I was first licensed in 1966 (WN0PLA).  I had a Globe Scout transmitter, crystal controlled, 75 watts, and a Hallicrafters SX-99 receiver with a Heathkit Q-multiplier.  My only antenna was a 40 meter dipole strung from the house to a tree.  I may have made 10 CW QSOs!  You would call CQ and then tune around with your receiver looking for someone who may have answered you.  It was tough back then, HI.  Then off to college where my non-renewable novice license expired.

Enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1967, boot camp at San Diego, infantry training at Camp Pendleton, then off to Quantico, VA for computer programming training on an IBM System 360 model 30.  I was then sent to DaNang, South Vietnam, to program an IBM System 360 model 50.  Stationed at Force Logistics Command, we were the perimeter guards at night and programmed during the day, 7 days a week ....  I was discharged from USMC as an E-5 Sargeant in December 1969.

I then went back to college and met the woman of my dreams, Rhonda (W0RJR, who lived 5 miles away when we were growing up), married and started a family.  Jim, 1975, Janet, 1977, and Kevin, 1980 (N0XMM), helped fill our house with joy.

Heathkit sold me a General License programmed instruction course with a money back guarantee in 1981.  It worked.  I passed my general the summer of 1981 (N0DFA) my advanced a month later.  Earned my Extra (KV0O) in 1982.  Paid for my vanity call in 1997 (N0GR).

I am the past president of the Southwest Iowa Amateur Radio club www.swiradio.org and have served as the V.P., Treasurer, and Trustee.