Biography

My handle is Steve. My current QTH is Austin, Texas.

Slidell, LA., was my hometown. I was first licensed in 1958 as novice class KN5SLW. W5PYJ(sk) was my elmer. At that time novice licenses were only good for one year so I kept studying and in 1959 I was ready to take the exam for the general class. But, at that time the FCC still required that applicants go to an FCC field office (which was in New Orleans for me) to take a written exam and a 13 WPM Morse code test for the general. I was a teenager without a car or driver's license. So, I got my mother to take me to New Orleans for the exams. Happily I passed on my first try. I kept the general class license for 44 years before upgraging to Extra class in 2003. I will keep K5SLW since it has been my only callsign for over 50 years.

Equipment

Tranceiver: Ten-Tec Orion II (50 watts for digital)
Antenna: Ground mounted stealth 20 meter flagpole with 18 buried radials (HOA restrictions)
Lenovo 3.2 gHz computer with Rigblaster Plus II interface
Ten-Tec Centurion linear amplifier currently not in use
MFJ-986 Differential T tuner