What got me into ham radio makes little sense to anyone, I suppose.

I was actually looking for a WW2/40s era communications receiver as a decorator piece for my man cave/room and happened into ham radio

The unit I was looking for was something along the lines of a Hammerlund, a National or a Hallicrafters and I droppped into a ham forum. I got some advice and then went looking on eBay for something local.

Those old sets are generally pretty big and I wanted something I could snag locally as shipping is pretty expensive.

I was scouting eBay and a Chinese 102e military radio set popped up. It was from the early Vietnam era and was complete with a bicycle generator. It looked like something a WW2 coastwatcher might have used, actually.

A shipmate was looking over my shoulder and laughed.

"Get that," he said. "I could picture you setting it up somewhere and sending out Morse code messages saying that you are a leftover Japanese corporal in New Guinea that doesn't know the war's over!"

I had heard that the code requirement for ham licenses had been abolished a few years back. I looked at my shipmate.

"You know," I said. "I'll bet can get a license to go on the air with that thing fairly easily."

"Yeah, right." was the reply.

I had just come back to work and had about 12 days left on the tour. I clicked off of eBay and went to a website forum I am a member of and asked around.

Then I Googled a bit.

An hour later after my shipmate made the comment about sending out Morse messages in the identity of a holdout Japanese corporal I was studying. I put all of my spare time toward learning enough to pass the tests.

Two days after I got off work I drove out to a small town emergency center and tested. I left the place with a General class amateur radio operator's license. It really was as simple as that.

Before the ink was dried on my ticket I started looking for a rig to get on the air with. 

The eBay seller of the Chinese 102e told me that he didn't think the rig would be good for a new ham and suggested I take another route.

That's when Lady Luck smiled at me.

I knew I didn't want to go on the air with a true ham rig because they were too complex. I wanted a fairly modern military type rig. I knew from experience that basic military rigs were designed to take an uneducated kid and make him into a radio operator in a couple of hours.

I knew how to run an AN/PRC-77 from my service days.

I spotted a PRC-320 on eBay, found some literature on it and knew then and there I could easily run one. Then I found a seller that offered me a fair deal. I paid for it and when it arrived I was on the air.

Several states and DX entities under my belt and I decided to set up the modest home station I have.

I still take the PRC 320 out often, though. Setting up on the fly is a lot of fun.

I never did get the decorator piece I had been looking for.



To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY