REPLY: 602.fido-classicc@1:3634/12 2688985c   
   MSGID: 1:214/23@fidonet 62238e9e   
   CHRS: CP850 2   
   TZUTC: -0800   
   TID: hpt/w32-mvcdll 1.9 2022-01-23   
      
      Hello Dave!   
      
   05 Mar 22 05:01, you wrote to me:   
      
    DD> -=> Ray Quinn wrote to Dave Drum <=-   
      
    RQ>> 73 Ray Quinn W6RAY   
    RQ>> Visalia, CA DM06ii   
      
    DD> You've been at this for a bit, I can see. When I got my licence   
    DD> District 9 was out of "W" designators and had started on "K". I really   
    DD> wanted to have one of those "grandfather letter" licences.  Bv)= Now I   
    DD> note that they're using two letters prefixes.   
      
    DD> Last night I commented on a customer's ham plate - W9 RAY. Asked him   
    DD> if the Funny Candy Company was doing "vanity" call signs. He told me   
    DD> his name is Bill. Then said he had been friends another ham who had W9   
    DD> BIL. But the FCC wouldn't let them swap.   Bv)=   
      
   Mine is indeed a vanity call. My original call was KF6KMY, issued in April   
   1997. When W6RAY was made available, I snagged it. The previous possessor   
   was/is named George Palmer from Parumph, NV, and had been available for a very   
   short time when I applied for it. It had been invalid for slightly over two   
   years in 2007. The FCC removed the Morse Code requirement and I took my   
   General class test the very next day. By the end of the month, I had applied   
   and was granted the vanity call. I was a Technician Plus for about 24 hours.   
   In 1997, there was still the Novice class, so I had to take the Novice test   
   AND the Technician test.   
      
   My friend Scott took the tests the same day. His call is (still) KF6KMX.   
      
   In a previous message, you mentioned you are more into computers (confusers)   
   than radio. I am responsible for three DSTAR gateways, a packet BBS (currently   
   offline), and multiple 5 gHz microwave links (for the aforementioned DSTAR   
   gateways), along with computer controlling my radios - I can sit in my living   
   room and talk on my radio in the "shack".   
      
   I started my first BBS on a C=64 with two floppy drives and a 300 bps modem,   
   then on a 128 along with my brother. I still have my first 9600 bps Practical   
   Peripherals modem that was in service 30 years ago. My first Fidonet node   
   number was 1:205/222, then 205 was broken up and was 1:214/222, then, and   
   still, 1:214/22. I found a copy of the first nodelist I was in in 1990 or 91.   
      
      
   Oh WOW. Sorry for the rambling. Any way, you can combine more than one hobby   
   together and have some real fun.   
      
   73 Ray Quinn   
   Visalia, CA DM06ii   
      
      
   --- GoldED+/W64-MSVC 1.1.5-b20180707   
    * Origin: Ham Radio operators do it with frequency! (1:214/23)   
   SEEN-BY: 1/123 10/0 1 15/0 18/200 90/1 102/401 103/1 705 105/81 106/201   
   SEEN-BY: 120/340 123/131 129/305 330 331 153/7715 154/10 214/0 1 22   
   SEEN-BY: 214/23 218/0 1 109 650 700 802 810 840 850 860 870 880 226/30   
   SEEN-BY: 227/114 229/110 206 317 400 424 426 428 452 664 700 240/5832   
   SEEN-BY: 266/512 282/1038 292/854 301/1 317/3 320/219 322/757 342/200   
   SEEN-BY: 396/45 460/58 633/280 712/848   
   PATH: 214/23 22 218/700 229/426