[Boatanchors] Elmer

[Rick Poole WA1RKT]

> Actually, the term "elmer" is something relatively new

<sigh>  I have read that several times in recent years and people always
cite the Newkirk article of 1971 as the birth of the term "elmer".

So sad that so much of amateur radio lore and tradition is being lost.

"Elmer" was in use long, long before 1971.  I first started getting
interested in ham radio in about 1954, though I didn't actually get
licensed until 1962.  My dad used to tell me about the early days of
amateur radio, since back when he was first licensed in the early or mid
1920's.  No one else in his family knew or cared anything about radio, but
he had a neighbor who was a ham and got him interested, and in our
conversations he called his neighbor his "elmer".  He also bought me a
book about amateur radio that described the term "elmer" in the book...
'course I was 7 years old back then and had the attention span of a
housefly so didn't really follow through on it and never got around to
getting licensed until I graduated high school.

I wish I could remember the name of the book so I could prove all of this
but I can't.  Meanwhile, no one can find any mention of "elmer" on the web
before 1971 so the assumption is that it didn't exist before then.

Anybody remember what a Wouff Hong is?  A Rettysnitch?  Any idea what they
look like or what they are used for?  No fair looking it up on the web.

Rick WA1RKT