Mentors for ham radio:
Well, I had only one who was a young music teacher in a nearby town
who taught a ham class in the evening. I got my father to drive to
them and the teacher lent me one of the paper tape CW practise
machines to study CW. He then gave me my Novice and Tech license exams.
There was a ham club in that town. held at the local TV shop. Mostly
30-50 year olds that largely ignored me, making me feel unwanted in
their "little club". I stopped going after 2-3 times. I did find a
WWII surplus VHF AM radio for $15 which a ham at another TV shop (we
moved 30 miles) modified to 2m for me. Owner of that shop sold me a
35-foot TV tower for $35 and I built two 8-element yagis for 2m to
put on the tower.
I hung out at that shop a lot and talked with them. Mostly, I was
self-motivated and read books from ARRL that were in the local
library. I only had a $2 allowance per month so it took me half a
year to save up to buy my 3-tube receiver kit ($19.95). I never
thought about needing a solder iron but my dad surprised me with a
Wen solder gun for my birthday (about $5). Later, after passing my
Novice, he surprised me again buying me a DX-35, which my
teacher-mentor was selling (so he could buy a DX-100). I did get a
job working as a bagger at a local grocery. Mostly, I worked on my
dad's farm so had little time for a job in HS (for making any money).
Many years later in CA, I joined a ham club specializing in mw and
one of them became my new boss at Goldstone (and my prof.
mentor). He is now sk. Most, if not all, are now sk. I figure
(hope) to be around for two more sun-spot maxima. My first was in 1958.
Mention was made of "Maker conventions". Obvious that there is
interest in making stuff so there is an opportunity to introduce ham radio.
A younger ham and I are embarking on holding training sessions
(workshops) on ham radio topics this year. First one was about APRS,
we will do digital modes, antenna building, and hold a antenna
measurement session. Other topics are VHF propagation, meteor
scatter, eme, and mw. Just a start.
My hats off to you who mentor!
73, Ed - KL7UW
http://www.kl7uw.com
Dubus-NA Business mail:
dubus...@gmail.com
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