That is a cool story for sure.   

-----Original Message-----
From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Phil Scovell
Sent: Monday, April 26, 2010 5:16 PM
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