By W7CRG
What special memories come to you about growing up?
- Perhaps being included in adult conversations.
- The thrill of the telephone ringing and it was for you! Remember, when I grew up there was only one telephone in the house and it was not for frivolous conversations and was often on a party line. You might pick up the phone and hear a neighbor discussing a cookie recipe, asking for a ride to the store for shopping or to church or just gossiping. Party lines were not the place to bare your soul unless you wanted everyone to know your business!
- Back on topic, getting your own bike, or better yet, a brand new bike
- Making a team, either athletic or academic.
- Getting a date.
- Going to a summer camp.
- Having an adult talk to you as an equal. I think my “uncle” Ray was the first to do that for me.
- Getting a letter in the mail. You remember what corresponding was? With Email, texting, auto-correct and other modern wonders the task of “putting pen to paper” is pretty well lost. I also remember the first letter I got from a pen pal. My first pen pal was from Germany and I was amazed that he wrote such good English! I thought his English might read like the Germans in the movies. I worried I would have to have my German born Grandmother translate it. No, it was very clear, concise and correct English!
- Speaking of movies, how about going to the movie without an adult “taking you”.
I would guess all of us could go on and on about special “firsts”. I’m going to go back to that first letter from my pen pal. The things he told me about his family, city and country! I was amazed that there were many similarities, as well as so many differences. When he told me about his school classes, even though he was the same age as I was, it was as though he was a year ahead of me in school! I began to wonder if I was dumber than I thought I was; or, maybe he was just a super smart guy? Even though the schools in Taft were very good we were a very small school. I realized that schools in Portland and Germany probably offered more. That was probably the explanation, right?
It was a misunderstanding I lived with until I arrived at Oregon State and my room mate in the dorm asked how many were in my graduating class. “Sixty-two,” I proudly stated. “Oh,” Pete replied, “We had 1,500 and we graduated two classes a school year.”
It was further brought to my attention when in chemistry class I thought I could breeze along as I had taken a year of chemistry at Taft High School. What we covered at Taft was over after the third week at OSU!
I think the communication with that young German was a seed that made me think about amateur radio as a hobby. My uncle was a ham and he had told me about his contacts around the world. Talking to and learning about other people’s lives was intensely interesting.
To this day, I enjoy talking with people in person, on the radio and on occasion by the written word. Writing is more problematic I don’t relate as well, misspell words and foul-up my grammar. When I taught a Junior English series I was a great example for proof reading your writing and using the dictionary. As the years have gone by, I’ve gotten better (I think).
The practice that so many amateurs follow by saying, “you’re 59 and 73 see you on down the log.”, is not one I use. I try to find out about the operator, their station, their background, how they got into the hobby, which parts of the hobby they like. Sometimes this back and forth can last 20, 30 or even 40 minutes (rarely that long). I find that a QSO can be like meeting someone at the coffee shop or sitting on a park bench.
Does anyone take a walk in the park anymore? Do we sit and enjoy our surroundings? Do we extend a friendly word to a stranger? I’m of a mind that too many of the current generation are afraid of one on one conversation and are only able to communicate via their cell phones.
As an aside, I remember being in Portland for my eldest’s wedding dinner and I stepped outside for a breath of fresh air. Two young girls were walking by conversing with each other via text on their phones rather than engaging in a conversation. The spoken word consisted of, “that’s a good one, how about this?” “Oh yeah, gottcha.”
Which brings up the old rant by many of this generation, “Why would I want to learn to use amateur radio when I can talk around the world on my cell phone?”
My response is, “Whose cell number in Australia, Peru, France, Japan, England or Egypt do you know?” Having a world-wide audience is not always the case on the ham bands but when you hear a “OH” (Finland) or a “PY” (Brazil) it is interesting or dare I say exciting.
During the last contact with a Finnish station I mentioned I was of Finnish descent being half-Suomi. He asked where in Finland my Grandparents came from. I realized I didn’t know. A second cousin did a lot of genealogy and sent everyone a long email of who begot who but it is also long gone on a dead computer which used MSDOS. So now one of my tasks is to locate that long lost file of genealogy.
I periodically wonder as a past history teacher, where and how are future historians going to access primary research? Those phone conversations, texts and emails are not stored anywhere. One of my most interesting classes in college involved writing a paper from primary research. I read through letter after letter of Civil War soldiers and their families. If you think reading my writing is difficult, try deciphering scribbled pencil or pen letters from young men with a education obtained in a one-room school house! I found so much information that one seldom finds in a textbook or even a biography. There is no such thing as a letter home in this day and age. We of the Viet Nam era wrote some letters but increasingly sent audio tapes which now are often unusable as the tapes aged and tape recorders have disappeared.
Since I’ve wandered so far astray, coming back to amateur radio, we in the military also communicated via MARS, or the Military Affiliate Radio System. Many hams spent hours connecting troops to loved ones stateside via phone patch which connected their radio to a landline phone. All the while teaching those civilians how one-way communications worked, “I love you and worry about you all the time Junior, Over”. The system was populated by “just hams” and famous hams such as Senator and Presidential Candidate Barry Goldwater. The thrill of hearing that soldier or that loved one’s voice is a memory many cherish to this day.
Once again I’ve rambled around a subject in an attempt to inform, urge and possibly entertain. I hope this is of interest and benefit to some of you and worth your time to read. If you have questions or suggestions please feel free to contact me. Thank you and “Get On The Air”!
Chuck W7CRG “73”