Take a look
at my
CORROSION TOPICS page. Lots
of
unfortunate mistakes and cures. Complete with closeups!!!
I was
first licensed in 1961,
as a Novice, in Montgomery, AL. It was the result of an Explorer Post led by
a terrific mentor: the late Mac McKinstry,
W4HYI; and the
efforts of a good friend my age (14), Steve
Holley,
KN4WNN. Steve lived a couple of blocks away,
and had an EICO 720,
a BC-342,
and a dipole.
Also, there was another Novice, Joe Coleman,
KN4APT wanting
to upgrade, who often gave me a ride to the meetings.
(*1)
As a
Novice-followed
in a couple of months by a
General
(actually a
Conditional-what
you got when you had no 'local' FCC office-the nearest was in Birmingham.)
CW
was my favorite mode-even then. My first contact was with WN4BAD, also in
Alabama. The thrill and wonder I felt during that first contact still occurs
today with an interesting or rare QSO (contact.)
What does
that
have to do with 'loving' CW
(Morse Code)?
Once I had learned the code, and began to gain some degree of proficiency in
it, I discovered I truly enjoyed
the mental and physical actions and challenges involved in sending and
receiving goodCW on the air. It became
integral to the pleasure I
derived from talking to someone over the air. It still is all these years
later.
It is the same
thing-to me-as the answer to the question: Why do people play music? Just
for the sheer joy in the physical activity of it; the pleasure of doing
something well; and the satisfaction of hearing and understanding the sounds
as you-or your partner at the other end of the ether-make them.
I don't resent the no-coders...
I feel sorry for them.
*1:
Steve
is now W5MHA,
and lives in Oklahoma; Joe,
still K4APT-amazingly-lives
within a couple of miles of me!
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