You will soon call me General Captain Will!
Well, I was tooling around this morning looking at different ham radio sites on the interweb, when I had an epiphany.
I've had my amateur radio Technician's license for almost 6 years, now, and I haven't upgraded to General.
Before, I didn't upgrade because of the Morse Code requirement. You see, folks, me and Morse... well... clash. It makes me want to go crazy and break things. Things that have people in them. I tried the tapes, oh Lord, did I try the tapes. But after about 15 minutes of listening to them, I'd black out, and then wake up 5 hours later with my clothing shredded, covered in what I can only hope was animal blood.
Well, last year around this time, they dropped the code requirement. And I said to myself "Hurray! I can finally upgrade without fear of slaughtering the innocent! All I'll have to do is learn the test, just like I did for my Tech!" But before I knew it, the year was gone, and I hadn't even made an attempt.
So this morning, 14 days before I turn 25, I had an Amateur Radio related mid-life crisis. I went to the ARRL database, and looked up the callsigns of all my old friends who used to work at Norton Auditorium with me, and found that only Heath had upgraded. Heath and his (now) wife Ann are who got me interested in ham radio in the first place. Heath was my first elmer (ham term for a radio mentor), and really helped me to get into the hobby. Well, I was thinking about all of this, and I said to myself "Captain, you've been wanting this for awhile. You've got a week and three days until the test date, and you passed your Tech in just 5. Print out the damn question pool and get to studying! It's what Heath would want you to do!"
I've been at it all day. And you know what? It isn't as hard to learn as it was the first time. In fact, I took a practice test, just to see what kind of progress I've made, and I'm already just 5 or so questions from passing. That ain't bad.
So I'm going to get my General license, and sit on it for awhile, and when God's timing is right, and I'm able to afford nice new radios, antennas, power supplies, and all the other whatnots and geegaws involved, I won't have to wait. The Lord seems to be opening up yet another door for me, and I'm walking through.
Quake in fear, radio spectrum! The Captain's comin' back!
I've had my amateur radio Technician's license for almost 6 years, now, and I haven't upgraded to General.
Before, I didn't upgrade because of the Morse Code requirement. You see, folks, me and Morse... well... clash. It makes me want to go crazy and break things. Things that have people in them. I tried the tapes, oh Lord, did I try the tapes. But after about 15 minutes of listening to them, I'd black out, and then wake up 5 hours later with my clothing shredded, covered in what I can only hope was animal blood.
Well, last year around this time, they dropped the code requirement. And I said to myself "Hurray! I can finally upgrade without fear of slaughtering the innocent! All I'll have to do is learn the test, just like I did for my Tech!" But before I knew it, the year was gone, and I hadn't even made an attempt.
So this morning, 14 days before I turn 25, I had an Amateur Radio related mid-life crisis. I went to the ARRL database, and looked up the callsigns of all my old friends who used to work at Norton Auditorium with me, and found that only Heath had upgraded. Heath and his (now) wife Ann are who got me interested in ham radio in the first place. Heath was my first elmer (ham term for a radio mentor), and really helped me to get into the hobby. Well, I was thinking about all of this, and I said to myself "Captain, you've been wanting this for awhile. You've got a week and three days until the test date, and you passed your Tech in just 5. Print out the damn question pool and get to studying! It's what Heath would want you to do!"
I've been at it all day. And you know what? It isn't as hard to learn as it was the first time. In fact, I took a practice test, just to see what kind of progress I've made, and I'm already just 5 or so questions from passing. That ain't bad.
So I'm going to get my General license, and sit on it for awhile, and when God's timing is right, and I'm able to afford nice new radios, antennas, power supplies, and all the other whatnots and geegaws involved, I won't have to wait. The Lord seems to be opening up yet another door for me, and I'm walking through.
Quake in fear, radio spectrum! The Captain's comin' back!