Humble Beginnings

It was very cold during January of 2017 in Alabama. I can recall that while I was on my Christmas and New Year's Holiday break, I was cramming for my Technician class and General class tests. It was during the coldest parts of our seasons and here I was driving around to unknown areas, meeting strangers at a Hardees in front of a Walmart, early in the morning and taking a written exam for my ticket. A ticket is what we Ham's call our license through the FCC. The license that allows us to have permissions to transmit and connect to other Ham's over the air waves. I aced my Technician's class test, which sparked some hope in me that I had studied well. The person giving me the test was pleased with my results and handed me the test for the General portion and said, "Well, you did so well on the first test you probably will have no trouble with this one." I proceeded to take and pass my General exam as well. So, now I had my ticket! I could talk on local repeaters via 2m and 70cm. As a General class, I also had access to the majority of the HF bands as well! Great! I did as most people do when they are brand new to Ham Radio and I ordered some inexpensive HT's. We call those Handy Talkies, if you didn't know. I quickly began to learn about the repeater towers in my vicinity and how I could program my radios to get into them.



Once I discovered that the most active and appealing repeater nearest me was around 25 miles away, I tried to key up out in my yard, to make my first contact. I was heard, through static and noise. I got a copy! An actual contact as a new Ham. I knew, from studying though, at this point, if I wanted to really get into that repeater I needed to take steps. I needed a bigger antenna. Within the first week of talking to another Ham named Chris on that repeater, I was gifted my first 1/4 wave antenna made out of copper wire that had been soldered together. I rigged it up on a piece of J-Trim siding I had laying around and secured it the best I could and tried to hoist it in the air so I could try to get a better signal. 

I also was given a small bit of coax that had the proper adapter already for my HT. With that I was able to run my radio from my nearest window by my desk. Now, I was beginning to get somewhere. Still a little static but much better signal. I also started to make contacts with others that were closer in proximity to me. I am so glad I took photos during this whole process. Looking back, it is a bit embarrassing, but I see how excited I was to brave the winter colds and get out there so I could make those contacts. It is inspiring and stands as the foundation I now have to help others get their ticket and get them on the air.





73 de KN4AAO