My name is Joanne Saltzgeber, and my call sign is KN6FXH.
Well, my husband was in ham radio, and I didn’t know that much about it. All I knew is, you know, that you see on TV or something, and there’s a lot of “… and then, hello, this is… we’re in Alaska.” And so when Jim would talk about his ham radio, because I like to make things funny, I would kind of make fun of him and do all the sounds and mistakes and things like that. I was with a friend, and she said to me, Joanne, you’re taking a 13-year-old’s view of this ham radio.
And I said, what? And she said, you know, what if, just what if you got into ham radio and you did it right alongside Jim and it became something that you and Jim did together? And that really excited me. That just sparked. And, of course, I didn’t want to be that kind of 13-year-old.
I started talking to Jim about it, and I found a man that had a class in ham radio. And that really excited me. I thought I could learn about this. And I took the class twice before I took the test. I can remember when I danced out of there after taking the test and passing.
One time, all of the electricity in Marin went out. We live in a condominium, so we went door to door because if there was an emergency anywhere in the complex, no one was going to be able to call the fire department, the police department. So we went door to door and told each one of our neighbors that no matter what, no matter what time it was, if there was an emergency, to come over and Jim would be able to get them in contact to rectify whatever the emergency was. And that was the first time that I realized it was just a real situation and that we could be a part of getting help to people that might need help. That we could be of service.
And there’s nothing more important for me. Well, I was a registered nurse. And it was so important to be of help, especially in emergency situations. And that was the first time I realized, whoa, this is huger than my snotty-ness as a 13-year-old. So it really made me much more wanting to get further involved in this.
One other time that I went on the air– I had a bunch of people in my car. And somebody had said there was an accident on the road that we needed to take, and the road was closed. I heard someone’s voice, and it was someone that I knew from our club. I picked up my radio. Now, all these young people in the – were like, whoa, what is that? I said, it’s a ham radio. And I picked it up, and I said, KN6FXH, you know, whatever his call sign was. And he started talking to me, and the entire car got silent. Hey, we’re needing to get down this road so I can take these people back to their home. What do you think? And I just had this conversation with somebody about this accident that had happened. But what I do remember is just how smug I felt that I could pick up that radio and show these kids off.
What do I love about Ham Radio? Well, I love the people. I come from a large family. I have 15 brothers and sisters, 9 brothers, 5 sisters. And there aren’t a lot of women, though there are more and more women coming, which really makes it exciting for me. But when I’m in the room and all these men are there, they’re all accomplished, old guys slapping each other on the back and stuff, I am so at home because I’m with my 9 brothers. And that’s the thing that I love the best.
Well, what frustrates me is that it does tax my memory. Jim has a whole ham shack in the garage. I could go in there and sit down and talk to somebody in England. But the thing is it’s real hard for me to remember all of the procedures involved in making a phone call. And then when someone calls into you, you have to remember their call signs, but, you know, I’d have to write it down real quick. It’s just hard for me to remember all of that at the age of 79. That’s my frustration.
I have this neighbor – she had talked to Jim about wanting to become a ham radio operator. She was a nurse like me. And the other day I was at her house. And she said, come on in. Sit down. And we started talking ham radio. She was just worried, again, as I was, worried about taking that test and knowing all the electrical stuff that you have to know. And, you know, I tried to tell her, the electrical stuff, when you start – just like in nursing, you know, you start talking about, say, a disease. And I didn’t know anything about the disease. But, you know, in class, you start picking it apart. And pretty soon, wow, you know all about diabetes.
So Jim and I just did Field Day. And there weren’t a lot of people there, but boy, it was big fun. Milt was coaching people to feel comfortable transmitting on the air. I talked to Jim a little bit, and I said, Jim, I want to go back there and work with Milt to make a phone call. Because that’s really what I need. I just need somebody to help me make phone calls. So I went back there, and Milt just was so inviting and sat me down. So I listened to him do it with a few people first, and then it was my turn. And I got to get on the phone and say that I’m KN6FXH, and then say their call sign. And then we had this conversation, you know, about Field Day and what was happening with them and what was happening on our end. I walked away from that feeling like a million dollars. It was just a cool experience.
We started doing a lot of the public service and it’s really exciting because you get together and get to learn a little bit about bicycling or running or whatever. Then they work out where you’re going to be at – and then to go there as the runners or the bicyclists came through, I got to record their bib numbers –they had them on their chests. And I got to write the numbers for my husband – they usually had us do the first five and the last five. So they know who was coming in at the beginning and who was coming in at the end.
It gave me something to do. And one time, somebody had some music on, and we were all dancing. I mean, we’re out in this field with all of these strangers dancing. It was just like going to a party. But we had definite things that we had to do. I could be of help.
Recorded on July 24, 2026 in Mill Valley, CA
