Elmering the Elmer

In the summer of 2000, after years of waiting to get around to it, I finally got my ham ticket. I grew up watching my Dad, Cousin, and Uncle be hams, and later, my Brother, and it was always something I wanted to do, but either was too busy, or not motivated. Finally, I slowed down enough at age 34 to get my first license, and what a thrill.

I remember the first week on the repeater in the area being the new guy. All of the folks I met were really friendly, helpful, very knowledgeable, and I enjoyed pleasant QSOs. When finally meeting these guys, I was amazed at what they knew regarding electronics, radios, antennas, etc., and how much I had to learn. It was fun to listen to them talk about equipment, operating, and the like, and to this day, we all gather about once a week for breakfast and conversation. All of them are at least 25 years older than me, but very warm, and inviting. For most of them, they've been in ham radio longer than I've been alive, (I'm 37) so for the life of me I could never figure out what I could add to a conversation, or contribute that they didn't already know.

Until today...

I was driving around today, bored, as there was a power outage at my home, and really not a lot to do, (except sit around and be mad about my power being out for the better part of 8 hours), so I got in the car, and drove around town. I came upon one of my older Elmer/friends, and we struck up a conversation in his yard. He's usually an AM guy, or sideband, or CW but had heard of the digital stuff, wanted to try it, and was curious. Since this is something I do on occasion, and am comfortable with digital modes, and computers, I offered to help. I went with him into his shack. I ran a wire from the rig to the computer sound card, downloaded some software, and the next thing you know, we're receiving Slow Scan, PSK, RTTY, and the like. This friend, old enough to be my father, had an awakening to a whole new world of ham radio. He was like a little kid, and could not poke around fast enough for the stuff we saw on his computer screen. It made me feel great that I could do this for him, all by happenstance, mind you, but it was a neat feeling I'll not soon forget. If this is what Elmering someone feels like, count me in. What a neat experience that something so seemingly simple for me to do could give a fellow ham an experience like that. We spent a lot of time talking about software, computers, interfaces, and all kinds of stuff. He wants an interface, and wants to get on the air. I helped him look in the direction he should go for this, and offered to come back to get him set up to get on the air. He accepted, and in the meantime, he'll at least be able to watch the digital modes, and I can't wait to see him have his first QSO on Slow Scan, or RTTY, or PSK, etc.

You hear about newcomers and old timers a lot these days. My view is that we all have something to contribute to the ham community at some point. For the first time in my 3 year ham career, I have given something back, and it felt good to do it for one of the first friendly voices I heard 3 years ago. If this is Elmering, it just became a new aspect of the hobby/service I've discovered, and one that I look forward to doing again.