On 4/9/2014 7:51 PM, Michael J. Coslo wrote:
On Wednesday, April 9, 2014 12:08:00 PM UTC-4, Steve Bonine wrote:

The point I'm making is simple: Because I had to, I learned a skill
that provided me with a huge amount of enjoyment in my life.
Conversely, if I hadn't had this gun to my head, I wouldn't have gone
through the pain to do it, and I would have missed out on the joy that
cw has brought me through the years.

I got my Novice license in 1967. Same routine. Upgrade or die.
It was fun at 5 WPM and every QSO was special. "Oh hey, I'm
talking to a guy 100 miles from here. Pant pant."

Getting my code speed up to 13+ so I could upgrade was painful.
I passed the code test, passed the General test, then got told
"As long as you're here, take the Advanced test too." Passed
that as well.

Okies, got my ticket, and I did do some CW on 40 meters, mostly
with two friends of mine but it never really "clicked" with me.

Early in 2005, I took the Extra test and passed it. So here I
am. Every year I make it a point to do at least ONE CW contact
for Straight Key Night. It's still painful, but I do because I
can.

But in the context of old things that are of some value,
I learned the slide rule just before it was abandoned
for calculators. Until that time, I was pretty bad at math.
Then almost as soon as the first class started, something
Clicked, and clicked hard.

Summer of 1970 between my Junior and Senior year in High school.
Mr. Guest, our math algebra and geometry teacher had a summer
course on using a slide rule. Of course we had the ten foot long
rule hanging up over the chalk board.

I don't remember what happened to my 10" yellow Pickett, but I
still have my 10" Cleveland Institute of Electronics slide rule.
And I have a 6" mini that fits nicely in my pocket protector. ;-)

I have an HP-10C which I love dearly. But most everything I do, I
do with a pair of TI scientific calculators I bought 30 years ago.


--
Jeff-1.0
wa6fwi
http://www.foxsmercantile.com