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How I Found Amateur (ham) Radio in Wichita Falls
I became interested in Amateur Radio as a kid in the early 1960s. I ordered study material from the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) but never did anything with it. My CB Radio life began on Christmas Day, 1964 when I received a pair of Spacephone walkie-talkies. From then until 1982, it was CB Radio for me. Then came along a programable Bearcat 220 scanner radio, and everything changed.
I bought my first scanner in December of 1977, just days after my discharge from the U.S. Army. It was a handheld, 4-channel, crystal-controlled model I found at a local pawn shop. Three of the four channels were Wichita Falls Police Department frequencies, and I don't remember what the fourth was. In 1978, I upgraded to a Sears 10-channel, crystal-controlled unit. It served me well until 1982. That's when I acquired the fantastic Bearcat 220 programmable unit. The radio world was mine! I didn't have an outside antenna, but it helped that I lived on the third floor of an apartment complex.
The real scanning fun began when I learned you could search between two frequency limits. I started on the low end of the unit's capability and worked my way up. During this process, I heard people talking and using call signs. During their conversations, I frequently heard Morse code. At the time, I didn't know what the code said, but I learned from my experience with repeaters at work that I was listening to a repeater, and the Morse was most likely the call sign of the machine. It wasn't long before I learned I was listening to Amateur Radio operators. It didn't take long before I had a handful of local repeater frequencies programmed into the scanner memory.
That wasn't the only fun. While searching the lower frequencies, I came across what I immediately knew were cordless phone conversations. Those frequencies were soon programmed into the scanner memory. Between the local hams and the cordless phones, who needed cable TV? Not me. I was in scanner heaven! It wasn't long before I had new Amateur Radio study material and was sitting for the Technician Class exam (written and 5 words per minute Morse code) at the FCC office in Dallas. I think it was August 1982. Two months later, I sat for the Advanced Class (written and 13 words per minute Morse code) license test. Then, two months later, it was the Extra Class license (written and 20 words per minute Morse code) test. I'm glad I got that out of the way at the beginning.
After the Extra Class test, I received the 2x1 call sign, ND5X. I thought it was cool for years, but then got bored with it because it meant only one thing: Extra Class license. So, I ditched it for my current call sign, WF5TX, for Wichita Falls, Texas of course!
WF5TX