I got my first ticket in 1960.  I was 14 years old and became a NOVICE with the call KN4WPO.  It was an amazing accomplishment as I remember it.  Morse Code was required even though it was five words a minute and the written test was a real hurdle for a freshman in high school who didn’t have any peers who were hams.  W4KFK, Frank Schwartz administered the test.  He had been a ham since the year I was born, 1946.  It was then that we had to wait up to six weeks to get the ticket back in the mail.    What an exciting day that was when the license finally arrived!

The hobby became an addiction when my best friend, Jerry Trousdale got his license a short time later and became KN4ZIN.  That was more than 50 years ago and we are both still active.

I remember saying when I was still in my teens that Ham Radio was cool because when you got old you could do even more of it! That is true!