a fact," admitted
Larry, more seriously. "Just wait until I get strong again, and maybe I'll
take it up in earnest. I've seen enough of it to realize that there are
wonderful possibilities in it, anyway."

"Well, we'll be glad to initiate you any time you say the word," offered
Bob. "We don't know enough about it to keep us awake at night, but we can
probably explain a few things to you."

"Oh, I'll ask questions until you wish you'd never mentioned radio to me,"
laughed Larry. "If I do take it up, I'll have to start at the beginning."

"That's where most everybody starts," announced Jimmy. "You won't be a bit
worse off than we were, will he, fellows?"

"I should say not," answered Bob. "When we started, we hardly knew the
difference between an antenna and a ground wire. We had our own troubles
at first; and we're still having them, as far as that goes. There always
seems to be something new coming up that you have to work out."

"If I keep on getting good pay from the broadcasting station, I'll be able
to buy a set, anyway," said Larry. "What's the use of working so hard over
one, when you can buy them all made up? All you have to do is hook them up
to a small antenna, and you get your music right off the bat."

But the radio boys all scouted this idea.

"Of course you can buy one all made up," said Bob. "But there's not half
the fun in operating that kind of set as there is in one that you've made
yourself. And besides, you can get a lot better results when you've made
the thing yourself and understand just what's in it and how it works. If
you don't get good results some evening, you know where to look for the
trouble."

"It's like driving an automobile when you don't understand the mechanism,"
added Joe. "As long as everything goes all right you go sailing along, but
let something go wrong, and you're up a tree right away. You haven't any
idea of where to look for the trouble."

"All right, all right," laughed Larry. "Don't shoot, and I'll promise
never to mention it again."

"See that you keep it, then," said Bob, laughing. "But anybody who buys a
made-up set isn't entitled to be called a real radio fan; at least, we
don't think so."

"I suppose you're right," agreed Larry. "It must be half the fun of the
game when you do the job yourself. But remember that everybody can't build
elaborate sets the way you fellows do, even if they want to. They haven't
got the knack."

"I suppose that's so," conceded