Mike's Ham Page

Welcome to my ham page. I use and enjoy all modes but am primarily a CW operator and happy to have earned awards DXCC CW #12,029, WAS CW #52,955, and WAC CW, all earned with 100 W and dipole. The irony, a CW op named Mike!

Ham and CW op? Join an NTS net! Sure, you've been at cw for decades and hear the washing machine seemingly squeak and groan in CW after a contest, but traffic nets need a different kind of focus and slightly different skill set.

Not a ham? If you happened across this page by chance and are not a ham, you can learn more by surfing on over to the American Radio Relay League, of which I am a Life Member and whose link is below. Ham radio is a fun hobby with many enjoyable aspects to it. There truly is something for everyone.

Cartoons and Advertisements

I enjoy old cartoons and advertisements for ham radio, especially from about the 40s through 70s and Phil Gildersleeve, who drew the cartoons above, in particular. On the left, below, I isolate a Heathkit drawing from the manual cover, next a digitally cleaned up Heathkit ad, and rightmost is a QST June 1957 ad.

Historical CW and Radio Training

Bell Labs

• 1959, Similarities of Wave Behavior

Some US military Morse code, training, and historical radio films on YouTube:

• 1943, Crystals Go To War
• 1944, US Navy Training - Technique Of Hand Sending Morse Code
• 1953, US Army Training - TF11 3419 Basic Amplifiers
• 1956, Signals Training - TF11 3697 International Morse Code
• 1966, Morse Code Part Two - Principles and Basic Techniques, US Army Signal

Historical radio films:

• 1940, Radio and Television Vocational Guidance Films
• 1943, Vacuum Tubes (Valves): "Electronics at Work", Westinghouse
• 1943, Sending Radio Messages
• 1953, Largest Radio Transmitter Is Dedicated, Universal Newsreel
• David Sarnoff (1891-1971)

AT&T Archives

• AT&T Archives

Bob W3NE Reminiscences of Philadelphia Area Radio

• Bob's articles for The Blurb

Here are a more or less random assortment of links related to my hamming activities. Always feel free to email me.

Ham Things

RF Coverage	My Elecraft Software,	My Rockmite, a neat little QRP rig.
My QSL Card	Mobile APRS set up	Lionel Bug Revival Ca. WW-II
Cake Pan Transmitter	CW Key Switch Project	1972 ARRL CW Operating Manual
Ft. Monmouth MARS/ARS shack	Contemplating ARRL Life Membership?	Random Wire Calculations
Bayou Jumper QRP Rig	Ameco AC-1T Clone

Ham Organizations

International Amateur Radio Union	American Radio Relay League	Maryland Slow Net NTS Traffic Net
Straight Key Century Club Dayton 2011 Photo	North American QRP CW Club

Music

The German band Kraftwerk sang for Expo 2000, "Mensch Natur Technik" ("Man Nature Technology"), which I translate into ham-speak as "Operator Atmosphere Radio," though it's not as musical. :-) Fun music for any ham. Check out the CW in their "Radioactivity" tune.