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It Started with Sputnik

When Lee was in elementary school in 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial earth satellite, Sputnik. Lee and his parents arose in the early morning hours and went to the back yard in an attempt to see the tiny dot of light that was the satellite move across the starry background.

We did not see Sputnik, but a neighbor, Clyde Grissom, had a shortwave radio. He invited me down to listen one night, and we heard the BEEP-BEEP-BEEP of Sputnik. Lee was hooked. An old man who also lived nearby was also rumored to have a shortwave radio, but he was a recluse and had a reputation as a bit crazy. So Lee never summoned the courage to knock on his door.

My First Shortwave Receiver

About 1960 Lee was given a Hallicrafters shortwave radio for Christmas. He strung a long wire between the house and a tree in the yard and spent hours listening to broadcast stations such as BBC, Radio Netherlands, HCJB and Radio Moscow. The mystery of those far away broadcast stations hiding behind a glowing radio dial was mesmerizing.

WA5BOQ's Ham Shack

When Lee was in high school, his friend Boyd's father, also named Boyd, was a ham whose call sign was WA5BOQ ("W-A-5-Baker Ocean Queen"). Lee visited one night and was given a tour of Boyd's ham shack, which was indeed a small building in the back yard. The glowing vacuum tubes and dials were fascinating. Boyd made a contact with another station, and he let Lee say a few words on the air.

The experience, however, did not immediately lead to a ham license for Lee.

Lee went on to study electrical engineering and then law at the University of Texas.

The CB Radio Craze

In the mid-70s amid fuel shortages, the CB radio craze came on the scene. Lee was fascinated and bought a CB and obtained a license. The experience was interesing for a time, but after several months of listening to truckers dodging "Smokey," foul language, pops and squeals, CB quickly lost its allure. That's when Lee decided that he would start studying for a ham license.

WD5CID!

Finally, in 1978 after working as a patent attorney for several years, Lee started studying to become a ham. Lee could not wait to buy a radio, and he purchased a Yaesu FT-101E from Madison Electronics in Houston. But there was a small problem -- he did not know how to operate the radio, which would have been illegal nayway. So he found a nearby house with a ham antenna, got the name off the mailbox, and called the presumed ham. He turned out to be Ansell, WA5BCL, who was a long time ham. Lee took the new rig over, and Ansell fired it up. Ansell later administered Lee's novice test for him. Ansell and his wife became a lifelong friend.

Within a few months of receiving his novice license and new call sign, WD5CID, Lee took and passed the General class exam. While at the FCC office, Lee took the Advanced class exam and passed that also.

Super Morse

Lee spent much of the 90s developing and distributing a shareware Morse code teaching program called Super Morse. Super Morse became quite widely used. Lee started writing the program to improve his code speed to the then required 20 WPM for an Extra class license. Although Lee's code speed eventually approached 20 WPM, he was so busy upgrading and supporting the program that he never took the code test. In the meantime the code requirement was reduced to 5 WPM, and Lee finally upgraded in 2002.

Four Wheeling Hams

Lee's interest in ham radio was rekindled by his four wheeling buddies in the Wolverine Four Wheelers and the Great Lakes Four Wheel Drive Association who use 2m equipment to coordinate trail rides. Lee has been four wheeling actively since 1997 and loves it. CB is the predominant band for four wheelers, and Lee has one in his Jeep, but CB's limited range, noise, and rowdy users cry out for a better alterative. As time passed Lee became more and more interested in becoming radio active again and installed a long-unused dual bander his Jeep Wrangler.

Extra - KY8T and KV5M

In 2002 Lee passed the Extra class exam. Shortly thereafter Lee applied for a vanity call and received KY8T in July, 2002. After retiring to Texas, Lee changed his call sign to KV5M in 2009.

Lee also uses an motor home to tow his Jeep to four wheeling events, and he decides that a compact all-band rig would be just the thing for it. Lee decided on the FT-100D because of its compact size and mating ATAS-100 screwdriver antenna.

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