Carmen E Lyons Jr writes... "A young man gazed at the mailbox wait and hoping that his ham ticket would come today. He paced back and forth until his wife became quite upset. Out of the living room window he saw the mailman and he rushed out to get the mail. Out of the mailbox he removes a letter form the FCC. It was here!!!!! As time went on he wanted to learn more about this wonderful hobby. He got book upon book upon book, reading each one time after time. Yet he was still confused. He looked upon the local hams most said "Why don't you just give up on that and get your Morse code and talk to other hams on HF?". That is the answer he got time after time after time. He laid down his HT for about 2 years and never spoke his call sign again. He late moved to North Carolina were he met a guy who was willing to help him with his current intrest PACKET Radio. That man was one of the reasons he picked up his HT again. If it were not for him he would have never spoken on the radio again. This is a story about me, and I have heard a lot of heartache about the lower code requirement. It is time for all you older hams to stop your bellyaching and stand up and show the new hams what ham radio is all about. Take a new ham under you wing and show him/her proper radio procedures, antenna making, home brew, Morse code, packet etc... Unless you stand up and share you knowledge this hobby will die. I am only a Tech. and that is were I am happy at. I plan to learn Morse code and become a Extra but the world above 50MHZ is were hams are made or broken so all the Elmer’s need to STAND UP"
