Ideas for Your First HF Station

I got started in radio when I was about 9 years old with CB. My cousin, who was 8 years older than I would pick me up and bring me to his house where I operated his CB while he and his friends would drive around. It was my job to keep all the mobiles communicating so I had to relay messages.

A couple of years later, I got a Lafayette Comstat 25A and a Range Booster antenna for my birthday. I spent the next several years learning the ropes of CB radio. This was before the CB craze when CB was very much like ham radio.

CB and playing bass guitar were a big part of my life. But after the CB craze, CB got too weird for me I lost interest. I tried to learn Morse Code but I never had success therefore I never made the move to ham radio. One night in 2009 while surfing the net, I thought I would see what was going on with ham radio. I saw a headline that said “No Code”. I was shocked. I confirmed by checking a couple of sites then told my wife I was going to become a ham. The next day I bought the Technicians study guide. I took the test in December of 2009 and passed. I was assigned the call sign KC2WCI. Shortly after my call was assigned, I requested and received K2NNN.

About a month later I got my General. By the end of 2010, I got my Extra and became a VE. I have been a member of WEARC since 2010. I head up our VE program where we offer testing on the second Wednesday of each month.