Even though I upgraded to Extra long ago, I never considered replacing my FCC-given call sign with a vanity call sign. It is a call sign that people remember and “Lou” has become my second first name; the split between the number of hams that call me “Lou” and the number of the hams that call me “Stan” is about 50:50. And so it goes.

My favorite Novice story was the time I tried to build a circuit described in QST that used a trimmer capacitor that was modified in some way (I can't remember how). The parts list in QST listed that part as a "modified trimmer capacitor," so being a green Novice, I went to the local radio parts store and asked the clerk for a "modified trimmer capacitor."

"Never heard of that," he replied.