Kicking around the broadcast business for more than 50 years, I’ve worked closely with lots of broadcast engineers who were also amateur radio operators. After I got my "ham" license in about 1960 (WAØBDN), I started dabbling in this hobby that I continue to enjoy to this day – despite the fact that I’m probably the world’s least active operator!
Among the hams that I’ve known and learned from – Leo Henen (WØFLO), Frank Allen (WØGGP), Tony Cashon (KØOAL), Lynn Bilyeu (KØODF), Joe Makeever (W5HS), Dan Schroeder (K5FVL), and many others. Some of them are "Silent Keys." I keep hoping to become more active in this fascinating hobby (as I intended upon retirement), but there are just too many other activities that I want to pursue as well!
I admire the creativity that many of my ham friends bring to the hobby. A few of them – and their numbers are dwindling with a change in FCC rules and the passage of time – are superb CW aficionados. Continuous Wave (CW) is the mode by which many hams still use Morse Code for sending messages.
And if you think this is a fuddy-duddy technology that has been left in the dust by "high tech" applications like texting, take a look at this segment from on old Jay Leno Tonight show.
Among the hams that I’ve known and learned from – Leo Henen (WØFLO), Frank Allen (WØGGP), Tony Cashon (KØOAL), Lynn Bilyeu (KØODF), Joe Makeever (W5HS), Dan Schroeder (K5FVL), and many others. Some of them are "Silent Keys." I keep hoping to become more active in this fascinating hobby (as I intended upon retirement), but there are just too many other activities that I want to pursue as well!
I admire the creativity that many of my ham friends bring to the hobby. A few of them – and their numbers are dwindling with a change in FCC rules and the passage of time – are superb CW aficionados. Continuous Wave (CW) is the mode by which many hams still use Morse Code for sending messages.
And if you think this is a fuddy-duddy technology that has been left in the dust by "high tech" applications like texting, take a look at this segment from on old Jay Leno Tonight show.
