:thanks:Thanks Andy. I like N1ORK too. I'd hang onto that if I were you. My new W4EWA call is a good one for CW I think too. If you sound it out another ham told me, it's like you are stuttering. Hi Hi...
I like the "K" calls, but could not find any I was happy with. The name of my QTH is Wewahitchka. Pronounced: wewah - hitch - ka ... Just like it's spelled. It's naturally an indian name. Since most folks have a hard time figuring out how to pronounce it, people just call it Wewa for short. Hence "W4EWA". By-the-way, Wewahitchka means "water eyes". There are two lakes in the center of town. One named Lake Alice and the other Lake Julia. They look like eyes from the air. The story goes that many years ago, an indian chief named the lakes after his two daughters, Alice and Julia.
I mentioned working the Novice Bands on 40 and 15 meters. The reason for that being, those were the only "rocks" (crystals for the younger hams) I had to plug into the front of the Central Electronics transmitter I used belonging to W4CCA. I ran a whopping 15 watts. I made a pile of contacts though. I think I still have those old logs somewhere.
My improvement over the first year with my code speed was due to the help of a ham in Memphis. We had a sked at least 5 nights a week. He held a General class license but was nice enough to come down on the 40 meter Novice Band to QSO with me most every night. Although we have never met, we became good friends. He had returned from Viet Nam not long before we ran into each other on the air. He bought a motorcycle when he got home and had been hit by a woman from Florida. He was injured badly and was lying in bed in a full body cast. The only limbs not injured were his right arm and left leg. This is true. He had his rig set up by the side of his bed. He could use the morse key and control the radio with his right hand. He didn't have a lot to do so he helped me with my code. He still holds the call WA4IPZ and we exchange e-mails once in awhile. We would occassionally work cross mode, him on phone and myself in the CW portion of the band. Even after I received my General ticket we worked mostly Charlie Whiskey.
I think I ran a Hallicrafters SX-70 receiver too. I graduated to a Globe Scout Transmitter once. A whole 90 watts. My favorite receiver though was a Hamurland HQ-170. It was the "cats meow" in it's time.
Isn't amateur radio a great hobby and service ?