How fun !




I operated on 7MHz,14MHz,21MHz and 28MHz.I used Ground Plane

antenna at home.The antenna was on the roof top and it was

made by Hidaka antenna Co.Ltd.As it was GP antenna I was not

able to beam for any direction.But my house is on a side of a hill

about 86 meters above the sea level and from the roof top I could

view far away.So for me the location was good but as I wanted

to have QSO with DX stations I wanted 3 or 4 elements Yagi

antenna actually.With the GP antenna I was able to contact with

many stations overseas when propagation was good.I was so excited

to talk to people in other countries.I enjoyed talking with stations in Europe,

Asia,Oceania and North America.I could not have QSO with stations

in South America and Africa.I have heard some stations in those areas and

called them many times, but pile-up was so heavy that I was not taken

by them.In early 70's a lot of ham radio stations were active in Japan

and many DX'ers called stations overseas. They had big beam antenna

and some stations ran 500 watts output.As for me, my transmitter was

running 20 watts and antenna was GP so it was difficult for me

to get ahead of those DX'ers.I had second class license

and I was allowed to run 100 watts output, but I could not

afford to get an expensive transceiver.I was only 14 years old

and I did not make money myself.Even though I had a problem

contacting with stations in South America and Africa, it was fun everytime

I had QSO with stations in other areas.I tried to watch all frequencies cafefully

and sometimes I found new stations for me.I operated on single side band

mode mostly.I liked CW mode also.For barefoot stations like me CW was

good to have QSO overseas because it was better to listen to morse code

in heavy noise.In winter morning I had contacts with many stations in the USA

and chatted for a couple of minutes.They were so nice and kind to me.

When I told them I was 14 years old they sounded surprised and said

"That is nice.".I tried to keep up learning English and thought someday I wanted to

chat with many nice people in English.My English was not good enough

to talk in some topics in depth. What I did was rubber stamp QSOs.In 1972 and

1973 I got 30 countries with barefoot rig and Ground Plane antenna.

That was the beginning of my ham radio.Sweet memories.Hi









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