Howard's Ham Radio History
Howard Rensin was first licensed as a novice ham radio operator on his 14th. birthday (July 31, 1957) under the call sign WN2THJ in Syracuse, NY. At that time the novice class license was only good for one year and was not renewable. Novices were confined to crystal controlled transmitters of no more than 75 watts input and Morse code only. You were limited to 30 MHz. and under. Howard's first station consisted of a Heathkit DX-35 transmitter (built from a kit) and a Hallicrafters 'Sky Champion' S 20 R receiver. The receiver was so unstable that when I came back from transmitting you never knew what frequency you were going to hear. Both radios were all tubes. The Dx-35 and the S 20 R can be seen in one of the below photos.
I upgraded to a Technician class license within the first year and the 'N' was dropped from the call sign making it W2THJ. When I moved to Maryland in 1964, my call sign was changed by the Federal Communications Commission to reflect the fact that I was now living in the 3rd. area call district, as in those days, you could not keep an out of area call if you permanently moved. My new call sign was W3ECN.
Subsequently I upgraded through the ham radio license ranks and in about 1980 received my Extra class license having passed the test and mastered 20 words per minute sending and receiving Morse code. I elected to change my call sign to reflect the higher class and was issued my current call of KC3D.
Below are photos of my current radio room, QSL cards and some of my old equipment as well as my test and repair equipment. Just click on the thumbnail you like and the larger photo will appear.
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My operating position