Then and Now
This is a listing of some former call signs (Then) of friends who, as teenagers, were all active on the air together back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, mostly in the Northeast, mapped onto their current call signs (Now). As K1RT aptly puts it, "We all went to different high schools together", mostly by yakking on 40 meters in the afternoon or on 80 between traffic nets.
I started this list from memory, then added some by going through my old log books (roughly 1969 through 1973). If you ever checked into the East Coast Teenage Traffic Net - ECTTN ("...you don't have to be a teenager, you don't have to be on the east coast, and you don't have to have traffic..."), or employed a "one-ringer" to prompt a friend to get on the air (usually to meet on 7.255), or hung out on 80m between traffic nets, you belong on this list.
If you know of others who fit the loose criteria above, please drop me an email. Also, if you have a correction to the list (I don't go through this periodically to check accuracy), please send that along too.
Incidentally, you may recall that "Then and Now" was the title of a section in each edition of the Callbook in which recent call sign changes were listed. The table is in Callbook order.
See this article for more thoughts on long term ham radio friendships.
A Then and Now Photo
Left to right: W2SQ, K1RT, K1AR, K1DG, W2PA
Top to bottom: 1983 at the Dayton Hamvention, December 2015 at ARRL HQ
* Some kept their original call signs.
** W2TV is now held by Bob's (WA2RYD's) brother, Charlie, formerly WB2GTW
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