That is a great story.  I wish my dad had been as thoughtful as your mother.
I took my test before I left for the fall term at the Idaho School for the
Blind and Deaf and never heard a thing from my dad about my license.  When I
came home for a teachers' holiday around Columbus day in October I first
asked my dad if I'd heard from the FCC.  He said, "oh, yes.  There's an
envelope right here."

I got him to open it and there was my license with WN7KXR on it.  I
immediately called my Elmer who came right over with twin lead, wire and
some coax along with a 2 by 4 and a 2 by 2.  He built a little mast for me
out of those pieces of wood and stapled the twin lead to it building me a
folded Marconi for 80 meters which was all I had for a rig.  I had petted
that little radio all summer while I was studying for my license and with
his help put it on the air that same night I got home.  What a thrill to
call my first CQ and get an answer from a local ham who was also blind.  He
took a lot of time and exhibited a lot of patience with my slow code but
what a QSO that was.

About a week later, at the school, on a Sunday, I had just gotten back from
church and lunch and was standing in my room in my underwear changing
clothes when my Elmer along with about four other guys from Boise where I
lived showed up with my radio and makings for an antenna.  They put it up
and I was on the air that night from the school and never looked back.  Some
times now when I find it difficult to find help for myself or others, I
remember those guys driving over 100 miles to get a young, high school
freshman on the air and it reminds me what this hobby is all about.

Thanks for sharing your story Phil and very 73. 


 
Kevin :)
Amateur Radio:  K7RX
 

-----Original Message-----
From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Phil Scovell
Sent: Monday, April 26, 2010 14:16
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Novice Days

What I didn't mention in my story of the first contact I ever made was what 
I did to find out the news of my ticket coming in the mail.  I had made 
sure, a hundred times, that my mother would call me, day or night, whenever 
my license came in the mail.  It came that Monday, April 25, 1966.  She knew

school was out at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and when she got home from 
worked and picked up the mail, there was an envelope from the FCC and she 
knew.  After opening the letter and reading my call sign, what it was.  She 
picked up the phone, back then I think you still had to go through a long 
distance operator; I don't believe dial #1 had come in to play as of yet, at

least, we all still were using rotary phone dials.  Anyhow, I was on an all 
boys student council and I had been voted in to represent the 8th grade. 
Robert Lesley Newman, Whom I have always known as just bob Newman, whom you 
all often see on these mailing lists, not this one but others, with his 
monthly blind related issue that he posts on his website, was our student 
council president.  I was walking down the hall and turned left to angle 
over to the open door of the library where every Monday after school, the 
counsel had their meetings.  As I began to pass the open door to the 
school's office, the secretary looked up and saw me.  "Oh, Phil, say, Phil."

I stopped at the open door as I passed and looked in and said, "yes?"  "You 
have a long distance call.  I have the phone right here at my desk so come 
in."  My uncle freed lived in Kansas and often, when coming to see us in 
Omaha, would stop at the school for the blind and get me out of class and 
we'd go out to eat and visit for awhile before he continued on, either to 
our house, or into Iowa to visit relatives there, or he'd head south to 
Wichita Kansas where he was retired.  So it could have been Uncle Fred 
calling me because he did that often, too.  Taking the phone from the 
secretary, I heard my mom's voice say, "Philip, your ham radio license came 
in the mail today."  "It did!" I nearly yelled.  "what's the call letters?" 
I made her repeat them a half a dozen times, then I repeated it several 
times myself back to her into the phone, and then even repeated them again 
letter by letter to be 100 percent certain I had it right.  Hanging up the 
phone, I spun and headed out the open office door; pointed directly down the

hall where the ham shack was about 150 feet away.  The principle, or who we 
called the school superintendent, had just walked into the secretary's area 
from his private office and he said, "So you got your license today, Phil?" 
I turned my head almost 180 degrees around but kept walking as fast as I 
could go down the hall, and said, "I sure did."  He said congratulations, or

something I can't recall now, because I was gone.  After my contact was 
over, it was 5 o'clock and time for everyone to go to the dorm to get ready 
for supper.  As I was walking upstairs with other friends working on getting

their ham tickets, one of the student council members heard me and said, 
"Hey, Scovell.  You never showed up for the student council meeting today." 
He knew where I had gone because the superintendent had told them I wouldn't

be at the student council meeting that afternoon because I had gotten my ham

ticket and was down in the ham shack so they'd be conducting the meeting 
without me.  I always appreciated him for allowing me to do what I did 
because my mind had totally blanked out except for one thing.  CQ.

Phil.
K0NX