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How did I get to
become a ham radio operator?
I studied electronics
in the University of West Bohemia in my native town of
Plzen, a world's famous beer city, where I met Petr OK1XGL
who introduced me to the world of ham radio in the
university club OK1KUK - my first experience was a VHF FM
repeater operation. I was amazed by the combïnation of my
favourite technology and (for most folks a
mysterious one) way of communication "on the air". For
you, younger friends, back in early nineties a cell phone
was a suitcase sized box with a price of about 6
engineer's monthly incomes in Czech
......... so I started to learn Q-codes, ham
abbreviations and preficces to pass my D-class license. In
November 1995 I got my first license OK1IZE - a VHF only and
power restricted one (no Morse please....)
Soon on the repeaters I found new
friends and was invited to a local
club OK1KRQ - a VHF contest station. I remember with
nostalgy the great years when we were
visiting the hills tops to
get best results in VHF bands contesting -
we won the Czech VHF championships several times. Many
thanks to all my friends from OK1KRQ, especially Roman,
OK7SM (ex OK1XST) and Dan OK1XDF for
revealing the spirits of contests and team work to me.
In 1997 I was convinced by Pavel
OK1DRQ to apply for a HF restricted exam for Class C,
as every "right" ham operates in HF with Morse code (Morse
code 8 wpm - Poor me!) ....... I was lucky to pass the tests
and was allowed to some HF bands. I also received new call
OK1TRM. Surprisingly, I did some 300 QSO in
CW.....
In 1999 I moved about 35km west to my
current place of residence Stribro, an old mining town
(Stribro means silver in Czech). I inherited an old house
and started a neverending reconstruction - roof first,
antenna tower second :-)),
then windows, water pipes, doors, central heating
......still not finished. Local club OK1KUW adopted me
soon.
In Stribro I met
Zdenek OK3RM (ex OK1XUV), an excellent technician and
operator who just started to build new HF constest station
OL7R. Zdenek and other guys around him formed my future
into HF operations, antennas, big antennas, even bigger
antennas, high power, higher power, more power, even more
power. I was a member of HF contest team
OL7R since 2001.
In 2003 I passed a
final exam for Class B (CEPT 1) with 16 wpm Morse code
test and unrestricted band access - my strong motivation
was that 20m band in prohibited for C class holdeds. After
this test I decided to abandon CW for some longer time as
I really do not find anything beautiful in this mode. I
work only phone and RTTY since then. Maybe I will return
to CW one day.
In 2005 the laws
changed in Czech Republic cancelling Morse code exams and
gathering all old A to D classes to one A class and
introducing new N - Novice - class. The same laws have
brought an extensive freedom to callsign policy. Forgotten
was the OK1 for Bohemia, OK2 for Moravia etc.... Everyone
of A class can chose own favourite call if it is free.
In 2008, after
expiration of my OK1TRM license I decided for a shorter
call OK6MA. Somewhere around this period I
became the main operator of OK1KUW team.
In 2010 OL7R site and antenna farm was repeatedly
attacked by homeless alluminium and copper "collectors" who
devastated the QTH and its equipment. The damage and loss
exceeded the financial ability of most of the members to
recover and OL7R team decided to disband.
2011 - 2012 I spent by sporadic contesting on HF
under my own call and on VHF under OK1KUW team (OK6MA,
OK6RA, sometimes OK3VM, guest OK1IC)
Since 2013 I am member of Radio club OK1OUE
(contest call OK7O).
73! Marek OK6MA
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