All hobbies have their own lingo, and Ham Radio or Amateur Radio is no exception. One word that is used a lot is the term Elmer.
Using the word “Elmer” to mean “mentor” is unique to ham radio. Rick Lindquist, WW1ME, traces the origin of the term to the March 1971 issue of QST magazine; the term appeared in a “How’s DX” column by Rod Newkirk, W9BRD. Rod’s mentor was a ham named Elmer, and Rod thought every new ham should have an Elmer of their own. The name stuck, and since then, “Elmering” has meant “helping.”
I got my license in 1998. I have always been fascinated by radio, including CB Radio. I guess growing up in a Radio Shack during the CB boom played a big part in that. When going off to college, I put a CB in my car to keep up with traffic and, of course, to know where speed traps were. One night, it saved me about 2 or 3 hours of drive time when I found out about a major accident on my way back to school in Richmond, and I had plenty of time to take a detour.
One day, while working for the Richmond newspaper, someone came in and talked to me about an event for Ham Radio. Of course, I was interested, and I wanted to attend the event, but I already had something planned for that day and couldn’t make it. I did follow up after the event and wrote a story about it. But more importantly, I had made a connection and decided that I wanted to get my license. I did get my license and also attended the same event for the next several years. While studying to take and pass my test and after getting my license, a couple of guys were always there to answer my questions and help me with anything they could. One of these guys was a guy by the name of Mike Rogers, or KE4ISW in the ham community. Mike always had the answer to any questions I had and would let me sit in with him at home when I had free time while he was on the radio. Showing me how HF or long-distance communication works, along with RTTY, which is like a teletype for radio. He always had time for my questions. He was truly an Elmer for me.
Over time, life happened. I had kids and needed to focus on them and my career. Ham Radio kind of fell to the side. Now and then, I would travel back to Richmond to participate in that annual event I mentioned earlier, and since I wasn’t able to bring any equipment, I supplied manpower. But even with more time, those trips back came few and far between.
I ran into Mike at a diner in Berea a while back. Walked over and talked to him and his wife to see how they were doing. It was good to see him.
Fast forward a couple of years, and I decided I wanted to get back into the hobby and started studying for my next license to give me more privileges. I attended a meeting of one of the local clubs just to start meeting new people in the area where I live now. One thing they mentioned was having a swap meet in April. Think of a flea market of just ham radio gear. I thought I would try and go to it just to see what I might be interested in.
As I was getting back into the hobby and studying more, I decided to look up some of the guys I knew back in Richmond that I wasn’t talking to every now and then on the radio. Of course, one of the first ones I looked up was Mike. What I found hit me.
SK
Silent Key
Definition? He has passed away.
I hate that I hadn’t heard. But as they say, life is what happens when you are making other plans.
Moving forward to the swap meet. I go, and the first person I see is one of my friends from Richmond. He and Mike were great friends, and Terry was one of the others who was always there to help. One day, when I was having issues with my radio, I went to Mike’s house, and Terry was there, and we did a check and found out that my antenna was bad. Mike was like, hold on. He went and pulled out a spare and just gave it to me, and that wouldn’t be the last time he did that for me. He gave me the antenna, and Terry helped me get it installed.
Anyway, Terry was selling some gear, including a radio that did HF. Knowing that I couldn’t use the radio yet, I was interested but didn’t think anything else about it until Terry told me. “That’s Mike’s radio.”
Well, then I became very interested.
I had been saving some money to buy a radio and had one in mind, but now that one didn’t seem to be as interesting anymore. Long story short. I bought the radio and some accessories that went with it.
Terry said he thought Mike would be tickled that I bought his radio.
I think he would be, too.
I have the radio setup at my house and have one antenna connected, but it’s not tuned correctly for a frequency band I can currently use. I am going to try to fix that in the next week or so and maybe take a cue from Mike and build one on my own. I know what I need to do, but I don’t know if I will be able to or not just yet.
I guess I will find out.
I think making my own antenna and using Mike’s old radio would be a good tribute to him and the time he invested in me, and learning how radio works.