(sorry for the previous blank email -- I keep forgetting that this
mailing list strips out HTML-format text)
I was originally licensed in 1970 as a Novice in Murfreesboro, TN as
WN4SBE, which changed to WB4SBE when I upgraded to Advanced the
following year.
I kept WB4SBE for 30+ years, even after moving to Ann Arbor, MI in 1982.
I finally got off my keyster and passed my 20 WPM Extra in the early
2000's, just before the FCC lowered the code requirement to 5 WPM for
all license classes, and eventually doing away with it altogether.
Armed with my newly-minted Extra, I figured it was high time to look
into a vanity call. For one thing, I had been plagued in certain
contests with folks guessing my section as "Virginia?" because of the 4
in the call sign. Don't know why "Michigan" sounds so much like
"Virginia", but I figured that changing to an 8 would fix that.
I toyed with going with something like my initials (DN or DEN), but I
shied away from DN since that is too easily mistaken for "/", and I
think DEN was taken in all the short suffixes (W8, K8, N8) at the time.
So, I found that N8SBE was available, and I figured the 'locals' would
know who I was, based on just changing the prefix. Anyway, "Side Band
Engineer" has a nice ring to it (as does "Subacute Bacterial
Endocarditis", a throat infection, as related to me by a doctor on 20m
phone one day), although I've found that on phone contests, "Sierra" is
frequently mistaken for "Kilo", and has resulted in busted QSO's (and
even more annoying, N8KBE is now found in the super partial check
database, even though that station has not been active in the contests).
I've tried using "Sugar Bravo Echo" and had Spanish-speaking stations
correct me back to "Sierra Bravo Echo", so I guess you just can't win.
On CW, N8SBE has a really nice swing to it, with mostly alternating dahs
and dits in groups, helping to separate the characters. What's really
funny though, is that the "BE" on the end is the same as the old
'knock/knock" that a a lot of old timers ended QSO's with, and I've
actually had folks respond to my callsign with "dit dit". I don't know
if they are just letting me know that the frequency is busy, or if they
are just playing along with the joke.
All I know is that I've had a lot of fun on ham radio over the years
(coming up on 50 in 2020), and moving up to Elecraft (first a K3/P3 in
2009, and now K3s/P3 and KX2) has really enhanced my enjoyment of the
hobby. Seems I'm discovering something new every day. I made FT8
contacts for the first time recently, using DXpedition mode with the KH1
folks, and it was really nice knowing that they had just as nice of
radios on their end as mine.
Thanks, Elecraft.
73,
-- Dave, N8SBE
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