On This Date In History, March 11th 1983...

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

....a certain JN was issued the callsign KA1KAQ by the FCC.

A quarter century later... he followed through on a previous threat to locate his old licenses and report back. Ha! The ol' memory still works.

Interestingly, a combination of circumstances (no transmitter) and fate (no ant) resulted in the first CW contact on 40 meters exactly 3 months later, June 11th. I'm hoping to track down that DX contact (VE3, but hey -) and send him an anniversary card, maybe even make a sked to remind him just how annoying bad CW can be. I'm still good at sending 'error' (......).

So to all of you old timers out there like W3GL, WA1KPD, WB3HUZ, WA1GFZ, K2VH and anyone else around longer, I have a question: Did your first 25 years go that quickly? It seems like it was just a few years ago.

I figure there's another 50 good years left in me, after that I can't be held responsible for my actions - on the air or otherwise. 

This calls for a beer! 

[k7yoo]

It went that fast for me--and it is still fun, even at 45 years. I didn't even do the math until I read your post!
Like you, I'm still pretty irresponsible. Are we entitled to rant and be cantankerous now?
I think NOT growing up is great!!

Congrats

Skip

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Congratulations, you old buzzard! QCWA for you.

Here's you and the rest of the group on 3725 kHz Sunday, 9 March 2008.

[W2XR]

Hi Todd,

Congratulations on your 25th anniversary!

I received my novice call WN2OGS in March of 1970. Hell yes, the time goes by really quickly. In my case, I was 16 years old at the time, a Junior in high school, and the 38 years that have elapsed are a real testimonial to the fact that life is indeed very short.

I'm aiming now for my 50th anniversary. Let's see, that would put it in March of 2020. It'll be here before you know it.

I hope we can all eventually celebrate our 50th (or longer) license anniversary within this great hobby of ours.

73,

Bruce

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Some more.

[AF9J]

Congratulations Todd!!  It's QCWA time for you!

73,
Ellen - AF9J
30 years and counting

[Jim, W5JO]

Congrats for the longivity Todd.  In the summer of 1955 I received my Novice and it is hard to believe it has been 53 years.  Now that you are past the 25 year mark, you don't have to listen to anyone tell you how to operate.

Now you might consider the next bench mark.

http://www.ootc.us/whatootc.html

Have fun and live it up.

Jim/W5JO

[Blaine N1GTU]

congrats Todd,
after thinking about it I will be 20 years next year.
I would have been pushing 23 years if i had studied the code a little harder back in '86 when i went for my novice (finally passed it in '89)
but then i would have had a KA1 call 

[WA1GFZ]

I'm licensed since 1966 so have a few years to get to 50. The first 25 years lasted for ever and always had time to play in the shack. I seem to get busy with other things as time goes on. The one thing that never changes is those damn slop buckets.
Losers were even trying to strap the gray hair net....but they were not giving anyone any problems. It was like having ants at a picnic.

[W4EWH]

....a certain JN was issued the callsign KA1KAQ by the FCC.

[snip]

So to all of you old timers out there like W3GL, WA1KPD, WB3HUZ, WA1GFZ, K2VH and anyone else around longer, I have a question: Did your first 25 years go that quickly? It seems like it was just a few years ago.

"I've been aware of the time going by
They say in the end, it's the wink of an eye... "

                                     Jackson Browne

73, W1AC

[k3sqp]

Great stuff Todd...Congrats and hope for many more. I too share March with you
March 27 1962....No that can't be right.... Before Tempus fugits anymore...I think
I'll have that beer...
73
Phranque
K3 San Quentin Prison

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

LOL. Since we're waxing poetic how about a little Shakespeare.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day; to the last syllable of recorded time; and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

-- Macbeth

[W9GT]

Hi Todd,

Congrats on the milestone!  I will have been licensed a mere 49 years this August.  I was 14 when I then became KN9UBF.  A few call-sign changes since and I'm almost to HCWA.  Guess that might qualify me for ol' buzzard status.  Anyway...yes, it goes by quickly.  The older ya get, the faster it goes.  Here's hoping you have at least another couple of quarter centuries or so to enjoy.

73,  Jack, W9GT

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

That's pretty heavy, Steve.

You should know that your remaining bottle of Ale Werks porter was the celebratory beverage of choice last night. The cap now sports my callsign arched along the inside seal, with '25 Yrs' in the center. It's now a R@RE collectible.

Blaine, if I'd gotten licensed sooner, I'd have one of those WA1 calls. I only missed the WB1 by a few weeks.

So after posting this momentous new event last night, I got on the air for a spell. Said a quick hello to Dave VE1UJ in NS as he was signing, then worked Roger WA2HNQ and Jim WB2EJG in NY for a while on 80m with spectacular band conditions. After we all signed around 9:30, I flipped the HV off but left everything else lit. Around 10PM I heard someone testing, came back into the room and threw the HV switch on, turns out if was Ken W2DTC at 40+ over S9. Maybe 25 minutes later Don K4KYV chimed in with an equally-stout signal and we carried on until midnight.

The band was dead quiet, no fading, no noise, nothing. All signals were strong and clear.  It was as if.....the Radio Gods were smiling on me *cough*cough*

Marconi: Hey, Major A...get a load of thisa guy, thinking he's a such a biga deal fora puny 25 ayears...

Armstrong: Yeah Gug....and we thought Sarnoff was lame.

Marconi: He's aboring. Let'sa go taunt monkey boy DeForest witha that Audion diagram you drew up. Wanna bet he still can'ta explain it?

Armstrong: *snort*....he said 'monkey'....


Funny part of the entire night was realizing that I was still the JN on frequency: 49 years for Roger and Don, 45 for Jim, and 52 for Ken! We ended the night with an amusing discussion about who would be left on amateur radio to turn off the lights in a few decades or so. A pair of 90 year olds from today's 30 or 40somethings, since there doesn't seem to be a stampede following behind.

Thanks for all the kind words, thoughts, and shared experiences. Looking forward to hearing and working more of you soon, with these great band conditions.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I bowled a 279 on the night of March 11, 1983 

[w8khk]

Congrats, Todd!

Yes, the time indeed flies by.  I got my advanced back in 68 while home on leave from the AF.  So in Sept I will be coming up on 40 years!  I used to enjoy QSOs with my brother Bill, who was 5A4TY (now W2WM) while he was at Wheelus Air Base in Tripoli, Lybia, and Dad (W2DU) in NJ, while I was stationed at Davis Monthan in Tucson.  Sure was lots better than dropping coins in a pay phone! 

I have met lots of friends on the air, helped some and been helped by just as many.  It's great to be a member of all the gentlemen (and ladies) in this group.

73, and many more....

Rick

[W1RKW]

Todd,
I past my 25th anniversary last year and didn't give it a thought and did not celebrate. It didn't occur to me.  In 1982 I was issued the JN call, KA1IHQ on 2/23/82.  I'll have to look for the 30th I guess. Congrats OM.

[KA1ZGC]

We ended the night with an amusing discussion about who would be left on amateur radio to turn off the lights in a few decades or so. A pair of 90 year olds from today's 30 or 40somethings, since there doesn't seem to be a stampede following behind.

The way I picture it:

I will have been declared dead (as my remains will not have been found in any identifiable form) about twenty years prior to Old Buzzard Blaine's head dying (due to a malfunction of his Cranial Support Tank caused by tin whiskers from RoHS-compliant solder joints).

This will leave Bill, KE1GF, as the sole survivor; but nobody will know it, because there'll be nobody for him to talk to. By this time, of course, he will have invented a sentient autonomous radio transmitter that only communicates in single-sideband, just so he'll still have somebody to strap.

News of this will not make the wires, as the crashing of the U.S.S. Chelsea Clinton into Phobos and Dick Clark's birthday party will have the full attention of the media.

Not so much a bang as a whimper.

--Thom
Kerolene Apparatus One Zooming Golf Cart

[W1RC]

Todd:

The first twenty-five years went by quite slowly; after that it goes by too quickly.

73,

MrMike

[ve6pg]

...gud stuff todd...richard, ve3oyu just had his 50th, on jan28. he still uses his nc98 from that time, with his viker2..tim..sk..

[N3DRB The Derb]

I'm glad they are going by at all. 

[Carl WA1KPD]

Old Timer indeed you young whippersnapper

Why when I woke up from nap, found my glasses and read that. I was so angry I didn't even need my prunes for breakfast.


Well lets see, when I got my license my shop teacher gave the test to me. And yes sir you waited, by God, for the answers to be mailed in and be graded and your results mailed back to you. None of this damn instant licenses.. By gum you suffered and waited for you dang license.

I think it was about 8 weeks. I mean it had to go to all the way to Boston and be evaluated by the proper FCC types!

Although I had been around hams for awhile, I had never seen their licenses. So I expected a certificate at least 8 x 12 with engraved  script, eagles, possibly a picture of George Washington and defiantly  hand signed by President Johnson himself. Who else but the President could authorize such power to a boy of 15? When it came, a small document signed by C. B Plumer, I did not even recognize it.

I remember a huge technical problem I had with my dipole. I looked in every book I had' because before I put it up obviously I needed to know if the leg attached to the shield was supposed to be closer to the transmitter or away from the transmitter. My elmer (K1VYU) was older and off in the service. Who to turn to? Haw, go find that answer in your fancy books and internet's. It is a secret and they don't tell you!

Todd, to answer the real question when my 25th rolled around we were in the  middle of building a new house, life was hectic and I did not even notice. Now I spend much less time operating and what ham time I do have is usually spent on getting some old project restored and listening to others.

Congratulations OM, and see you in a little more then a month I hope

Carl /
KPD

[WB2RJR]

Congradulations Todd,

I took my novice exam in Dec 1962 and my license showed up in Feb 1963. About the time I was 25 years in I got back onto AM thanks to K8MLV. I'd spent 14 years doing only CW. Had to dust off and recap the modulator in the Globe King 500B, my EV mike had crapped out from no use and when I first got on, K0OJ said it sounded like I was talking into a coffee can.

Like most, the first 25 went SLOW....the last 20 were a blink. I sure wish the summers would go as slow as they did when I was a kid.

73

Marty WB2RJR

[WA6UBJ]

Congrats Todd!! Time flies when you're having fun!!!

Got my Novice in Dec. of '61 and have kept THE SAME CALL SIGN continuously all these years (except the novice was a 'v' instead of an 'a').  Hoping to see the 50 year mark in a few years.

Congrats again!!!

Dick

[kb3ouk]

To me, time seems to be flying. But, unlike some of you who are almost to the 50th aniversary, I've not gotten to the 1st aniversary point yet, March 21st will be 1 year for me. So I have 24 years yet until I get to the 25th aniversary point, but I can guess that the next 24 years will go as quickly as the first year did.
Shelby KB3OUK