Greetings Ed!

 RW>> You are a dying breed. I learned morse to get a novice ticket
 RW>> c1970, then had to give up AR for a few years for lack of
 RW>> money, only to have to go through the testing again for another
 RW>> novice ticket, c1977. Got on the air to practice morse in a

 EV> I didn't know the Novice License was Re-Newable.
 EV> 'Twasn't when I got mine.

Twasn't when I got my first one either. WN6ABE expired in 1972...the FCC
changed the rules sometime in-between 1972 and 1977 and they issued me
WD6DOI as a Novice...

 EV> I know You're sure glad You could get a Novice License again.

It was the difference between being tested by my Elmer and paying a visit
to the FCC office in San Diego. It meant a Novice ticket vs a Technician
ticket.

 EV> Ham Radio has lots of different areas to interest us Hams.
 EV> We all don't do the same thing, but We Do It as Amateur Radio
 EV> Operators and Enjoy what We Do.

Yeup.

 EV> As I have been reading this Thread the thought has come to my mind of
 EV> how many participate in CW Contests?

I've done that with a DX group. They were Extras, I was a Novice, then a
Technician and  finally a General.

 EV> I'd think that would be a fair way to find out if CW is a lost art or
 EV> not, don't You think?

It might help to clean up some of the man-made noisy interfence on the
phone bands.


    Have a day!

         R\%/itt - K5RXT

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