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Amateur
Radio Biography of Dave Blake, N4DB
I learned the code while
still in elementary school from a set of WW II US Navy
training records on old 78 RPM records. I was about 10 years
old or so. I then taught others in
my Boy Scout troop the code which really helped my speed. At
age 13, in December 1954, I took and passed my Novice exam.
At the time I had never met another ham. It took the FCC a
couple of months before my ticket arrived in the mail. I was
issued the call WN1FUA.
I had built a small single
tube transmitter with a 6V6 final with parts I salvaged from
a Philco all band radio that my parents had listened to
before TV. I'll never forget, I had to purchase only
the RFC and an 80 meter novice band crystal for 3715 KHz.
Total cost $4.78!! My parents bought me a used S20R
Hallicrafters receiver that was originally built in 1939 and
I was on the air. There were thousands of CQs and few
answers to my 5 watts to a wire wrapped around the house,
but somehow I managed to work 7 states and upgrade to
General class within the required period of one year.
In the 50s, a Novice
license was only good for a year and was not renewable.
Following graduation from high school in 1959, I attended
business school in Boston for two years and while there I
had a job with DeMambro Radio where I sold ham gear -- I was
in heaven. In 1963, I received a letter from
Washington, and it seems somebody figured it was time for me
to be in the Army. I spent two winters in Korea as a
courier and was able to operated from HL9US, a club station
for US troops.
Following the military in
1966, I went to work for the telephone company in Roanoke,
VA and traded my upgraded call, W1FUA to W4GEQ as require at
the time. I was very active in Virginia from 1967 to
1974 working contests and chasing DX. By this time I
had a family and was very involved with my job and started
spending less time with my radio. I upgraded to Extra
Class in 1976 and requested my present call N4DB. The
"N" block of callsigns had just been opened and anyone with
an extra class license could request any available callsign,
so I requested my initials.
By 1978, I was totally
burned out and had lost all desire to operated ham radio.
AT&T asked me if I would take a promotion and transfer to
Columbus in 1987. It wasn't until 1994 that I once
again became active on the bands. In 1995, I put up a
48 foot tower with a large HF beam and a few wires. I
bought all new equipment and again started chasing DX.
I have been quite active on CW, SSB and RTTY on all HF bands
from 160 meters thru 10 and have DXCC on all HF bands and
all 3 modes.
At the end of the F2
sunspot cycle during the winter of 2001-2002, I got on 6
meters for the first time and was lucky enough to work 67
countries on that band. I regret not having discovered
the magic band as it is know sooner. Although we are at a
low period of sunspots I still spend a lot of time on six.
I completed WAS there and am patiently waiting for the
return of higher sunspot numbers with the goal of adding 6
meter DXCC to my list of accomplishments.
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