I was always intrigued meeting new people by radio. I mean there where few places in the physical world of the 60's where a person was expected to deliberately make new friends with others deliberately doing the same thing. I had heard about Ham Radio. Read about in Popular Science. But, for lots of normal teenage reasons I never took the plunge. Also, I knew of no "ELMER" to take me under his wing until I was 40.

In 1974 I got into CB radio at the peak of the solar cycle. I was involved in a great "CB" club in Hialeah, "The Channel 23 Club" my handle was "Golden Horse" for the '72 Triumph Bonneville 650 (gold accent gas tank) I rode. I was active in R.E.A.C.T. As the craze and the crap on the CB grew  my interest deminised.

I moved to Detroit in '76 married and started a family. I worked in TV production and video engineering at independant TV stations and cable TV studio facilities. Finally in 1989, I was talking to a guy (who was an ELMER in disguise, Lynn Cruse, WD8RNO) who liked volunteering for public assess productions (between trade shows at the Detroit convention Center Cobo Hall) at the cable studio in Dearborn Michigan where I was Chief Video Engineer. I was telling him how I was looking to get a cell phone to keeping in touch with my wife (my TV production schedule would keep me from having regular work hours). I was tired of trying to find a payphone just to call home to say I'd be late. So he showed me how he uses his HT to access a phone patch. He casted out and I bit. He then told me how much it cost, $25 a year. He just set the hook. After that he showed me the world of 2meters. WOW it sounded to me just like the "Good O'll Days" of CB. I asked about clubs and public service. He's reeling me in now. And the FCC just made it easier to get on the air NO-MORSE-CODE and with the technical knowledge of being a Video Engineer, I'd have no problem becoming a Technician Class Amateur Radio Operator. Hook, Line and Sinker!

I moved to Florida soon after I got my ticket. I took a job of Station Manager of TV-16 in Stuart. I soon found out the Owner who was in his late 70's was an Extra Class Ham. Through him I was encourged, I mean ELMERed to upgrade. I'm now a General Class working on Advanced. I've ELMERed two people into the hobby and working on 5 more.

I firmly believe ELMERing is the"ONLY" way Amateur Radio is going to survive. It is NOT up to the ARRL certainly not FCC. Too many times I find ELMER candidates (knowledge and love for the hobby) who tell me that they have done everything in Ham Radio, as an excuse to say they don't want to do anything more, including keeping the hobby from dying with them. They have their cliches, where no one else is welcome, mostly on HF frequencies. They complain to each other how the hobby has gone downhill since the NO-CODERs came on the seen. But never is there discussion on taking the newcomers under thier wings. "Let them show they deserve help by learning the code." Well alot of Technician Class hams have really been there in times of need in public services providing needed backup during emergencies and disasters. They have served with professionalism and distinction. As a result many authorities have called these NO-CODERS to stand by during the Y2K because they can be counted on.

Isn't that why the Amateur Radio Service was created in the first place. As group of trained Radio Civilian National Guard. For the privilege of playing, basically free raine, with transmitters and connecting stuff to them, we bring into emergency situations personally owned equipment and professional operating skills to faciltate effective communications when normal communications infrastuctures are broke even so called modern hardened ones.

Its gone downhill because the ELMERing have died off and no one has stepped in to replace them. "I'll let someone else will do it"