I've been interested in radio ever since I was a child and got my first walkie-talkie for Christmas. I remember being about 5 and standing in the road with my dad in front of my grandparent's house, trying to get them to work. Unfortunately there was something wrong with them and we had to wait until we got home to return them to Radio Shack and get new ones. Since then though I was hooked. When I was older, some of the hams came to my Boy Scout troop and did some ham classes in preparation for an exam. When it came time for the written exam I did much better. I unfortunately missed a passing score by one question. Even though I didn't pass the exam, I didn't lose interest in radio. I kept busy with some FRS radios with my friends, sometimes listening in to other kids talking. Occasionally messing with them, pretending to be Russian spies.
After I graduated high school I joined the Air Force where I went to school for Meteorological and Navigational Systems. Once I completed my training I was sent to a unit in Germany and only dealt with the meteorological side of the house. Three years later I departed Germany and was stationed in West Texas. Here not only was I working on the Navigational Aids, I was also working on ground-to-air ATC radios. This along with the electronics knowledge I had gained in training slowly re-ignited my interest in radio.
It wasn't until 2008 that I finally looked on the ARRL webpage and found when the next exam session would be. I marked my calendar, did a few practice tests online and took the exam. This time I passed the exam. I went forward and tried the General exam but missed it by a question or two. Regardless, I pass and got my ticket. I had the shiny new call sign of KE5WYD. It wasn't long before everything revolved around that call sign. My email, usernames for various websites and naturally, the vanity ham radio license plate. That Christmas I picked up a new Yaesu VX-7r and programmed in some of the local repeaters. I jumped on a few nets here and there and made some contacts on Echolink but that was about it.
A few more years went by and I made the decision to separate from the Air Force. I was now a civilian again, albeit a government civilian, once again working on meteorological systems. It was at this time that I tried to get into the ham radio world once again. I found through much Googling the illustrious J-Pole antenna. Down to the hardware store I went to buy some copper tubing and fittings. I stuck the antenna on a fence post at the back of my house with some RG-58 I had acquired somewhere along my journeys. Inside I hooked my VX-7r up to my wattmeter and the J-Pole and fired it up. With great luck I was as close to 1:1 VSWR as my wattmeter could get. As usual I would try to get on the repeaters but the most I would really do is talk to one of my co-workers. That didn't stop me from wanting more. At an exam session that was at my office I upgraded my license to General.
As usual, life always seemed to get in the way and I never did much beyond some repeater work here and there. However the time was approaching and my license was about to expire. On to the FCC's website I go and renew my license, as well as my interest. Seems like quite the recurring trend doesn't it? I decide its time to not only renew my license, but get myself a fancy new vanity call sign. A few weeks after renewing I said goodbye to an old friend. My call was no longer KE5WYD, I was now known as N5BEW on the airwaves. The next step of course was to hop on QRZ and peruse the classifieds. There I picked up an older Kenwood HF radio. I did a lot of research into antennas and tried to figure out what it was that I wanted to get. There was just one thing stopping me. I'm cheap and feedline isn't. I never quite decided what it was that I wanted to do antenna wise and likewise never got around to getting feedline. A few months later I decided to sell the Kenwood and give it a new home where it would get used. Once again things were on the back burner.
The common trend of my interest being reignited unsurprisingly happened once again. The trustee for my office's club call retired. As the only other ham in the office, I was given the task of taking over as the trustee. At first I had little interest in it, partially due to the paperwork, partially because I was still in a lull. However I pushed through, got the paperwork filled out and became the new trustee. I decided that as the trustee I should go through the information we had on hand. To say it was out of date would be a lie, it was a dumpster fire. There were papers as far back as the mid 90s, with the most recent ones still being close to 8 years old. This won't do, we can't be operating on such old and outdated information. After what seemed like months of working with the local repeater trustee, making maps in ArcGIS and updating documentation, things were looking much better.
That brings us pretty much up to current day. I've been a lot more involved lately with getting on the local nets and ham radio in general. Speaking of general, I'm planning to get into the world of HF, this time however, I won't skimp when it comes to spending money on feedline.