Below and on the next pages are my surviving novice QSLs. In late-1974, I passed my novice exam. The test was proctored by my elmer, Ted Ryan, WB6JXY (sk) http://www.tedryan.bappy.com/. Ted was the electric shop teacher at John Burroughs Jr. High School (JB) in Los Angeles, California, USA, where I was a student. He taught me ham radio. He taught six novice classes a year at JB, plus another six novice classes and another 6 General pluses for the San Fernando Valley Amateur Radio Club, W6SD, http://www.w6sd.com/ after hours. On Saturdays many people went to Ted's house, including myself for tutoring.
The date of issuance of my novice ticket, WN6JPA was February 11, 1975. The ticket probably arrived in late-February 1975.
I could not find any of my WN6JPA QSL cards. I do not remember what they looked liked. I probably home made QSLs initially. I was doing ham radio on the humble earnings of a newspaper delivery boy. I recall using stickers that various print shops sent as free samples which have QSL information on them. Like many novices of the day, see examples below, I stuck these stickers on free postcards that were readily available for free from any motel or hotel. I probably eventually got a generic QSL from one of the inexpensive printers which sent out free QSL samples.
The first surviving QSL I have was a QSO I had on 40m with WA6TEW, Bill Foeste from San Bernardino, California, USA. The QSO occurred on September 13, 1975 from 0941-0951hrs, PST. San Bernardino is one county over from LA county.
I am certain I was on the air prior to the QSO with WA6TEW on September 13, 1975. I did not wait 7 months to get on the air. I am positive I was on the air at school and at Ted's house on Saturday mornings prior to this. I do not have any other QSLs or my logbooks as proof. My logbooks and many QSLs were destroyed by a flood in the mid-1990s. JB's logs probably were thrown out by the person who gained control of Ted's estate in his final months. I am told that this person sold the house two days after Ted died. This person reportedly went to Ted's club posing as his daughter and attempted to sell his station.
