"msg" wrote in message
...
JB wrote:

snip

The Technician License split ham radio into two factions by offering a
license class that had little incentive to upgrade and actually made it
much
more difficult to, by limiting the opportunities for on-the-air
training.
People who took the Novice ticket were upgraded to General in less than
2
years or never got around to get on the air and let it lapse. Hams (in
my
area anyway) were expected to build something as a right of passage.
Building a code practice oscillator would get you a pat on the back from
everyone and you were in with the simplest project there was. I built
that
and the power supplies for my mil surplus rigs. Some guys built a whole
Novice station. Techs at that time were expected to retune or modify a
rig
or some project as well but would go straight to CB like intercom
operations
not conducive to learning the HF skills for upgrade.

Hmmm, first time I've read such an opinion regarding original Techs; in my
experience, Techs concentrated on building, experimenting and exploiting
VHF, UHF and above and had less inherent interest in HF. Some were just
unable to muster higher CW wpm for other tickets.

In my day we were aware of a difference but we were all brother hams
then.
I had Elmers that were Techs and beyond.

Perhaps you are referring to later model Techs; the term 'Elmer' didn't
exist
during the day to which I refer.

Michael

Of course there were variations in your experience depending on the crowd
you fell in with. To this day, the club experience tends to be limiting for
those who want to explore in depth, the great variety of interests that ham
radio has to offer. There are in fact many, many specialties and
sub-interests within amateur radio. If you try to list what they are, you
keep adding to the list indefinitely. Clubs tend to promote the entry and
political interests and get preoccupied there. If people in a club are
ragging about lack of Elmers or Technological interest in ham radio, it is
because the club itself has become stagnant with a lack of imagination, like
the teenager who sits around watching TV and complaining about being bored.
Boring people actually bore themselves. In my experience, most hams don't
show up at the local ham club because they have other Ham Radio interests.

Your Experience (above, Techs vs. HF) is proof of what comes of
promoting a division within ham radio. Politics should have learned by now
that the 2 party system has become the same kind of disaster. The Electoral
system used to have several parties and candidates and the winner became
President and runner-up was Vice-President, regardless of political party.
Probably more aggravation for the cabinet, but more of a stabilizing
influence on our nation. Our current system has actually promoted a rift in
America that gets farther apart as we go our separate ways in order to avoid
drowning in the middle. Eventually this could lead to another Civil War but
I digress.

An Elmer was everyone who was willing to share what they had learned. The
term and the people were there long before I decided to be a ham, perhaps
pre-war QST. The first thing I learned was that with so many sub-interests,
the only way I could hope to experience it all was vicariously. By visiting
the garages and hamshacks to see what other people had done. Antenna
experimenters, transmission line specialists who conversed with Smith
Charts. Teletype experimenters who were cobbling home made digital
controllers to their model 28s, that would become the home computer. People
who did various mods and projects involving existing equipment, People who
built their own equipment. Even one poor kid in High School who built a
full QRP station onto his bicycle from transistor radio parts and other
junk. This guy had a bit of an inferiority complex, because when he would
show people the construction and circuit designs (often modular with junk
boards modified and cabled together in a re-used cabinet) they would become
very interested and of course the "why did you do it this way" question
would always set him off. Some would joke him over that. I had to remind
him often to put away his anguish and realize they were in fact impressed by
his accomplishments and what was happening was in fact a by product of their
curiosity and envy. Although I was an Advanced and He was a Novice, it
didn't change the fact that we were both Elmers in our own right. We become
Elmers to each other as long as we don't pout and cry over normal human
relations.

I realize that pouting and crying over normal human relations has become
some sort of fashionable thing lately. I don't think it is a good thing.
Maybe it is from people being told by their Psychiatrist (like Cops, depend
on repeat business) that everything will be OK if they let their emotions
take control, and that it is perfectly normal to throw tantrums or hump
people's leg in public. Makes good press though.