My interest in radio began at th

My interest in radio began at the age of twelve when I saw a general coverage shortwave receiver for the first time. The idea receiving radio stations from around the world fascinated me. Unfortunately my lack of financial resources prohibited me from obtaining a receiver at the time. One year later my parents bought a pair of CB walkie-talkies for my brother and me for Christmas (1965). Now I was hooked for good, The following Christmas my parents gave me a Knight-kit C540 CB radio as a present and after a couple weeks of assembling the kit, I was on the air. I learned a great deal about radio by playing with the CB but after a few years I began to look into getting my ham license. I purchased the 1970 ARRL Radio Amateurs Handbook and began to study for my novice license. I passed the test in 1972 and received the callsign WN8OIY. I got on the air with a Hallicrafters SX43 receiver and an Eico 720 Transmitter. The Eico was capable of 90 watts but had a novice limit indication on the front panel meter to reduce the transmitter to 75 watts.

Click on the button to see a 1960's advertisement for the EICO 720 Transmitter

Having a novice license in the early seventies meant studying to upgrade since it was a non-renewable two year ticket. Within my two year window, I traveled to a FCC exam test site and passed the 13 wpm code and the General written test. My callsign changed from WN8OIY to WB8OIY. The year was 1974 and not only my ham radio hobby was doing well but my personal life as well. I married my girlfriend Betty. My station consisted of a brand new Yaesu FT101B and a Hygain TH3MK3 yagi. In December of that year I became a Life Member of the ARRL. The cost was $150, it was a lot of money at the time but it turned out to be a great investment.

In 1976 I went back to the FCC to upgrade to the Advanced class and soon after I obtained a model 19 Teletype machine, I built a terminal unit for it and used it on the air. In 1977 Betty and I purchased a new house that we still live in and we also bought our first computer, a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 1. The TRS-80 came with 4K of ram and used a cassette tape recorder for program storage.

In the late 70's Betty earned her Novice license and received the callsign WD8ARJ and a few years later she upgraded to Technician class.

Our daughter Heather was born in 1979, in a short period of time she learned to walk and talk, then drive and moved away. I'm not sure what how that happened, but it didn't seem to take very long. She now lives in San Francisco, She inherited my personality but fortunately has my wife's looks. (For her to have my looks would be too horrible to consider)

I went back to the FCC in 1980 and passed the 20 wpm code test and the Amateur Extra written test. During the late eighties my hobby slowly turned away from Amateur radio and into computers and the internet. I enjoyed building and upgrading PC's but that turned sour when Microsoft made it difficult to do this when they introduced Windows XP. By this time I was beginning to miss my Ham hobby, so in 2001 I started to dust off the gear and returned to the airwaves. In 2002 the callsign N8DP became available, I had been watching the "DP" (my initials) 1x2 callsigns for years hoping to get one. In 2005 I began construction of a Ham shack located 300 feet behind my house. The new shack is 12 X 16 ft with a basement and will have a front porch.

Hallicrafters SX43 Receiver Eico 720 CW Transmitter

First introduced in 1947 ($169) 90 Watts - Crystal controlled

Betty in the Ham Shack (1974) Tower is 60 feet of Rohn 25

Equipment from left to right Antennas are the Hygain TH3MK3 yagi

Tram Titan 2 CB rig Hallicrafters SX 43 and 1/2 Wave Dipoles for 80 & 160 Meters

Heathkit HW 101 Yaesu FT 101B (October 1974)

Using a gin pole and a lawn tractor to raise the Rohn 55 tower sections. Howard (W8HSJ) and myself are on the tower while Les (WA8LE) drives the Tractor and Lowell (KA8RPB) looks on. This tower will 105' when finished.

In March of 2007 I put an IRLP simplex node (4013) on the air and have been having a lot of fun meeting and chatting with hams from all over the world. I find that using IRLP is handy when traveling for keeping in touch with the local hams. I also have a 147.24 - two meter repeater installed in the basement of the shack. Eventually I'll probably put the IRLP feature on the repeater.

I hope to have several towers installed in the near future and have decent antennas for most of the Ham bands. I haven't pursued obtaining awards or participating in contests in the past, however that may change when I finish my construction project. Besides being a ARRL member, I'm also a member (33834) of QCWA and of the local ham club (D.C.A.R.S.) where I teach a technician class every winter.

I am employed by the NewPage Corporation where we manufacture publishing paper for books and magazines. I've worked at the plant since 1971 and currently work as an Electrical/Instrumentation Technician in the maintenance department. I'm looking forward to retirement and having more time to enjoy my hobby.