[KYHAM] some thoughts on ham radio

[Anthony W. DePrato]

I have received a few email as to the signing of my emails  with extra 
heavy . that is has made some hams feel like i was putting them down with it.
I would like to say that i have never nor will i ever put down another ham 
unless he /she is acting outside the AMATEURS CODE. for those that do not 
know what the code is  . they use to put it in the front of the old hand 
books.
Amateur radio is one of if not the greatest hobby there is. yes it takes a 
lot of hard work and study but the outcome is well worth it.
I am glad to hear a lot of slow CW on the hams bands today it tells me that 
CW is alive and that those who are new to the hobby and some of the old 
timers who have not used CW in years are on the air working to get their 
speed up. I have been a ham since 1962 and a swl for 4 years before that. 
the first 15 years i hated CW told myself at age 15 before i took my first 
test and passed the general that i would never use code even though i had 
learned and passed a test in sending and receiving at 13wpm. back then you 
had to send as well as receive. we use to have a lot of slow speed 
nets.That was one way a lot of the hams learned the code before they got 
their tickets then after when they had a transmitter they would join in to 
increase their copy and sending speeds. Wish we still had a lot of the old 
nets around. well back to hating CW. hi hi.. i did not use CW for years 
then in about 1988 i got to listening again in the CW bands and for some 
reason it sounded like music to my ears. i got bitten by the bug.. ( yes i 
lied on my renewals back then you had to confirm that you were keeping your 
code speed up ) boys i had to start at what is A ? again, took me 3 months 
to get to 20 wpm and being an advanced that had lost half the bands in 68 
with that supposed for the better change . i wanted what i had earned years 
ago back, but i had to upgrade now to extra to get it. so i did. man it 
opened a new world of dx to me.. i had dxcc on ssb back in the 70's had 
worked it on rtty also . but only had maybe a dozen CW contacts from 1962 
to 1988. Now 90%of my time is on CW or rtty and i only need 4 to have 
worked them all. my ssb total was 290 worked when i sent my qsls in years 
ago. and now have about 5 lbs of cards to send when i get the last 4 . then 
i will have worked them all ssb and CW. rtty will take a few more years as 
i only have 275 confirmed. What we all need to remember is that we are each 
there to help the other. We are the ones who supported the troops in WW1 
WW2 Korea and Vietnam. the hams taught the others proper radio usage , CW , 
rtty, how to setup a radio in the field just to list a few. During my 3 
tours in the Navy i spent my free time on ship or when i was not out in the 
jungle with the SOG ,  at a mars station running patches for the other 
soldiers. I have run more patches then i can recall signing /AM . now we 
need to support the new hams with theory and code show them the mystery of 
what lies in wait at 6am on the bottom of 20 meters that weak CW station 
coming in long path from a jungle farm in southeast Asia or that fisherman 
with his 20 watt CW station and dipole on that remote island in the Indian 
ocean. i even worked a guy in a dug out canoe on the Amazon river during a 
downpour he had beached his canoe and was setting under it with a long wire 
up in the bushes. so there are a lot of other highlights to the hobby other 
then a 2 MT repeater or echolink (ugh) there is ARES, RTTY, CW, SSTV , and 
the new digital modes.
So be assured that my byline is not a put down to anyone. it is just 
something i am proud of i worked hard for it and i want to show it.
no i did not include the Public Service Awards or National Certificate of 
Merit and a few others I got from the ARRL that would be more like 
bragging. but I am proud of my A1 OP ,my Fists, and my  20 wpm Code test.
So in closing if i offended anyone it was not my intent to do so.
with best regards
Tony
WA4JQS