On Jun 13, 1:08 am, "Howard Lester" wrote:


Yeahhhhh, the personal here is Howard....


Talked to a young fella on the repeater the other day who introduced
himself by saying "my first personal is Jim and you're my first
contact, QSL?".

He seemed like a nice sort, delighted that he had just received his
shiny new call sign, and was anxious to make some new friends. Kinda
sounded like I felt when I put my new call sign on the air the first
time way back when, except probably brighter, cuz Jim is one of those
young computer jocks. Me, I still got problems with the LL scale on
my
Pickett slide rule. Yep, I think Jim sounded brighter than me, quick
to
catch on to things.


But I don't think Jim will be back on the repeater. Before I had a
chance to really get to know much about Jim, or even wrangle an
invite
to lunch, another station, with an impressive "senior" call sign
joined
the contact, flashed his shiny Radio Cop badge, and proceeded to
issue
Jim a "verbal speeding ticket" for improper lingo on the radio.
"Radio
Cop" said the term "personal" (and for that matter "handle") were
unwelcome in ham radio, and that Q-signals were not to be used on VHF
voice. Just generally made my newfound friend feel like an unwashed
interloper. (Gosh, I've been saying "handle" since I was a
conditional
class. Slow to catch on, you know.)


Now I should point out that "Radio Cop" took pains to appear very
well
meaning. Didn't use any bad words that I noticed, was quite polite,
even seemed like he was trying to be "helpful." In other words, he
thought he was doing Jim a favor by pointing out his transgression
from
our sacred Amateur Radio way of doing things. I think Jim felt just
the
same way I did back in a new school in third grade when the well
meaning teacher pointed out that "we don't keep our pencil behind our
ear in this room." Sure enough, I looked around and none of my new
classmates had pencils behind their ears. Sure was embarrassing, and
at
that moment I really wished I was back with my good old buddies in
second grade. Now, if I'd been allowed to hang out a couple of days,
I'm sure I would have learned how to properly stow my pencil. And if
Jim would have hung around a couple of days on our repeater I just
bet
he would have noticed that his lingo, perhaps learned in another
radio
service, was a bit out of place, and pretty soon Jim would sound
"just
like the rest of us." Like I said, he seemed pretty bright to me,
quick
to catch on to things.


"Radio Cop", you have kept our hobby uncorrupted. I heard Jim down
around 27 Mhz this morning, and saw his ad on eBay trying to sell his
barely used 2-meter HT. I'm gonna miss my new friend Jim, because I
think I could have learned something from him. Maybe you could have
also.


Like I said, he seemed pretty bright to me, quick to catch on to
things. What do think it was that he caught on to about us from
"Radio
Cop".


73, de Hans, K0HB


~~~
When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by
this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.
~~~