How Ham Radio Can Come in Handy Outside the Hobby

This is a personal story, but an example of how ham radio can come in handy in ways that you sometimes don't expect.

In 1962, just six months out of high school, I enlisted in the United States Army. During pre-enlistment interviews and testing at my local recruiting center, the Army decided that my stated interest in radio communications (I was an active short wave listener -SWL, but I hadn't even taken the amateur radio exam yet) would make me a candidate for the U.S. Army Security Agency. So off I went to basic training and then onto Ft. Devens in Massachusetts for further radio training.

It was while at Ft. Devens that a ham radio friend gave me the Novice test, which I passed. So, having been licensed in 1962, I guess that makes me an "old timer" as far as hams go. At Ft. Devens I learned to copy Morse code at 25 to 30 minutes using a typewriter to record. There were no personal computers back then so if you wanted to copy Morse code, you had to either write it down or type it. This then came in handy later throughout my life in my ham radio activities.

From Ft. Devens I was sent to spend the remainder of my enlistment in West Germany. Back then, Germany and the rest of the European continent had been split in half at the end of World War II. During my service I was stationed near that division which came to be known as the "Iron Curtain". That Morse code and the other radio communication training I received was put to good use for the remainder of my time in West Germany.

So, radio communications and ham radio allowed me to spend two wonderful years in a beautiful old world county, to travel around Europe in my off-time, and to even meet some of my ancestral relatives.

As a side note, my cousin Ray, also a ham, got to fly small radio controlled aircraft during his service in South Korea. Thanks ham radio, for allowing both of us to use our radio knowledge while serving out country.

'73
WA2KKG