K3WWP's Teens

When you are through reading this page, close this window to return to the Stories index - or - click here to go to my home page if you came here from elsewhere.

Report by Jason, N5NU

Hello...I'm Jason and I'm 14. In most ways I am your basically normal teenager in today's world. However, one thing that makes me different is that I am also an extra class radio operator who likes CW.

The fact that it makes me different and distinctive is just one of several reasons that I like CW. The boundaries of CW are limitless. CW isn't just something that everyone talks about and watches (like movies), and it isn't something that you can beat (like video games), it is something that you can really DO. Another reason is that it is exciting, and wherever CW operators are, there is knowledge and knowledgable people. My last reason, is that it makes you overall a better person.

CW makes people distinctive in many ways. One of the ways that it makes people distinctive is that it gives you access to many different awards. Very few people that are on the street have ever heard of the awards called DXCC, WAC, and WAS. If you ask around on CW, most everyone has heard of these. That is just one minute detail that makes CW operators distinctive. CW has a much greater weight in the world than something else such as movies or video games. Wouldn't you rather brag about "I'm a CW op.", than "I play video games", or "I watch movies".

If you were to just look upon CW, an innocent bystander wouldn't think CW is exciting at all. In reality, they hardly think it is more than noise coming out of a black box. They don't realize that this is another person that they are listening to. The pace in CW is in a way similar to that of video games, which is what makes video games so popular. The pace in CW can go from sleeping slow to a sweating chaotic pace. In a way, it practices self discipline.

Everyone thinks that you have to pass 5 death-hard tests and have years of practice before CW really gets to be exciting. Not at all. If there are low elementary grade kids passing the basic test, anyone else can do it. There are reports all the time out there about a first or second grader passing the tests. In reality, you don't have to pass but one test (5 WPM) and be a newcomer before CW gets to be fun and exciting. (Ever listen to SS / CQ WW on 15/10 meters during sunspot peaks?) Everyone knows the same basic material about the code and electronics, but there are people out there that are top-of-the line / top-notch in other categories. On CW, you can either choose to talk to the rocket-scientist, the astronaut, the carpenter, or the basic working guy with the 9 to 5 office job.

The walks of life of the people that you meet are absolutely infinite. You may talk to the guy that has Bill Gates type money one day, or the one that lives in a simple hut the next. One guy may be in a war-stricken country, one may be in space. One may program the NYSE for a living, one may catch fish. In CW you may be talking to the 95yr old veteran of the depression, or the new guy that is about to be sent to Iraq.

Many couples, romances, and that kind of thing have stemmed from radio because of the reason that it is something that both people have in common. CW is something that both people can do and are on the same level on. One match comes to mind right now. Two long lost friends met on CW, and decided to get married late in life. And why not? They had all the ingredients they needed for a good marriage. And they did...

But the thing that overall makes radio special is that you don't have to be the King of Jordan, or Bill Gates, or a Senator of the USA to be an operator. Whenever YOU become a CW operator, you are on the same foundation as the others. You have the same rights that everyone else does on CW. Everyone is on a level playing-field and differences are only remembered in a positive way. That is what makes CW really special.

Report written in 1997 when Jason was 14.

When you are through reading this page, close this window to return to the Stories index - or - click here to go to my home page if you came here from elsewhere.