Tuned in Boy

Amateur Radio aka Ham Radio is something that has been around my life for a long time not least for my personal interest in receiving overseas broadcast on the Short Waves on various radios I had in my boyhood most of which also were capable of receiving Ham transmissions be they speech or morse code.
The Hobby of Ham Radio is really about communicating with others, learning and discovering more around radio and learning to understand and repair ones equipment as one big difference is the Ham Operator can build his or her own equipment and is expected to able to deal with anything such as interference from it to tv or audio equipment.
From around the age of ten I had a receiver built during the Second World War as part of matching set with it's transmitter used in England in the Spitfire airplanes to defeat Nazi Germany which I used with a long length of wire and a device called an antenna tuner to get the best signals on any group of radio frequencies to pull stations from Australia, Africa and the Americas.
I often listened to Ham operators from mainland Europe and conditions permitting  Asia or the States who would seek out "DX" - that's ham slang for long distance - stations for  contest where you had to get so many in fixed period on certain Ham frequency groups (bands) and would enter those I heard on a paper based log.
I had a small shortwave receiver and long antenna at school in my teens -the antenna being a source of arguments between school grounds staff and I at times  that I'd listen to certain stations like Swiss Radio Internationals Short Wave Jukebox or stations that talked about international developments and other cultures during the "Cold War".
My Dad got licensed by the time I was just sixteen so inherited some of his newer radio receiving kit by which point had gained digital displays for more accurate tuning and a 2 Meter Ham radio for the band used for local chats people at the club he belong to and to which I had been inducted in as that teen boy surrounded by men, used.
While I didn't get a license myself I did use under supervision the kit to talk 'on air' to other stations while attending club activities as "Junior Operator" and went to many meets called Ham Radio Rallies in my t shirts and shorts.
It was something I enjoyed as a boy.