My friend Denis, WA5TYJ, earned his HOM merit badge today.  I had a succession of young wranglers in the corral today and Denis kept them entertained for nearly two hours on 15 meters!

It was instructive to put some 6, 7, and 8 year olds on the air.  The 6 year-old had a really short attention span and wanted to diddle with the knobs on the TenTec–I deflected him to the PC where he amused himself by going to places that I had never dreamed you could get to on QRZ.COM.  The 7 year-old focused on the radio OK but couldn’t sustain a conversation with Denis.  The 8 year-old learned to operate the TX SW appropriately and had a nice QSO with Denis about New Mexico’s geography and wild animals, the cost of Denis’ radio equipment, who Denis talks to, what Denis likes to do, etc.

I was busy to the point of near distraction this morning, trying to pay attention to the radio operation (glad we found the lock-down instruction for the tuning knob!) and answering questions from various people who stopped by to chat.