Forty years ago I was a high school student in Randolph, NJ. I was attending Randolph High School and had recently discovered this new band called Bachman-Turner Overdrive. I was in my junior year, a move away from New Jersey was on the horizon, and some weeks previously I had completed the written examination for my ham radio license.
It was Friday, a Friday the 13th at that, and I was waiting for the FCC to send me my license. It had been maybe four weeks or so since I had taken the written test. That was preceded two weeks prior by my Morse Code test. I knew that the FCC would take anywhere from four to six weeks to send me my license, and on that Friday, I looked over at a then-classmate of mine named Steve Bxxx and said, "I wonder if the FCC has sent my license yet?"
In those days, getting a ham license was different than it was today. My uncle Keith was my "Elmer", or ham radio mentor if you will. I had developed an interest in ham radio that summer and was studying the Morse Code. I had some familiarity with electricity and theory by then, but I still studied that, as well as rules and regulations, since half of the test would be on the rules and regs.
Uncle Keith said that when I was ready for the Morse Code test, he couldn't do it since he was a relative. He suggested contacting a local ham. I knew of one, a Mr. William H. Rawson, K2AX, out of nearby Dover. I looked him up in the phone book, called him up, introduced myself, and would he be willing to administer the examination?
He said yes, and a few days later I was at his house. With a 1 x 2 callsign he had been a ham for several years, and an Extra Class one at that. He administered a Morse Code test, with the requirement that I demonstrate proficiency at five words per minute. I passed the test, whereupon he signed the paperwork that he, as a volunteer examiner, had certified my proficiency, and he had mailed off the paperwork to the FCC.
Some two weeks later, I was back at his house for the written portion. It was a simple test, with half of it devoted to simple theory. It's been so long that I can't remember what the specific questions were but I think I had to understand the relationship between voltage, current, and resistance. I had to know what frequencies that a Novice Class License could operate on. I may have been questioned on the relationship between wavelength and frequency. And I may have had to know how to calculate series and parallel resistance in an electric circuit.
So, a few weeks after that, it's Friday the 13th on a September afternoon, and I'm wondering where my license is, and if it's going to be in the mailbox at home; waiting for me.
Unbeknownst to me that afternoon, the FCC had already acted. I was issued my license, effective 9/13/74, for the callsign WN2WVB. However, I wasn't going to get it for another week. It arrived one week later, and when it did, Uncle Keith drove over from Long Island to help me get set up.
My first QSO, or "contact", was with Mr. Rawson. I was nervous at the last half of it and missed some of the Morse Code he had sent me, but the gist of it was congratulations, and to now get going and contact some more people. That was on or about 9/22/74, and later on that weekend I was on the air. The second QSO after that was a local one, and one later that night was with a novice ham in Framingham, Massachusetts.
Here I am forty years later, and my license is still active. I've been on and off the air in several cycles since then. Due to moves later on in high school, my callsign was changed to WN4ROS, then WN6MPP, and when I upgraded I became WA6MPP for many years. I climbed my way up the ham radio ladder, getting my Extra Class license in 1983.
Throughout the years in this hobby, I've made some good friends, and have talked to hams in more countries than I can remember. And on this anniversary, I'm thinking, I need to get back into it......once the work situation is resolved.
Things have changed in that hobby over the years. For all examinations since my Novice, I had to appear at the FCC in San Francisco to take the code and written tests. These days, volunteer examiner committees administer the tests, and I think the Advanced Class license was phased out. Frequency bands for phone (what we call "voice") have been adjusted, and some new bands have been created.
But some things won't change: the thrill of speaking to someone in a foreign country. The camaraderie that you find in a local ham radio club. The fun of building a low power transmitter and seeing if it works.
Yes..........I need to get back into this.
