Tom Carter, KC2GEP (formerly WV2GPZ, 1959; KB2QCW, 1993)
My ham career began in 1959 as a sophomore in high school in Cortland, NY. I took my novice test at the local ham radio store, Winchell's, from noted SSB innovator, Bill Russ. (It was rumored that he was frequently on the phone with military electronics experts to help solve some problem or other.) Soon I bought an EICO 720, 75 watt novice transmitter, in pieces, for $85 and carried it home in the basket of my old English bike with no gears. After involving the whole family in building the kit with only a soldering gun, a screwdriver, and a pair of needle nose pliers; I took it back to Bill for testing. He was surprised that it lit up the light bulb and seemed to be working properly, despite the huge solder joints throughout the chasis. My first antenna was a 40 meter dipole with 75 ohm feed wires to my bedroom in the back of the house, through the window that I occasionally used to enter my room in emergency situations. My receiver was a Hallicrafters SX 99 which I had purchased from my high school friend with a Technician's license. (See picture) Since I became involved in many school activities during my junior year, including an undefeated football season; I only managed to accumulate 20 qsl cards during that one novice year, and probably not many more qso's during that time on 15 and 40 meters. I only had four 40 meter crystals, a couple of which worked on 15 meters on the harmonic of 40 meters.
My longest contact was a 40 meter BSA qso with another Scout in California who was working the Fiftieth Anniversary of BSA in America. Our Troop 88 exhibit for the celebration, at the local armory, consisted of two 20 foot signal towers which we (troop leaders) built out of logs, twine, and a few nails as well. Messages were relayed by Morse Code through 2 code oscillators from one tower to another and then sent up the tower to other Scouts that semafored messages back to the original tower. For Christmas, I received a US Callbook and an ARRL handbook.
One of my photos features the church from which my antenna hung from the small windows near the peak of the church on the side toward the house. My dad held the wire while I climbed up the rickety catwalk in the cavernous space between the sanctuary ceiling and the church roof. If we had lost our balance, we probably would have ended up on the pews of the church. You may be able to see the white ceramic insulator just behind the house chimney, where the dipole is connected with rope. I learned how to handle a 30 foot wooden ladder that year.
After one year of limited use, my ham equipment gathered dust for over 30 years when I decided to take the novice test again, and discovered it was now valid for 10 years, with renewals. After dragging the SX 99 out for a couple of years, I finally invested in a 25 year old transceiver, Kenwood TS 520, and got back on the air in 1994. For whatever reason, CW seemed much easier this time around, even with a straight key. I've managed to WAC and WAS since that time, and have approached DXCC before securing a general license. My main interests now are QRP and use of the straight key. I sold my EICO 720 at a hamfest in Rochester, NY several years ago but still have the SX-99 in the attic.
Although I returned to the old 40 meter dipole to hang in the back yard, a friend gave me a mini-G5RV that has worked extremely well hung between the two trees pictured in the photo. The 50 ohm coax was buried from the house to the Douglas Fir tree (see the coax traveling up the tree trunk). One leg of the dipole was connected to the tall white ash tree in the field and the other leg was connected to a barn next door. It provided good propagation in most directions, including Antarctica, Indian Ocean, Australia, South Africa, and Japan. It may have helped that the antenna hung directly above an active leach field. The various novice and FISTS contests were particularly motivating in advancing CW skills, though I have not graduated much above the 13 WPM level.
Tom Carter, WV2GPZ (1959), KB2QCW (1993), KC2GEP (2003)
