My ham license story…
I took a year off work 2017-2018 and had some time on my hands, so I decided to get a ham license. I have known many fine engineers and other colleagues who were hams, but I just never got around to getting a license.
I began studying the Technician questions on qrz.com and hamstudy.org during March 2018, and quickly moved on to General, and then Extra questions. I was scoring in the high 90s, so I sat for the exams in Louisville, CO, on April 5, 2018, sponsored by Boulder Amateur Radio Club. I passed all 3 exams, scoring 48 out of 50 on the Extra. Call sign activated and first QSO with NS0W on April 11, 2018. Member Longmont Amateur Radio Club. I don’t do CW yet, so don’t judge me bro.
My radio and electronics story…
My father was a member of “the greatest generation”, and was a lineman, and later a switch technician, in the Army Signal Corp in World War II. He worked for Western Electric after the war. To my knowledge he never had an Amateur License, but he was quite proficient with Morse code, and very knowledgeable about radio in general.
As a kid growing up in the 60s and 70s, I enjoyed taking things apart. I learned a lot from my father about using hand tools and basic electric circuits. I had a Radio Shack 200-in-1 experimenter kit and had fun wiring up all the circuits, but didn’t really learn any theory, other than basic ohms law. As far as radio, I had a CB walkie talkie and was able to talk with a few of the local CBers, and the occasional trucker. Yeah that’s a big 10-4, good buddy! Also was interested in electric guitar, so I ended up hacking on stomp boxes and audio circuits.
I finally got around to college in the mid 80s. I started off majoring in Music but changed my major to Computer and Electronics Technology. I got a General Radiotelephone Operator License (GROL) in 1985 after completing a radio/tv electronics course. It’s a nice yellow certificate, and never expires, but I never did anything with it.
I have worked in electronic product design engineering and firmware development since 1987.