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the examination required by the FCC for the Novice
license. After passing the exam and receiving my first callsign (WN3CZK)on
July 20, 1976, I
began operating using Morse code.
Shortly thereafter I went to the Washington, DC FCC office and
upgraded my license class to that of Technician and on February 11,
1977 my callsign became WB3CZK. I could
talk on some frequencies!
I continued honing my operating skills and returned to the study
books until I was able to return to the Washington, DC FCC office to take and pass the examination for the
General class license on April 29, 1977. Now I could talk or use Morse code
on HF to
communicate with hams around the world. Talk about exciting!
At this point, I was completely hooked, I studied and passed the
Advanced Class license test and received the new
license on March 31, 1978.
In the November, 1981 our family
visited St. Thomas, USVI where I operated in the ARRL Sweepstakes
and achieved first place, low power in the West Indies. A few
days later we visited Tortola, British Virgin Islands where I was
licensed as VP2VHW.
On March 12, 1982 I received
a new callsign of KC3AJ.
In May, 1984 Claudia, my wife, and I
spent some time in Greece where I was licensed as SV/KC3AJ.
During 1992, we visited St. Maarten (Netherland Antilles) where I
was licensed as PJ7/KC3AJ.
Then came our February, 1999 trip to Dominica (one of the most
beautiful places we have visited) where I was licensed as J79CAJ and
met all the local hams.
Years passed as I enjoyed my Ham Radio hobby. My son,
Bernie (W3UR), who is also a ham, called one day to tell me he had
accomplished the ultimate ham goal - he obtained the Extra Class
license (the final frontier). He kidded me a bit about his having
the higher class license as I smiled and congratulated him for his
accomplishment, told him I was proud of
him and went on about my business suspecting that the Extra Class license would
be too difficult for me to obtain.
In January 2000, we traveled to the islands of St. Christopher and
Nevis where I was licensed as V47AJ. While vacationing on St.
Christopher and Nevis islands in the Caribbean, I began studying for
my Extra Class examination.
Later in 2000,
The day prior to taking the scheduled extra class license examination, I had emergency
eye surgery. Claudia (my wife) had to drive me to the examination
site as I could see little or nothing. In spite of the inability to
see with both eyes, 24 years after obtaining my first license, I
finally obtained the ultimate ham radio license.
Soon thereafter, I applied for and received on June 3, 2000 what is expected to be
my final US callsign
- N3ME.
On July 31, 2000 I retired for the second time and my wife and I moved to Bethany
Beach, DE.
Our next journey was in February, 2002 when we visited the Bahamas
and I was licensed as N3ME/C6A.
Our next scheduled trip was to Costa Rica where I was licensed as
N3ME/TI2 in February, 2003.
Closely following this, we spent time in Belize where I was licensed
as V31ME and operated at the QTH of V31MD, Bob Fox.
During the spring of 2003, I secretly tutored my granddaughter,
Christa McClenny as she studied for her first ham license. On
March 25th she surprised her parents (W3UR and N3OSH), when she
received her first license - KB3JIU.
In November, 2003 we went to the Cayman Islands, where I was
licensed as ZF2TM and the local club members allowed me to operate
from their club station.
In February, 2004, we tripped down to Tortola, British Virgin
Islands again. The Ministry of Telecommunications would not
allow me to use the VP2VHW call sign granted in 1980, but did
provide me with a license as VP2V/N3ME and I again enjoyed operating
with a dipole hanging between two palm trees.
As I became involved in local politics first as a Town Council
member and then progressed to Secretary/Treasurer, Vice Mayor and
Mayor, we neglected to take time off and travel for several years
during which we also demolished the original house on our property
in 2005 and during the construction of
the new one, we had the contractor pour a concrete pad for a tower.
The house was completed in September, 2006 and in December, with the
help of W3PP (Dallas) and KB3KYH (Bill), antennas were installed on the tower.
It is absolutely wonderful to again be able to make contacts via ham
radio.
The winter of 2010 was difficult as first my father died, followed
one week later by the death of one of our sons (Kevin), during our son's funeral
I suffered a heart attack and had triple bypass surgery.
During this period of time my tower was bent by excessive wind shear
and was taken down by friends. Due to the Town Code, I have
been unable to replace the crank-up tower with a triangular tower,
but we are working on a mutually acceptable compromise. It is
my hope to have the new tower in place by spring 2012. At
present, I am operating using a folded dipole, which is barely
acceptable after using a beam for years.
Oh yes, Claudia and I are planning a trip during for
early days of 2011. Where to? We are not certain as yet,
but Barbados & Dominica are at the head of today's list. Time
will tell if and where we go.
If you need a contact from the state of Delaware (6
meters through 80 meters), send me an
e-mail message
with a suggested schedule. It
will be my pleasure to help you obtain contact confirmation. |
