My amateur radio call sign is WA6DIJ and I have been licensed since 1968. The original call was WN6DIJ as a novice, but when I upgraded to Advanced class the "N" was dropped and replaced by an "A". For you non-hams, the "A" prefix has nothing to do with the advanced grade. It was just the series the FCC was issuing at the time.

Ham radio operators like to use phonetics for their call signs and I like to use Devoted In Jesus as the phonetics for D I J. However, since my name is Jim, some of my ham friends have a different set of phonetics for D I J. They say Dumb Idiot Jim....hahaha. All kidding aside, if you hear me on the ham bands you will hear Whiskey Alpha Six Delta India Juliet as my phonetic call sign.

I have also operated as 9V1UO while living in Singapore during 1979-80-81 time frame. If you are a DX chaser and worked 10-15-20 meters during those years then check your log books to see if you ever contacted my weak station. Oh, the phonetics for the Singapore call would have been Nine Victor One Uncle Oscar. BTW, we hams use a variety of phonetics for various letters, not just the same military group all the time. I probably should have used Nine Victor One United Ontario, but I liked Uncle Oscar better. Another American friend was issued 9V1US and I was jealous because he could say Nine Victor One Uncle Sam....hahaha

While in Singapore I ran a Yaesu FT-101-ZD HF rig (on top shelf in picture above) running 100 watts into a 3 band, center fed, dipole, only about 20 feet off the ground. So this was not a "power house" station, quite the contrary. Nevertheless, anytime I sent out a general call of "CQ" then I was immediately inundated with numerous responses from all over the world because the 9V1 call was fairly scarce at the time and was regarded as a prize by DX chasing hams.

My favorite activity on ham radio is Rag Chewing. I like to combine DX with Rag Chewing so I can learn more about the customs and cultures of people in other parts of the world. I am a reasonable CW operator, but have grown rusty over the years. However, it is still a mode I love and will always try to keep my CW skills up to a usable level.

Related to CW, I was once a telegrapher on the Grand Trunk Western RR. It is a small line owned by the Canadian National RR which runs from Port Huron Michigan on the east, to Chicago Illinois on the west. It should be noted that the RR used American Morse, while ham radio uses International Morse. I guess that makes me slightly bi-lingual in Morse code. I say slightly because in the 40 years since I left the railroad I have forgotten a lot of the American Morse code.

My first ham radio club was the Orange County Amateur Radio Club (OCARC) , located in Southern California, and they continue to be an excellent club, as you will discover if you visit their web site at http://www.w6ze.org/ . This is a fine bunch of hams who always have good technical articles and discussions. I am currently a member of the Naval Postgraduate School Amateur Radio Club (NPSARC) located in Monterey, CA. Their website is http://k6ly.org/ and you will see that they are a very active radio club, supporting all kinds of functions on the central coast of California.

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions about ham radio.

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