[Elecraft] Introduction to ham radio

[Jim Brown]

On 7/27/2025 11:45 PM, David Gilbert via Elecraft wrote:
> What percentage of interested parties actually get their license?  What 
> percentage of those are active two years later?

Great questions, Dave. Trying it is a GREAT first step, but it's the 
rest of the steps along the way that lead to a payoff.

My introduction, at maybe 13 years old, was the booth of the Tri-State 
Amateur Radio Ass'n in Huntington, WV, at a "Hobby Show" put on as a 
fundraiser by the church I attended. It was a big deal, in the new 
"Field House" that housed the Marshall College basketball team and a 
minor league hockey team. They had a 400W station, with rack-mounted 
home brew power amp, dipoles on the roof. I was hooked!

They followed through by helping me learn CW, the fundamentals of 
electronics and radio. I went with them on my first Field Day, long 
before I'd taken the Novice test; members gave me my first transmitter, 
taught about antennas, and CONTESTING!

73, Jim K9YC