I was first licensed in 1971 as WN5FTQ in Starkville, MS with a 2 year novice ticket. The process of discovering ham radio for the next two years was undoubtably the most fun I've had in the hobby.  My first rig was an old Globe Chief transmitter and a Hallicrafters S-118 receiver.  I actually made a few contacts on 80 and 40 meters...but the reciever was so unstable that I lost most stations before the second transmission.  Things had to change, so I went on a receiver hunt and found a Collins 75A4 that belonged to a local ham who had been inactive for a number of years (W5YTT), struck a deal and brought it home.  What a difference!  That is when the fun really started.   My Novice ticket expired in November of 1973.

I finally took a couple of days off work in early 1974 to take my General exam in the Mobile, AL FCC field office. I passed and couldn't wait to get home and get on the air...but back then you had to wait for the license to come in the mail...so I waited. And waited. And it finally came! My new callsign was WB5PXE!  I was very active on phone and CW for the next several years mostly rag chewing on 40 and 80 meters and chasing a little DX on 20, 15 and 10.

In 1978 I upgraded to Advanced at the Baton Rouge, LA hamfest.  Later that year I returned to school at Mississippi State University to finish my degree in Finance and for the next couple of years was pretty busy with school and work, but managed to stay fairly active on the air.

In 1980, I finished at State, got married and aquired a ready made family with two young boys and moved to Garland TX.  For the next bunch of years, I was barely active at all...what with family, work and small urban house lots, I barely got on the air at all.  I did however keep my license active, always hoping to get back on the air and be active again.

Finally in 1997 I moved to Waxahachie, TX, both boys were finished with school and I had a yard large enough for a couple of wire loops...I was finally back on the air! I bought some new radios and started chasing a little DX. I upgraded to Extra and changed call signs in early '98 to K5FZ.

In 2003 I moved back to Mississippi and bought a house with enough room for lots of wire and was active mostly early mornings with old friends on 80 meter SSB.

Early in 2014 the DX bug bit me again and I have been having lots of fun on CW!  I am active on all bands 160 through 10 chasing DX on CW (and SSB if not available on CW) and visiting with my friends early morning on 80 meter SSB.

 

I have struggled for most of the last few months with intermittent line noise.  This really has hurt my ability to hear many DX stations.  The thing that hurts the most, is that it is intermittent.  This is really kind of a "double whammy".  First, I can hear the DX station in the pile-up, and start trying to work him, then I can't even hear the pile-up.  Second, since it is not there all the time, when my local power company tries to locate the source, it disappears.  The power company has been really good about helping me eliminate noise here, but they so far, take a couple of days to work me into their schedule and the last couple of times they have tried to find it, they have come out on "quiet" days.  My noise goes away on rainy days, which tells me that it is most likely loose hardware, but rainy days have been few and far between in recent months.

My noise blanker does a reasonable job reducing the noise, but strong stations up or down the band cause the noise to "modulate" as the signal comes and goes...I have actually gotten pretty good at copying "noise CW".

 

Here is what "normal" looks like:

 

 

And here is less than one hour later:

The noise is 15 to 20 db above the noise floor.

 

Sooo, if we start a QSO and I suddenly can no longer hear you, this is probably the reason.

 

73,

Rich