad has informed me that his call was KBAI-2615. |
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jadinolfI love you FredPremium
join:2005-07-09
Ojai, CA
kudos:8 | reply to jadinolf
Thanks everyone.
Very interesting posts.
Thanks fellow Nutmeggers!
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