Mike Coslo wrote:

I had a rough time talking my parents into getting me my first
radios. I had to convince them I was serious. Perhaps the same situation
existed for you?

My dad chucked a successful job as a writer at the Palm Beach Bureau of
the Miami Herald to become an Episcopal priest. I lobbied for some help
with gear and we made a deal. I paid for my used receiver from the
proceeds of a newspaper route and he and Mom bought the used transmitter
as a Christmas gift. Things like logbooks, a key, antenna wire and
coaxial cable were begged or purchased from the paper route money.

I listened to Dad for months about how all of this ham radio stuff (and
my guitar) were just "kicks" I was on and that they'd be gathering dust
in the closet. That sort of came true as my first hamshack was in the
walk-in closet off my bedroom. If the stuff gathered any dust, it was
in the closet.

After I'd been a ham (and a guitarist) for a number of decades, I used
to ask Dad if he thought there'd come a day when I'd pack all of that
stuff up and put it into a basement somewhere.

Dave K8MN