If on the air, I’d send: “Born 1953 Denver, ham since 2016.”
I’m a retired corporate, contracts, and commercial lawyer. I had my own practice for the last 30 years and worked on a number of interesting things over the years. I was fortunate.
My interest in ham radio started when I was young, probably late elementary school or early junior high school. I even built a nice Heathkit receiver (HR-10b?). The single thing that deterred me from pursuing a license at that time was the Morse code requirement. Back then I had zero interest in learning it. I thought Morse code was, at best, only required for historical, not practical reasons.
Fast forward to 2016. While at a dinner a friend, I learned that his father had been licensed and that my father-in-law also had been licensed (my father-in-law is Jack and his call was W1WWE and then K0CBG). The conversation led to me confirming that the code requirement was no more and so I decided to read about ham radio, which led to taking the test and joining a local club. I quickly upgraded to Amateur Extra and got on the air.
Right after passing the Amateur Extra exam, I surprisingly found myself interested in CW. When I bought my first paddle, I was told that the Extra exam would be easier than learning how to operate CW well. The salesman at HRO was right. After a few months foundering on my own, I signed up for the beginning class of CWA – and, here I am. I’m a big fan of CWA. One aspect of CWA that isn’t discussed much is the fact that the classes lead to friendships. In each of my classes, I developed friendships that I hope will last a lifetime. It might have something to do with sharing the challenges and issues related to learning.
I’m looking forward to meeting more members on the air and improving my CW skills.
This biography is what appeared in Solid Copy when the member joined CWops.