K5LAD - 50+ Years of Ham Radio Memories Menu

50+ Years of Ham Radio Memories

On June 25th, 1957 I received my first amateur radio license - KN5LAD. Now, after all these years, I'm looking forward to celebrating my 50 years in this hobby. They have been enjoyable years and I've done a lot, learned a lot, messed up a lot, helped a lot of others to become hams and generally had a wonderful time. I'm looking forward to the next 50 years and if they're half of much fun as the previous 50 years, then I can hardly wait to see them arrive. Back when I was first licensed, the Novice license was only good for one year (non-renewable) and only allowed operation on CW. There had been a time when Novices could also operate AM on 2 meters, and Oh, I wanted to get on phone, but I think that restriction had passed. I'm pulling all of these memories from the back of my skull and you know that if I'm celebrating 50 years in the hobby then I must have several more years on my odometer and "us old folks" have some problems recalling things like we did in our earlier days. If you are an old timer and you read something which doesn't sound quite right, just remember that these are my memories, as best they have remained with me. Before my Novice year had expired, I got a Technician and then a General Class license. I got my Advanced in 1971 and kept that until 2001 when I became an Extra.

I've worked on all bands from 160-70cm and dabbled in many modes: AM, SSB, RTTY, CW (short dabble), ATV, FM, SSTV. I've been involved in DX, Ragchewing, Contests, Nets, Army MARS, and lots of homebrewing (electronics, that is). I built the first Army MARS repeater, for this area and probably all of Oklahoma, back in 1968 or 69 (can't remember too well back that far). I built several repeaters on 2, 220, and 70 cm and still own and operate the 146.10/.70 and 444.9/444.3 repeaters in Owasso, OK.

I have RCC, WAS, WAC, DXCC certificates. I have a sticker for 112 countries and I never did send in any more cards. I keep threatening to send in many more cards which I've received since those I had when I originally got the 112 in 1972. I'll sure do that..................... some day.

NOTE: Actually "some day" finally arrived in 2010 when I cashed in my Logbook of the World DX contacts. Now I'm up to something like 250 or so and still have quite a few actual paper QSL cards to have checked. I'll get that done "some day" too.

I owned and operated a ham radio store called Derrick Electronics in Broken Arrow (OK) from 1970-1981. I also spent 30+ years in education business teaching junior high and high school plus I was the Computer Coordinator for Tulsa Public Schools for 9 years. I'm a member of Tulsa Amateur Radio Club, The Electron Benders ARC, and QCWA. I guess I'm also a defunct member of the defunct Owasso Amateur Radio Club

My wife is Gloria - WA5SNU, my oldest son is Russell - KD6GGI, and my youngest son is Daniel - KF6LMF. I've had several ham articles published in a defunct computer magazine called One Thousand (Tandy 1000 series) and in several in the now defunct 73 Magazine. Hmmmmmm..... I'm starting to see a common thread in "defunction" so perhaps I should admit right now that I'm a defunctional personality. Perhaps I'm just a person who "uses up" his affiliations.

I recently sat down and wrote a quick title to some of the many things I've seen and lived through in my colorful ham career. Since that time, as I get a chance, I've tried to "flesh out" the story behind that quick memory note. I'm getting enough stories written now so that I can begin to share them with others. I have no aspirations of becoming a great writer and I won't be surprised if nobody spends the time to read any of these stories. They have, however, been very therapeutic for me and they've brought back some very happy memories that I had long-since forgotten.

I've been contacted, on several occasions, by ham club newsletter editors, asking if they could use something from my website in their newsletters. The answer is "yes, by all means" but I would appreciate you letting me know (k5lad@arrl.net) and if you would, please show a reference to the URL where you found it. A copy of the complete article would also be nice, either via email file or snail mail (address in QRZ.com).

I'll continue to add to the pages as I write additional parts. If you choose to read any of these, I'll try to add a few each month or so and you can check back and see if I mentioned something about you that you wish had not been told. I'll try to make a note of an approximate time period when these things happened. These are at the mercy of my memory so if I miss one..... or miss one by a mile, you'll understand why.