On 30th November, Chas wrote:
"...Those are a LOT of skills for anyone who has not been learning and
excercising all of them pretty much constantly over the last 30 yrs or so.
Unfortunately, many of us have spent those valuable years doing other things
like, raising families, fighting in wars, fighting debilitating diseases,
trying to make a living in fields far abroad from HF electronics and SO
ON...."
*************************************
Hi Chas,
Well, believe you me, I haven't exactly been letting the proverbial grass
grow under my B-hind here either for the 37+ years that I've been a Ham!
In that time I earned a university degree, got married, raised two kids,
paid off the mortgages on two homes, worked 35 years before retiring, and
fought cancer 4 years ago, to boot...yet somehow I still managed to build
three completely homebrewed superhet receivers, one regenerative receiver,
three linear amplifiers, two transmatches, six transmitters, two modulators,
and umpteen power supplies & related paraphernalia!
Now, Iam NOT in any way, shape, or form saying that all this might make me a
"better" Ham than you --- far from it! I merely bring this up as an example
of what one can do, despite the day-to-day pressures of living (indeed, many
were the mornings that saw me wake up an hour earlier than needed to get
ready for work, as I headed straight downstairs to the workshop).
The point I'm trying to make, I guess --- and I DON'T mean to offend anyone,
so no flames, please! --- is that I personally feel being a Ham without at
least ONE homebrewed major piece of equipment in the shack is like taking a
shower with one's clothes on: oh you'll get good & wet & soapy, alright, but
the full effect just isn't there...
Non-homebrewers --- IMHO --- really and truly are missing a core element of
what makes one a Ham. Our mantra USED to be that the fraternity was composed
of "...tinkerers and experimenters"...I shall continue to try to personally
live up to that philosophy for as long as I might continue to be fortunate
enough to stay one step ahead of the ranks of Silent Keys, Hi Hi...
~73!~ Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ
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