[Heathkit] My first station

[David Stinson]

My first Novice station was in 1972.
Talk about your bare bones:

SCR-274N BC-459
(as MOPA, not crystal. I know; I'm a bad boy.)
Ronnie, W5SUM helped me get it going so
he gets some of the blame ;-)
Hallicrafters S-120 receiver.
Heard the whole Novice band at once.
I made a lot of contacts with this and I don't 
think I've had as much fun since.
But as soon as an on-the-air friend said:
"You know, you're gonna get caught"
and as soon as I saved enough money,
I got a Globe Scout 680A and one rock,
on 7167.  

BBC on 7165 used to murder all our
signals at night.  I remember trying to work that 
new state when he'd be covered by:
"Bong BING bing BOOOOOOONGGGG....
Bing bong BING BOOOOOOONGGGG."
BBC really wimped out when they stopped 
using that.  It might have frustrated my contacts
but Big Ben has "gravitas."

Then they changed the band on me
and I had to save for another rock on 7125.

73 DE Dave AB5S