Jerry Martin
I am totally new to Ham radio. I just received my Technician license on 9/19/24 and my General 11/8/24. I will most likely expire before my license does.
Getting a Ham license has been on my bucket list since I was a teenager. Cost and needing to know Morse code was a drawback for getting a Novice license back then. I purchased a Heathkit shortwave receiver kit (GR-64) with what little cash I could save. After soldering all the components together I found out the need for a good antenna. My first try failed, due to the fact that trees move. I had run a wire out my back window to the top of a tree about 50 ft. away. It worked OK until I found the whole thing on the ground one day. My cheap solution was to hook up a door spring to both ends. My parents were a bit upset when they found their spare spring was missing.
When I went to change my drivers license from Ohio to Colorado I was tempted to show my 50 year old Colorado license, but didn’t think the DMV has much of a sense of humor.
I became allergic to Kansas, the state I was born, so my family moved to Evergreen, CO when I was 10. I lived there until I went to college at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, graduating with a BS in data processing. I worked in the summer for the Gunnison National Forest Service in Sargents and Pitkin. My first job was for the University of Nebraska Medical Center, in Omaha, NE. I learned how to swim, became a certified Scuba diver and took a year off to sail around the world in 1976. Upon returning I married my wife, who I meet aboard Ship, had a son and lived in Key Largo for a while. I then found a job with The Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio, teaching about computers and retired after 33 years. I now live in Fruita with my sister.
