After passing my test with WA2FNQ and K2AAW, came the long wait to get my
license from the FCC. At the time it was taking months for the processing.
Once the license arrived and I had my call sign KB2FUR. I was already prepared
to take the Technician class test and the next exam session was only a week
away. I was not about to wait to get a station set up, so I set up my
grandfathers old equipment and put up a couple of wire antennas and started
listening around the novice bands. The equipment consisted of A Johnson
Ranger II Transmitter and a National receiver.
At the same time I happen to mention to my friend at work, Warren
W2GZA(sk), that I had gotten my license. He responded with give me $20. So I
did then asked him, Hey what's the $20 for. He responded with "You just joined
the best radio club in the state". I did not know it but Warren was the
President of the Radio Central Amateur Radio
Club. This would turn out to be one of the best things he could have done for
me. He was right, it is the best club in the state.
The next week I took and passed the technician test. I immediately went to
the closest Amateur radio store ( about 40 miles away ) and purchased an HT.
It was a Kenwood but I don't remember the model, but I still have the radio in
the basement somewhere. Now I was able to get on the Radio Central repeater
and talk to my new friends.
After a couple of years I decided that I needed to get a new HF radio. I
decided on the Yaesu FT-747GX. This was a good entry level rig that met all of
my basic requirements. It could cover all of the bands. It was cheap. It had
good reviews. It was cheap. It could produce 100W (a 6DB Improvement at the
time). Oh yeah did I mention that it was cheap. As it turned out this was an
excellent radio that would meet my needs for the next 13 Years. Including
using it as an exciter on the AM broadcast band to tune a commercial AM
Antenna system.
