Thanks for the link, really enjoyed that - hope I can catch the Mars story.
Amazing to me is this "almost" exactly how I discovered ham radio at age 12. I was visiting the home of some friends and noticed a strange radio they had, a Zenith Transoceanic table model. Noticed it had several bands and one said "police" so I said why don't we see if we can hear any cops? Well heard nothing at 5 on the dial (5-MHz) so began tuning around and came across a whole bunch of people talking about 4 on the dial (75m phone).
And that caught my interest that ordinary people were talking on a radio. I eventually found out it was ham radio and a year later, after saving allowance six months I bought a 3-tube receiver kit. That led to finding out about a ham radio class at the school in a neighboring town which I got my dad to take me to. The teacher became my elmer and administered my Novice exam - license KN8MWA Nov.11, 1958
I was already interested in space travel and that lead me into electronics which I studied to be an EE starting in 1962. In July 1971 I began working as a young engineer for NASA at Goldstone.
Funny where an interest in ham radio takes you.
73, Ed - KL7UW
73, Ed - KL7UW http://www.kl7uw.com "Kits made by KL7UW" Dubus Mag business: dubususa@gmail.com