I don't know why this tickles me so much, but yesterday I got my new Ham Radio license in the mail. I'm now known as AG6RF.

At the end of January I took and passed the Amateur Extra Class license exam. This is like the Ph.D. of Ham Radio, and requires studying a thick book of theory and a pool of some 300 questions they might ask in an exam of 50.

It took all of January studying. And I passed with only 2 wrong answers.

Before, I had  General class license. The Extra class gives the operator some extra privledges on the ham bands, more spectral real estate to play in. But mostly, it comes with bragging rights. I passed the exam!

It also means that I can get call letters that have a 2 or 1 character suffix, and the prefix can start with the letter A rather than K or W. So before, as a General, I had the call sign KG6EMF, called a 2x3 sign, I could now qualify for a 2x2, 2x1, 1x2, or even a very rare 1x1 (like K6F). And, I could either opt for the FCC to assign me a new call, or I could pay the $20 and get my own "vanity" call sign.

So couple of weeks ago I visted some websites that tally all the available call signs and applied for the one most likely to fit my needs, AG6RF. No one had ever owned this call sign before. And it has my initials which, like EMF, for "ElectroMotive Force", also stand for a radio term, Radio Frequency. I have converted from EMF to RF.

After a few weeks, my application was approved and the new license, replacing KG6EMF, arrived in the mail. I'm official. So today I took it over to the local copy shop, had it laminated, and put it in a frame.

I can't really explain why all this is so personally exciting. Maybe it's because back when I was in  high school in the mid '50's I was an avid short wave listener, with my Heathkit AR-2 receiver and a long wire antenna wrapped around the studs in the attic. I listened to the hams and the world shortwave service all the time. Eventually I applied for and got my first ham radio license, Novice class (which no longer exists), and call letters WA2INV. My dad laminated the FCC printed license (postcard size) and it sat framed on my wall.

Unfortunately, I never got any equipment, so I never went on the air. The license expired eventually, I went to college, and forgot about ham radio for 40 years. For some reason, still unexplained, I reconnected with ham radio in 2000 and got my General license, a transceiver, and an antenna. It's been lots of fun.

But I remember as a kid looking at that Novice license on the wall, wondering if I'd ever get on the air and have my first QSO contact, and hearing all the General, Advanced, and Extra Class hams.

Of course, now it's a lot easier to get an Extra class license because there is no Morse code requirement. Back then it was 20 wpm, which I'm nowhere near that level (yet).

Still, I'm just tickled that right there on my wall is my Extra license. Just took 50 years to get there!

73's from AG6RF, Oakland.