N7QET

Gary H. Wise
Susanville, CA

QCWA # 38089
N7QET - Gary H. Wise
First Call: WB6SPE issued in 1978

I've been a licensed ham since 1978, when I acquired my Novice ticket.

I was living in Susanville, California. I met a female Novice on the air who lived around Las Vegas, Nevada. We decided to practice CW together and setup a schedule to talk on CW most days around noon on 40 meters. She was newly licensed as I was. I had an old Henry Radio Tempo One. It was a good radio but drifted in freq. really bad until it warmed up. My Radio room was a shack I built from old military ammo boxes. It was really cold in the winter with snow and all, but it was dry. Finally put a small pot belly wood stove in it. I used a Coaxial dipole. We both passed the required code tests and received our General Class licenses.

Then, I mostly operated SSB. I never was much for talking voice but the whole idea of talking without wires was intriguing. I put up a 3 element beam and was talking into Europe. I was active until I had to move to Southern California in 1984. The new WARAC bands had just come out and my rig didn't have them so I sold my HF gear and quit HF for many years.

I used Packet Radio on my old Commodore 64 computer. I used it while in Southern California and when I moved to Brookings, Oregon. That's when my call sign changed from WB6SPE to N7QET. While in Brookings I met another ham and he told me my license had expired but was still renewable, so I applied to FCC and got it back.

I only operated 2 meters for quite a while. When I retired in 2004 we moved to Susanville to be close to family. I stayed on 2 meters and then DMR 440 meters. In 2017 I decided I wanted to again operate on HF, so I began acquiring old used equipment. Then in 2019 I purchased a Yaesu FT 450D. Now I'm learning how to operate it and also studying CW again. I put up a G5RV Jr. and acquired a very nice Palstar AT1KM tuner. I just recently found a very nice Dentron 160-10L Amp.

I saw a Paddle key, which I'd never used before and decided to try it. I found that my radio had a built in keyer, Wow !! That makes my code sound so much better. Things have really changed. So I'm making contacts and practicing my CW again. You might hear me on the Novice section of the 40 meter band.

Please be kind and slow, Hi Hi.

73 N7QET

N7QET - Gary H. Wise

October 02, 2019