Rich, congratulations on getting your ticket again. Glad to have you aboard.
Terence: Don't want to get into too much ancient history but since you asked; during my hitch in the Corps I learned basic electronics, morse code radio operating and radio teletype operations, but I didn't get a ham ticket.
Ten years later I got in ham radio as a novice in '68, upgraded to general in '69 and to extra in '94. The code was still required way back then. Personally I'm glad it is no longer a requirement. In '94 I went with Linda for her to take the tech test, which she passed handily (but refuses to study for upgrade). The VEC's ragged and nagged me into taking the extra test in spite of my not having studied. My code was rusty and I didn't have much confidence. But I passed the 20wpm code test easily, barely squeaked by the theory test, and got that glorious Extra Ticket, will wonders never cease. Good thing I wasn't in any intellectual contests with my friends because I would have lost. But then you wimpy newcomers didn't have to take a code test either.
Ken: Good ideas on scoping out old towers, that's where I got mine. Sometimes you can find tower sections already disassembled and lying in tall grass behind somebody's garage. There may be quite a few folks wondering what they are going to do about their deceased-ham's tower sticking up there in the back yard. There are a lot of us old guys in ham radio, and some of us are kicking the bucket every day, unfortunately. There is a page of SK's (silent keys) in QST every month. I think that page is a couple of months behind, maybe far enough behind so it isn't too soon to ask the family about ham gear.
Re: Elmers. It is a rare ham who won't go out of his way to help a newbie. Another thing I have found is that hams will be truthful in their ham dealings. They won't sell you a box of bolts and call it a ham rig. In every instance I have seen, what you get is exactly what they say it is. If something is wrong with it, you'll know it up front. Of course there is probably that occasional exception that proves the rule. Caveat emptor!
