VU3SHX - the journey

With my India callsign, I have never made a contact in India since the time I got it in 1998.

The reasons were more finance related than interest, and as it usually happens with me, money wins over all other interest.

So though I got my callsign way back in 1998, I never got a chance to get out to any club in Bombay to make any contacts. So when I landed up in the US in 1999, I enrolled in SARC through Twila Greenheck and ended up getting a call sign there too - Technician grade.

Through this callsign, I participated in a DXpedition way back in 2000 in Minneapolis.

The origins of this hobby of mine started with the HAM station setup at Shri Govindram Seksaria Institute of Technology and Science, Indore VU2GSO.

Prof. (Dr.?) Pathak was our mentor in those days and we did go about dit-dah-ing around learning the morse code to be able to get into some kind of Amateur radio contacts. But unfortunately, even with key enthuiasts like Priya K, Nupur B, Vishwas R, Parvesh G, and maybe a couple more, the activity did not really move up ahead in terms of getting full attention to amateur radio operations in Indore.

So I went to Lad colony to meet an individual there whose name I forget now, an aged Maharashtrian, who had given me some tips on how to get started on this. Not sure I really understood that, or maybe that involved some more money to be spent to get some kits or something, but I didn't pursue that either.

Then came the shift to Bombay, the job at GTL and there the seriousness somehow set in. I first met some people - one in Lokhandwala (which way back in 1994 or so was not as popular as it is now) and someone at Borivali. This gentle couple at Borivali actually had a 486 PC on which they used to transmit CW, had an antenna rotator motor to rotate the antenna on the roof from their house... the works which in those days were probably a big deal.

Then with T.N.G. Kurup leading the way in sharing the gyan on wireless sets, with his background in the Navy radio, I got some tips. There I met VU2GT, who unfortunately, again, I lost in touch with once I moved out of GTL. GT is a keen enthusiast and an expert on antennae. He explained things to me which - for being practical brained - didn't make sense to me till I saw how it all was set up. So again, I didn't get much out of the sessions with GT - I hope this will change soon.

Someone, I don't remember again the name, at Essar towers in Lower Parel, was into Amateur radio. This was SRIL time. I used to go there to set up their SprintMail systems. He led me to Swadi Automobiles and then to this training club, most probably JNA(?), that I got some training on CW and passed the exam. I also remember going to the Borivli station to get the updates about my license. But again, all faint memories.

So during my time in GT and later after I moved out to SRIL and then to TUL, I pursued this hobby more often than not. And was able to thus get my call sign for GRII in 1998.

I hope this post of mine, if picked up by the relevant people will help me connect back with those erstwhile stepping stones of my road to Amateur radio - people whose names I have forgotten but who remain significantly important for me in this journey.