A Ham's Eye View

9/29/2011 12:15 PM EDT

Hi Doug,
Ham Radio played a huge part in my early influences and education in electronics. As a teenager in the late 1980's and early 1990's (electronics was NOT a part of the education curriculum at that point), Ham Radio was a gateway to a community of technical people whom I would not have otherwise met. Access to professional engineers and technicians, as well as the interesting items that I picked up at Hamfests provided me with an education that neither public schools nor college even attempted to offer.
However, as was your experience, professional and family issues have taken priority and am not currently involved.
Congratulations on your new blog and I look forward to reading your columns.

N2LDC

9/29/2011 12:27 PM EDT

Doug,

I look forward to your blog. I went a somewhat different direction, after getting interested in shortwave during the cold war. I built my own receivers and simple transmitters as a hobbyist, but a knack for all things chemistry won out. Working as a process engineer at a semiconductor firm now.

73,
Neil
ng5ng

9/29/2011 2:49 PM EDT

Doug,

I look forward to your blog. Good to know ham radio is alive and active. My radio hobby led me to my career in DSP and radio software.

73

Tin
KD5TM

9/29/2011 3:53 PM EDT

Looking forward to your blog. I pretty much followed your path into engineering. The code was a big problem for me. To get to 15 WPM, I once calculated I had listened to about 1 million characters during daily practice. Oh, how I envy those guys that used to brag they learned the code in a couple of weeks. Took me over a year. KG2RU

9/29/2011 5:24 PM EDT

I, too got into electronics through my early interest in ham radio. I have been licensed since 1956 (yes I am an OOTC member). I still have my license and my original callsign too. I have witnessed LOTS of change during my career, so much so that I couldn't have imagined most of today's technology then! Sadly, though, ham radio has fallen victim to these advances. The Internet with all its enticements like like instant messaging and social networks, video games, cell phones, and IM have drastically changed personal communications and shrunk the world even more. It's nice to see you starting this blog and I hope it succeeds and maybe gets a few more people into our hobby. Good luck and 73.
Ray, W1IRH

9/29/2011 7:06 PM EDT

I also got my license in 56 and my EE degree. I started out at EF Johnson designing SSB. Since then I have worked in many different areas, but still like RF the best.
Max Hendrickson
KØDPT

9/29/2011 7:56 PM EDT

@k0dpt
"I started out at EF Johnson designing SSB"
Talk about a ham's dream job :)

9/30/2011 12:27 AM EDT

Like all of you, I am looking forward to your blog. And like others, ham radio was a key element in choosing electronics engineering (and all that has brought me) as a career. And I too was away from it for too long. I was licensed in '56, and was able to re-claim my original call sign even though I am no longer in that area via rule changes by the FCC enacted a few years ago.
Yep...ham radio has changed - a lot. But the personal contact, and contacts, that it affords remains strong.
W8VMM

9/30/2011 5:00 AM EDT

It all started with my father (mechanical engineer) being interested in electronics and building some amateur circuits. In my early teens I found a radio club in my home town and that got me really into electronics, later secondary technical school with yet another ham club, got my licence, first job at my teacher's company (ham also). RF experience from first job helped me get another job - a start-up company was making radio controlled key-fobs and they could not get their heads around it. Now I went more into embedded world with MCUs but still try to finish few of my ham projects (it's a bit hard with wife and a baby and no time :)).

One of my teachers once said: If you can design RF circuits you can design anything.
I think he was right :)

73!
SQ2AHR

9/30/2011 11:42 AM EDT

I also got into electronics thanks to ham radio. Back in 1953 got my license back in high school, W7VLB (W7 "very little brains"). That led to my getting the commercial FCC license while I was still in high school and a job at the local TV station transmitter in Phoenix right out of high school. Worked in broadcasting for a few years than moved into that exciting field of semiconductors were I have worked for the past 50 years. All thanks to ham radio!

9/30/2011 6:23 PM EDT

I became a ham radio operator because I was told that's how I could get girlfriends. Thank you, ham radio!

10/2/2011 2:30 PM EDT

Great to see your column starting, Doug--looking forward to seeing more from you--Bill S.

10/3/2011 3:05 PM EDT

Thanks for starting this blog, Doug. I got licensed in high school as KN3HJI and dropped the 'N' a few months later when I got my General. Also got a First Class Radiophone license and worked part time as a broadcast transmitter engineer in college. Sorta dropped out of ham radio for a few years while getting my career started and then got an Extra license with my current call - N3EE. Always liked CW best, especially traffic handling and contesting. Have been inactive a long time, but when I retire in a few years, I hope to get active again. My love for electronics and physics stemmed from those early experiences in ham radio, and I have worked as an engineer now for over 45 years. I would be designing and building electronic stuff even if I didn't get paid for it! 73 - Tom

10/3/2011 7:08 PM EDT

I had wanted (as a kid) to get a ham license but the code requirement and the testing was too much of a barrier at the time. I did build crystal radios and had a blast listening in on a very large antenna (120ft - did not make my mom happy!). I wondered about going back and getting the exam now that the code is not required. One interesting side note: my son in college got his license a few months ago in order to use a radio on the SEDS (Students for Exploration and Development of Space) balloons!

10/5/2011 8:34 AM EDT

Like the others, I am looking forward to this blog, being about Ham radio from an engineering point of view. I became interested in electronics partly because of having been given a 1957 issue of the ARRL handbook. I was self taught in electronics when I started engineering school, which gave me quite an advantage for a while. I was not licensed until they dropped the code requirement for the tech class, since the code did serve as an effective barrier to keep me out. Then, when the code requirement was dropped completely I immediately went and upgraded to extra class, all in one session.
One thing that has amazed me, after looking at the older handbooks, which I have some back to 1950, is that we did not lose so many hams with some of the incredibly unsafe constructions that were shown. I guess that hams must have been far more understanding about the hazards back then.

10/5/2011 11:48 AM EDT

My father used to bring home radios he'd find in the trash on his laundry route - for me to take apart. I joined my high school radio club in 1956 and passed my Novice test. The Code was very difficult for me and I let the license lapse after a year but stayed interested in electronics ever after. I started out to get an EE degree at the Univ. of Buffalo but fell in love with an IBM 1620 when it was installed in the engineering building. A year later I went to work full time for the computing center and was in IT for 48 years.
I built my first regulated power supply from an article in EE Times Jan. 15, 1973, back when it was on newsprint. I still have that article in my files and I still use that power supply from time to time.
My oldest son and I got our 5WPM Technician tickets in 1992 and now we're both Extras. As I sit here I'm surrounded by computers, active ham radio equipment, a wall of antique communication equipment, mostly ex-military, and a growing tube collection. I'm happy to see your new Ham Radio blog and I hope it will continue for a very long time.

10/5/2011 11:56 AM EDT

I was first licensed at age 12 in 1963, designed and built a 500W HF linear by 10th grade and was able to enter engineering school in 1969 in great degree due to the influence of ham radio and some great mentors. Three engineering degrees, several patents and many years later, I'm still totally loving the career that ham radio has led to. Never allowed the license to expire and am now active in VHF / UHF emergency ops with a penchant for inventing antennas. I feel ham radio provides a powerful means to mentor technical innovations which can contribute to the well-being of all. Yes, full, no, WARP, speed ahead on your new blog!

10/5/2011 12:28 PM EDT

Great to see a Blog on HAM radio.
Got a Novice license in 1969 and currently hold a General Class license. But as with many of us, education, family, etc. licences at times go by the way side and my goal of an Extra class license got lost in the mix.
So I am hoping an Extra class license will happen in the next year.
73,
KJ4CQU.

10/5/2011 4:34 PM EDT

I got my first two ham licenses in March of 1954 and I have been W1AEL ever since, but not always active. My radio avocation led me to three EE degrees and a good career. Now that I am retired, there is more time for ham radio and woodworking; I keep so busy I wonder how I ever had time for work! Code was a problem for a while, but I have really enjoyed it for a long time. Thanks for the Blog, Doug, and HI to Bicycle Bill. Allan.

10/7/2011 6:41 AM EDT

Well Doug, as you can see by the comments so far, it's obvious that ham radio has played a significant role in many an engineers decision to study electrical engineering. I guess I'm the odd man out when it comes to Morse code. I love it and learned it in about a week when I was 15. I figured since I knew the code I might as well get my license and got my Novice ticket in 1969 with the callsign of WN7QYP. Upgraded to General 6 months later (WA7QYP). Got my Extra callsign in Illinois (20 wpm code woo hoo!) and am now WY9A. I'm looking forward to reading the blog as well as all of the comments. Bands are opening up! See you there maybe.
Ed

10/8/2011 7:30 AM EDT

I would like to get into DSP & software design of radio's, not just be a user.

10/20/2011 7:25 AM EDT

Doug!

Great to see you surface, and can't wait for the ruminations, as the blog gets going.

See ya in the pileups...from somewhere.

N2EA/1 Bristol, VT

10/20/2011 8:17 AM EDT

Hi Doug,
thanks for seizing the initiative and getting this blog up and running. I received a "Brayhead Radio Science Kit" as a Christmas present when I was ten years old and have been hooked on electronics ever since. It took a while to discover ham radio and I became licenced in 1976 at the age of 23. An elderly work colleague of mine had been a radio operator on Lancaster bombers during WW2 and he taught me Morse Code. He had a great sentence for helping to get a good rhythm on the key: "the word possesses possesses more esses than the word mississippi possesses".

Cheers for now,
Terry.
G8MII

10/26/2011 7:52 PM EDT

Hi Doug - Congrats on the new blog! Enjoyed all the comments - lots of similarities on my side: Article in Boys Life and "comic strip" in Treasure Chest (magazine distributed in Catholic schools) that centered on ham radio. SWL rx for Christmas 1958 (S-38E), licensed as KN3LJZ in 1960 via high school radio club (St.Joe's Prep in Philly), BSEE from Drexel, career in RF/microwave semis and related components. Joined FRC in 1962 - been contesting ever since under several call signs. Looking forward to many more blog installments ! 73 de Carl, K2CJ