Sixty nine years ago I built a crystal set, radio receiver. No
electricity no batteries, a crystal, a tickler and a set of ear phones.
I hooked the antenna up to the antenna wire that went from our 1934
model Sears and Roebuck Air king Radio out to a pole on the out house. I
lay in bed many nights listening to radio operators from all over the
world sending out short wave messages for all to hear. I listened to
Radio Berlin, London. Amateur operators and ships Radiomen from all over
the world. My imagination wondered. I remember imagining myself setting
at a radio tapping out Morse code on a transceiver on a small sailboat
as I sailed across oceans. This was the beginnings of my sailing and my
urge to communicate with some listener from some spot in a vast sea to a
distant land. There were many nights when I saw the sky turn gray just
before dawn. My Parents got a letter from my school teacher wanting to
know why I was falling asleep in class. Mom and dad interrogated me and
then set limits on how long I could listen to the crystal set on school
nights. Some Saturday nights a school buddy and I listened together and
spent hours in thoughts of world adventures. I have since then, always
wanted to be an Amateur radio operator. I have studied a little over a
month and took the first step. I took the Technician class exam this
morning and passed. I will receive a call sign over the Internet in a
few days then I could go on radio if I had one. Having been a bit of a
ham all my life I am now a licensed one. So if you find me hamming it it
in the future be on notice that I am now licensed to act that way by the
Federal Communications commission. I also took the General class test
which is one step up from Technion class. I didn't expect to pass that
and I didn't, but didn't miss by much. So a little more study find
another testing site and go take that test as well.
One of the things I want to do is talk to the astronauts on the Space
station. Having made parts of it as well as doing wind tunnel work that
helped to make it possible I feel a close attachment.. My part was
pretty small but it as a thrill to be even a small part of mankind's
historical adventure in space. Imagine me a dumb kid from Dundalk having
a part in that.
That will let me talk and send Morse code over short wave the world over
if I choose. It's been fun studying through the cold winter nights of
January. It ain't so, that you can't teach and old dog new tricks
-- Doug
--
"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history, when everybody stands
around reloading" -- Thomas Jefferson
electricity no batteries, a crystal, a tickler and a set of ear phones.
I hooked the antenna up to the antenna wire that went from our 1934
model Sears and Roebuck Air king Radio out to a pole on the out house. I
lay in bed many nights listening to radio operators from all over the
world sending out short wave messages for all to hear. I listened to
Radio Berlin, London. Amateur operators and ships Radiomen from all over
the world. My imagination wondered. I remember imagining myself setting
at a radio tapping out Morse code on a transceiver on a small sailboat
as I sailed across oceans. This was the beginnings of my sailing and my
urge to communicate with some listener from some spot in a vast sea to a
distant land. There were many nights when I saw the sky turn gray just
before dawn. My Parents got a letter from my school teacher wanting to
know why I was falling asleep in class. Mom and dad interrogated me and
then set limits on how long I could listen to the crystal set on school
nights. Some Saturday nights a school buddy and I listened together and
spent hours in thoughts of world adventures. I have since then, always
wanted to be an Amateur radio operator. I have studied a little over a
month and took the first step. I took the Technician class exam this
morning and passed. I will receive a call sign over the Internet in a
few days then I could go on radio if I had one. Having been a bit of a
ham all my life I am now a licensed one. So if you find me hamming it it
in the future be on notice that I am now licensed to act that way by the
Federal Communications commission. I also took the General class test
which is one step up from Technion class. I didn't expect to pass that
and I didn't, but didn't miss by much. So a little more study find
another testing site and go take that test as well.
One of the things I want to do is talk to the astronauts on the Space
station. Having made parts of it as well as doing wind tunnel work that
helped to make it possible I feel a close attachment.. My part was
pretty small but it as a thrill to be even a small part of mankind's
historical adventure in space. Imagine me a dumb kid from Dundalk having
a part in that.
That will let me talk and send Morse code over short wave the world over
if I choose. It's been fun studying through the cold winter nights of
January. It ain't so, that you can't teach and old dog new tricks
-- Doug
--
"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history, when everybody stands
around reloading" -- Thomas Jefferson
I do think that many of the relevant authorities take a lenient view regarding yacht skippers as long as they do not abuse the system. After all, I am sure that they would much prefer to mount a targeted rescue attempt rather than to run a wide area search.Good Luck Geoff