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I got my first ham license in 1976. A couple months later, I passed my 2nd class radiotelephone license. A year later, I took a job where I needed the license. At that time, I upgraded to 1st class plus a Ship's RADAR endorsement.

Early on, I enjoyed 2m FM mobile. I had an HF rig, but I was dependent on a 5BTV vertical in the side yard. The transmitter got into my dad's stereo. That put a halt to any HF transmissions. VHF was kind to the stereo gear. In time, I jumped into packet radio. That spurred a strong interest in networking over the radio. I've made a great living doing specialized data communications since then. It's amazing how a hobby morphs into a career direction.

I got my first license in 1990, Novice, and upgraded to Tech Plus in 1998. So far, I enjoy 2 meters a lot. One time I chatted to Canada from Lake Erie suing only 1 watt and the rubber ducky antenna. My main SW radio I think has blown a FET and might need replaced and realigned, wish I had the equipment, at least a signal generator so I'm using my old SW radio I got when I was 12, a Sanyo RP8700, I'd like to add a BFO to it.

My first handheld was a Standard crystal set. It had a rubber duck. I was able to chat with a guy in Santa Barbera, CA from a hilltop in south Chula Vista, CA. It was only one watt on my end. The other guy had stacked 22 element beams. It was an over the water "ducting" connection. On another day, I enjoyed listening to the astronauts passing overhead in the space shuttle. Pretty cool.

As a Tech, you can play with packet radio over 2 meters. There are programs that use only your PC sound card and DSP code running on your PC to accomplish what once to specialized HDLC chips and special modem chips. PSK31 is fairly interesting as well. Check it out. It a whole new aspect of ham radio.