[AMRadio] Fwd: Elmer

[manualman at juno.com]

Maybe the first amateurs considered themselves an elite class because of
their ability to communicate with people all over the world with their
own crafted equipment, and the general population dubbed them "high and
mighty" aka "ham".

There was no "Elmer" mentor tag prior to the 70's other then the
possibility that your mentor had the first name of Elmer. It was not any
"good old old days" ham radio tradition.

Pete, wa2cwa

On Sat, 04 Feb 2012 06:57:41 -0500 Rick Poole <wa1rkt at arrl.net> writes:
> 
> >From: "D. Chester" <k4kyv at charter.net>
> >
> >To me, (elmer) always had a dumb-sounding ring to it.
> <<<<<
> 
> The term "ham" itself was originally a derogatory term, referring to 
> 
> an incompetent who didn't know or care what he was doing... despite 
> 
> the misimpression of much of today's crop of hams that "HAM" is some 
> 
> kind of acronym that should be in all caps (it's not... we are hams, 
> not HAMs).
> 
> This is all part of ham radio tradition, that goes back decades 
> prior 
> to the 70's and 80's, like Wouff Hong and Rettysnitch (and yes, the 
> 
> "E" word), that few of today's refugees from 11 meters ever learned 
> 
> or cared about, and is gradually being forgotten.