[HBR] 'operators'

[Stan McIntosh]

Bill wrote:

>>Once upon a time "Amateur Radio Licensees" were also referred to as "ham
radio *operators*".
>>Radios had to be "operated", not just listened to.

This takes me back to when I first got my license.  I'd moved away from my
brother, we were close, and our phone bills were climbing.  So, we studied
and decided to start off as general class.  For the code requirement, I
used SuperMorse (this was in the DOS days) to gradually go from slow to
fast, and I had it feeding from some text files of dirty jokes.  Anyway, we
succeeded and brought home a couple of Heathkits.  When we got home and I
actually sat down to look at the HW-101, the knobs were very, very
intimidating.  Studying for the tests hadn't prepared me.  As far as life
experience goes, all I'd done was tune a stereo to frequency, adjust
volume, and maybe play with tone.  In my mind at the time, several of those
knobs just had to be superflous.  Each one makes a huge difference,
however.

Same's true with the other rigs.  I hope to get an HBR-8 together, but I
want to get back on the air, first.

Regards,
Stan
kd4bth