This is a work in progress and still "under construction".

Graduated from the winter 1961 South Hills YMCA (now Cloverleaf YMCA) Radio Club K3HUO in (Pleasant Hills) Pittsburgh, PA. I received my novice call KN3SKE around Feb 1962. Age at time of license 14.

My elmer(s) were my father, Henry (no call) and Jack Wood W3IQD. Morse code was always difficult for me. Upgraded to Technician class to keep licensed within the one year expiration of novice call. Finally upgraded to General class on the week of if not the day of President Kennedy's assassination Nov (22?) 1963.

The FCC Buffalo Field Office administered tests three or four times a year in Pittsburgh then. The FCC was typically given space in the old Allegheny Counties downtown office building. It was a awful place to take a test.

Graduated from Baldwin High School 1965 and attended University of Akron, Akron, OH. Enlisted in the U.S. Navy, aced the code test that was administered in basic training and scored 74 out of 75 on the ETST (electronics technician)standard test. Now the code test was given to every new recruit at that time.

They quickly explained three letters of the alphabet to you. These were the letters I, N & T. You were told to mark on a supplied response form what you heard. First at a very slow pace and the speed went up as time went on. EASY!

I became a Communications Technician (Maintenance Branch), CTM striker. After basic training I went on to ET "A" School at GLakes, IL. There is nothing like being at GLakes, IL in the winter. Let alone spending two winters there is something else. Best part of being there was Chicago, IL my fathers birthplace and the Polish north end of the city.

I went through radar equipment phase (Class A school Phase 3) at my request so that other "ET's" could go through the communications equipment phase.

Having a ham ticket and being at a Service School Command had a plus side to it. The base at GLakes had a Ham Station, K9NBH (Navy's Best Hands) and Navy a MARS Station. The Navy lives on Duty Sections, rotating watches, being Day, Mid, Eve or the dreaded Dog Watch and other schemes to ruin your sleep patterns. I was assigned to the MARS Station once every eight days and one weekend every two months to operate the station. Oh, we secured the station by 2200 local time every day. We needed our bed rest!

Let's go to November 22, 1967. Notice how the date Nov 22 marks my ham radio biography. As some called it then "The day Amateur Radio died"(maybe today some would only refer to it as only a severe stroke"). The FCC authorized "Incentive Licensing" for radio amateurs. This was backed and endorsed by the ARRL as well. Do a Google on "arrl incentive licensing" and read for yourself.

In January 1968 I leave GLakes, IL with orders to NOB Norfolk, VA. Going to Teletype Maint Repair school. This is a class "C" school with typically senior Navy E-6 and above technical rates selected to go to this school. The incentive to graduate is proficiency pay (AKA Pro-Pay). At the time it put an additional 50-75 dollars a month in your pocket. I am "the" junior ranking person at this school command having just sewn on my PO3 (E-4)crow on my sleeve. Normally in the military being the junior person means hell. In this case it put me in a state of "what do we do with him"? Typically students assigned to this school did Shore Patrol duties. Doing Shore Patrol at the Norfolk, VA Navy base isn't what I ever had in mind. Besides it was late winter and still cold outside. To do Shore Patrol you had to be E-5 or above. So I am told I stay in the enlisted quarters when my duty section is on and push a broom twice a evening to keep the place clean. I can do this. Also gives me time to study my FCC license guides. Being right out of Navy ET "A" school for the past year I figured it was now or perhaps never. There is a FCC Field Office in downtown Norfolk, VA.

The schools OIC is an old salty CWO3 officer, F.C. Reber. Commissioned from a RM (Radioman) rating to CWO). For what ever reason I first feared this man. I don't believed a licensed ham, but his proficiency of Morse Code was light years ahead of me. He looked more like Captain Ahab to me than Captain Jack Sparrow. I had a few weeks of dead time until my class convening date started. I put in a "special request" for a day of liberty to take my "Advanced" class radio exam. Not only was the request approved, but the OIC was somewhat impressed with me wanting to "improve myself". Following that I put in for a second "special request" to take my FCC Radio Telephone commercial license. Since the FCC commercial license was processed directly at the local FCC Office, I had my ticket in my hand within three days. WOW! Yes, I did take in my nice new blue colored Radio Telephone certificate to show and thank him for the time off.