Yea, Iam now 71 and wonder where the yrs have gone? I hope good lord gives me more yrs! I have noticed that there are lots of wives that hate anything to do to do about ham radio! I have had friends that There wives gave thousands worth of equipment away to just get it out of the house. They actually had a deep resentment towards their husbands for spending first money then time on ham radio. One actually piled the stuff on the porch and told a carpet bager come get it. Anyway I do try to formulate a plan. 73 Tom
My father and I got our tech licenses the same day, consecutive calls even. His financial problem wasn't lack of money, it was lack of willingness to part with any... it drove me nuts! He bought an ht and that was it. So, I built him a couple of antennas and mounted them on his roof which helped tremendously. Then I finally talked him into buying an amplifier. My father would give the shirt of his back if someone needed it more than he did but for himself, he's sooner bleed to death than invest in a bandage. After a year or so of begging I finally tired of the situation and went shopping. Now there is absolutely no way he would accept charity, especially from me so I "exaggerated" a wee bit. I compiled a reasonable station within the limits of his license. A pair of dual band mobiles, one for his house and the other for his PU, a complete PC with a TNC so he could play with packet, APRS & such, a 6 meter transceiver and all band hf receiver. What I told him is that someone I knew wasn't interested in the hobby anymore and was selling everything for 25% value! He jumped on it! We were both happy. Of course I had to bite my lip when he said "See? I was right to wait, look at the deal that came along." My mom knew what I had done and almost got me caught but was able to contain her laughter. When he passed he left it all to me. As most of what I purchased was duplicates of my station, I insisted my brother use them. Soon after my ather passed My son son was 10-12 at the time and got his ticket! So when I drop dead I don't need to worry about greedy buzzards swooping down to score on cheap toys. The author of this article was 100% correct! Set up your final plan now! If there is concern over "what you paid" you simply point out what a smart shopper you are. What you paid has little to do with the actual value.
