I am a FCC licensed Amateur Radio operator since 1969. I have held the call signs WN8EHS, WB8EHS, W8EHS and currently hold W5EHS. Only the five (5) call W5EHS is active.
I was first licensed as a novice (WN8EHS) in 1969 in Boardman, Ohio. Special thanks to John Petrek, W8BNO (SK) who gave me my Novice test.
My receiver was a Hammarlund HQ-170-C (17 tubes, triple conversion) and my transmitter was a crystal controlled 75 watt Johnson Viking Challenger also using tubes. I’ll explain tubes someday…
Novice tickets in those days were only good for two years, non-renewable. You HAD to up-grade! So I did, to Advanced, and my call changed to WB8EHS in 1971. Also at that time you could not go directly to Extra from Novice. (Don't ask why.) You had to be a general or advanced for at least a year. A pencil geek decision at FCC for a few years.
Thanks to the FCC Vanity call sign program, I changed my call to W8EHS on October 1, 1997. Then again on January 28, 2000 I changed to my present call W5EHS as I am a permanent resident of Texas, USA
My entire original station grew from Heathkits. I had the complete SB series. It served me well for over 25 years. In that time period I made four major moves. Three years I lived in 1-land in New Durham, New Hampshire near Lake Winnipesaukee. Then I moved to 5-land in Plano (Dallas) Texas. There I used a QRP Heathkit HW-8 and an HW-9 almost exclusively for about a five year period. Very stealth. Indoor antennas, etc. I sold everything except my Heath SB-220 Amplifier. (Which I still haven't used in more than 30 years.!) I purchased a Ten-Tec OMNI VI when I briefly moved back to Boardman, Ohio. I remained there for about three years. I am now back in the Dallas, Texas area and have bought a house in Frisco, Texas. My favorite HF modes are CW and digital. Mostly CW. The OMNI is a GREAT rig. Shown in the picture is the OMNI VII as my original VI was wiped out by a lightning strike.
The antenna I now use in Texas is a Cushcraft R7 Vertical. The R7 is a great antenna but very narrow on 40 Meters. I have it tuned for CW on 40 and usually prefer to use a dipole for SSB on that band. I like the R7 because I can work all the WARC bands very easy.
I maintain contact with the MVARA (Mahoning Valley Amateur Radio Association) I belonged to in Ohio. I was the president of that club for a few years before I started moving around the country. Here is their Home Page. I was also the newsletter editor for the PARK (Plano Amateur Radio Klub) in Plano, Texas for two years and published their newsletter (The Parking Ticket) by mail and on the WWW.
