Joe Park, WB6AGR
(formerly WN6AGR, 1961)

I was a Radio Operator in the Navy and my first assignment was at the Naval Radio Receiving Station on Oahu Hi. This was up in the middle of the Island, just out of Wahiawa. I was hitching a ride to the beach one day and this fellow picked me up at the gate. He was a Communications Tech. in a different building and I didn't know him. He was driving a Pontiac, probably a 1954 model. I opened the passenger door and there was barley room to sit. he had radio gear under the dash from the steering wheel to the door. It was probably a Gonset because it was shinny, like chrome. Anyway, that is when I got the bug to become a Ham.

It was about 5 years later before I got busy to study and get my License. 1961 I had an old Hallicrafter Sky Buddy for a receiver and someone loaned me a DX 40 xmtr. My first contact on cw was in Berkeley Ca. with a Ham probably only a couple miles away. That was my only contact on CW, I had been doing mostly CW in the Navy for 3 years and just wanted to talk, so when I got my General license a few months later WB6AGR, I went to AM voice. The DX 40 would do AM but in a short time I got a Gonset G77 transmitter and a Gonset Converter that would convert my car radio to the Ham Bands, I have done mostly Mobile since then, although I have had base stations.

I have acquired another DX 40 and a Heathkit AR-3 that I plan to get set up for strait key night. I also have a Hallicrafter S-38E.

WB6AGR
Modesto Ca