wrote

Doesn't seem like 40 years, though.

What do others remember?

:-) When a teen, my novice license arrived Friday the 13th, September 1963.
My first QSO was that night on 80m on 3706 Kc with a fellow in Schoharie,
NY. That was my only crystal. With crystals, we had to learn to listen all
over our 50 Kc available band of 3700 - 3750.

My friend Gary and I went down to the FCC office in Manhattan to take the
General exam just a few days before they were going to impose a $4 fee.
Ouch! We had a deadline to meet! We couldn't afford to pay $4! Well, we both
passed, and Gary called his mom to tell her the good news. Once we arrived
back to his house it was apparent that his mother told a neighbor the good
news because, as we walked by the neighbor's house, she exclaimed to us, "So
now you're Captains!?"

Howard N7SO