Back 35 years ago when I was a Kid...

[X-Rated]

The fall semester of my senior year, I took a class in electronics. I had thought I was interested in photography but I was a total klutz when it came to properly framing the shots and getting my subject matter properly illuminated, so I went to an electronics class. There was a kid in there. A sophomore who had a novice license. I always wanted a ham license and that really started a fire under my nads so I got my tail in gear.

Randy was WN0ORT. He was your typical Ornery Republican Teen. His father was a state rep for a section of the city and I thought he was the coolest kid in school. And the school had 1800 kids in it at the time anyway. Randy was vibrant about ham radio and so excited about working stations from all over the country and the world. Kansas was pretty land locked and getting out of the area was like a dream.

The local ham club had a novice instructional class where we met up on Saturdays and discussed things like horizontal antennas, vertical antennas, and propagation. It was really in-depth and really helpful to understand what was going on rather than memorizing answers. I got my license in January, 1976 (as WN0RXE) and Randy and I would exchange notes about our contacts and made contacts to each other on the 80M novice band. We would work on our fist and exchanged ideas on how to best setup our straight keys for the best CW sound.

Since it was my senior year, I did what many seniors do, and that was to be graduated. I moved on to Pittsburg Kansas to college because my electronics teacher, Mr. Kelly, was like one of the smartest guys I knew and he was graduated from Pittsburg. I ended up losing track of Randy. Randy had a 2 year stint on his non-renewable novice license and never got back into the hobby.

Enter Facebook. I found Randy again and he is living in Washington State. He wants to get back into ham radio, and I think there is plenty of more room in the hobby for one more right wing activist. I invited him to the group here and he has signed in. He has zillions of things going on in his life and I was hoping we could all work together to get Randy licensed once more after all these years of being deprived of this incredible hobby.

I would like to be the first to welcome Randy to our fold and get the job done. Let's us all give Randy a warm welcome.

[N8YX]

Welcome aboard, Randy!

Lots of things have changed within the ARS since you and Jerry first took to the air, but it's still as fun as it was when I was first licensed....which isn't too many years after either of you.

Jump on in - feel free to ask questions.

[N9FE]

Pull up a piece of Floor and set a while.. :D

[kf0rt]

Pull up a piece of [strike:m2k3o93g]Floor[/strike:m2k3o93g] beach and set a while.. :D

FTFY. :dance

[KG4CGC]

Welcome to the Island Randy. We have a nice little bar down at the end of the pier where we also fish for mahi.
Enjoy the warm breezes and the scotch coladas. Hey, ask for it and I'll make it.

Now this question is for everyone in general. How long were you involved with your significant other before you decided to tell her that you were into ham radio and enjoyed staying up late at night and talking to strange men in the dark?

[kf0rt]

Met my wife at a radio club picnic (1976). I think she had a clue.

[WØTKX]

Oh, cool!

Did Randy pass any test past the Novice exam? If so, he may be grandfathered in from back then. I was first licensed in 1970, as WNØCYU, later WBØCYU.

Let my license lapse for 26 years, gave me credit for the the 5wpm Novice, and the written General exam at the FCC. I just had to take the Tech written, and I was back in.

And yes indeed, the written exams were harder than the multiple guess versions.

[KU0DM]

Glad to have another Kansan on board! (Once a Kansan, always a Kansan)

[X-Rated]

Glad to have another Kansan on board! (Once a Kansan, always a Kansan)

Yeah. I guess even though he considers himself a Ark City-Kansan.