I first became interested in ham radio due to boredom in high school. The small southwestern Oklahoma town, in the early 1950's, offered very little in terms of education or new challenges so I looked for something to do. In those days of trains and depot agents, the click-clack of the telegraph interested me. I hung around the depot and pestered the agent to teach me the code. So my first experience was with the old "click-clack" Morse code, not the international Morse code. This was fascinating to me and I got permission from the high school principal to spend my study hall time at the depot. I could not believe the speed at which this guy was "talking" to the other agents. I also could not believe the amount of information he could hold in his head. He would talk to me, listen to the telegraph at the same time, then turn to the typewriter and type out several paragraphs of information. Amazing! So one thing led to another and before long I was learning a new code and taking the Novice exam. I guess we all remember that first call, mine was KN5BWD. (After the novice stage, K5BWD) I was on my way. After college at Oklahoma State University, I moved to Tucson in 1959 and became K7RME. This time period was at the height of a good sunspot cycle and a great time to experiment with antennas. My favorite was a home-brew tri-band quad. I still like experimenting with antennas. As jobs, a growing family, more education, and health problems took their toll (I think its called "Life"); a long period of inactivity resulted in the loss of the K7RME call. In 1992, I was bitten again by the ham bug and was issued the call N7YVG. Buying a rig (Kenwood 430s) from a ham friend and "stringing wire" launched me back into ham radio. Retiring from 39 years of Chemistry teaching in 1998 gave me the time to go after the code and theory and I got my Extra Class ticket in Feb 2000. I also discovered my old call, K7RME, had been vacated so petitioned the FCC to re-issue it to me. This was successful so I am now K7RME again. I enjoy PSK and SSB work. My favorite band is 10 meters but enjoy them all. I am still working on speeding up my cw copying speed and have mounted a Cushcraft MA5B

"baby beam" up 40 feet. My favorite "mode" is rag chewing whether across town or DX. I have learned a lot from the hams I have known over the years and really enjoy meeting new hams. Hope you give a shout if you hear me on.

Thomas Wendell (Wen) Johnson K7RME