Ham Radio started for me when I got two old telephone handsets which I connected together with a battery.
To increase the distance, I used the barbed wire along a meadow and played 'secret agent' with some friends.
My first 'DX' at age ten.
I studied electronics and soon built my first transmitter for 27 MHz.
At a local dump I bought a BC-603 military receiver. It was an FM receiver but we used AM at that time. So I rebuilt the receiver to AM, made the mf narrowband and added an AM detector.
The 11 meter band was very popular at that time and very illegal in Holland!
I owned many CB sets over the years.
It became serious when I got drafted for military service.
No problem with that. I liked the challenge.
I was assigned to the 107 RDCIE (Radio Company). See the army emblem in the header.
I became a lineman; connecting telephones in the field! Not exciting. Already done that when I was 10.
At my request I was assigned to the morse code training group.
After three months I passed the CW test. I became a radio operator on a DAF radio truck with big Collins and Racal receivers. Wow!.
It was fun to work in the field with a dipole strung between trees.
Back in civilian life I passed the ham radio exam (1975).
First call sign PAØKFF, later PA1KV and currently PAØKV.
Me in the shack. (2009)Article (pdf) about my hobby in a local newspaper (Dutch) (Leyebode nov. 2009) --> 
Moved in 2019... new shack.
