Enjoying HAM but…

[American_Infidel]

Unless you're on the space shuttle. They have a specific exemption for broadcasting.

Or W1AW...or K1MAN (since the FCC refuses to do anything about him).

[nacho]

Out in LA we have a really diverse HAM community, as far as FM, the old folks hang out on VHF, and all the younger generations operate on UHF. We have several repeaters that carry traffic in the overnight hours with 10 person rag chews that tend to be a lot more relaxed then the standard day time traffic. We also have the infamous .435 machine too.

I first got my license because ham radio is the only way to reliably communicate to the outside world from the national forest above LA. I will admit when I first got my radio I rarely talked on it except to one other ham I knew, but within a year I had about half a dozen friends get their licenses and we started hanging out on several of the less used machines. Today I have had about 20 friends get their licenses, meaning 20 people I knew before they were licensed, and have made a few real friends through ham radio.

Also here in CA it is illegal to talk on cells when you drive, but ham radio is cool. So it's nice to talk with a bunch of your buds on your way too and from work.

[ZombieGranny]

How much 'hanging out' can you do, if you're restricted to three minute messages as CitizenZ mentioned?

Is that not the norm everywhere?

[NYKh]

That’s 3min continuous. Most repeaters will cut of your transmission if it is constant for that length of time.
In theory you can key up again and continue talking. Running at the mouth for 3min straight, keeps other traffic from joining in. and could impede the ability of emergency traffic.

If your running at the mouth for 3min with out giving someone else a chance to brake in, you should just be on the phone. Or on HF talking about your liver spots….

[kyle]

Call me crazy, but I dont really enjoy talking to strangers who know my name and address.

Then they aren't strangers anymore! Plus you know where they live to.

Ollie and I are planning to get a P.O. Box to tie our call sign to.

[kyle]

I’ve had my tech ticket for a little over a month. Having a great time learning the in’s and out’s, experimenting with building antennas, and presently surprised with the distance I’m able to get with my set up. Definitely some good skills that might come in handy.

But I have to honestly say, aside from picking up a lot of pointers from folks I talk with, the overall conversations are kind of dull. I know a lot more about the dietary habits and physical ailments of total strangers then I’m actually interested in.

I think I’ve found yet another hobby that I’m the youngest in the crowd.

I completely understand. I was completely turned off from the ham radio community a several years ago when there wasn't a lot of local hams in ZS and I didn't really know what the hell I was doing. The few local club meetings I went to didn't really get my pumped to get involved either.

However, just like the Internet, there are lots other ham radio activities other than "chatting". There are contests (LOTS of contests), field days (taking your shit outside and setting it up in the park/woods), emergencies nets (ARES, RACES, EMCOM, EMCOMM), etc.

I've been doing a lot of packet stuff lately on both 2-meter and 40-meter. Right now I'm mostly I'm playing with PSK-31 and CW (via computer not by hand)

Although, the really fun stuff doesn't happen on the VHF/UHF bands unless there is a big community of active hams in your area. There is a lot of activity in St. Louis, luckily. Just last weekend there was a ham radio special event at a park near my house. Listening in on that was entertaining.

I see very few HF kits and very many $3000 HF monster rigs. Based on that, I'd say that the industry and hobby has moved away from DIY radois and has moved to consumer products based around integrated circuits and sophisticated functionality.

I was thinking the complete opposite. There are a bazillion radio kits out there in the last few years. HRO focuses on commercial stuff. Check out QST. They have kits in there all the time.

The DIY community is going crazy lately in general and a younger generation is starting to get interested in the hobby. I assume the dropping of CW helped that or maybe because ARRL.com finally got updated and useful. Maybe we should update the ZS website.

Quick google search:
http://www.ac6v.com/kits.htm
http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/67
http://www.kitsusa.net/phpstore/html/Ra ... s-2-1.html
http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/hk/default.asp?page=tr
http://www.smallwonderlabs.com/


I completely understand your non-interested in the hardware building aspect of ham radio though. I'd much rather have the radio just work, myself. Although, I've learned a ton from a few kits I've been playing with lately with Ollie.

The most important part of radio to me, ultimately, is knowing how to get a rig and antenna up and working on the fly in the middle of no where during an emergency. Or.. knowing how to walk up to an existing radio rig and know how to work it and/or debug it to get emergency communication up. I think experimenting and contests (as RPC mentioned above ) is an important part of the skill building - not necessarily experimenting with the electronics but practicing how to operate them.

[nacho]

That’s 3min continuous. Most repeaters will cut of your transmission if it is constant for that length of time.
In theory you can key up again and continue talking. Running at the mouth for 3min straight, keeps other traffic from joining in. and could impede the ability of emergency traffic.

If your running at the mouth for 3min with out giving someone else a chance to brake in, you should just be on the phone. Or on HF talking about your liver spots….

Yeah, I think you are supposed to keep transmissions to 10 second intervals, but many times people go for 30+ seconds.

[Medic77]

I have always been intrigued by radio communication and am a fairly new HAM operator (since 2009). Ever since getting my license I too have been disappointed with the general, everyday talk that occurs on the HAM bands. The conversations are the same mindless, dull, and generic forms one could imagine. I don't even announce my call because rarely is there anybody I would want to have a conversation with... mainly because everyone seems to be 70 years old and older and I have nothing in common with them. I am in my early 30's, listen to alternative/metal/screamo, into tattoos and piercings, etc, etc... so yeah, it's hard to find others of a similar demographic to converse with.

However, I still have an interest in the Amateur Radio community and think HAM radio has awesome capabilities when crap really starts to happen. I do listen more in the Winter months during large snow falls and Winter storms when Skywarn Nets are set-up.

I have been pretty impressed with the mission and fantasy element of the Zombie Squad. I think the whole "Zombie" front to the very important arena of emergency preparedness is exactly what is needed to spark interest in the younger generations and garner their participation. Young people do not want to attend HAM club meetings and participate in events with members that look more like nursing home residents out on a Sunday excursion.

[nateted4]

I know what you're talking about, but I think the median age is creeping down. Or I'm getting older. Whatevs.

[TacAir]

I have always been intrigued by radio communication and am a fairly new HAM operator (since 2009). Ever since getting my license I too have been disappointed with the general, everyday talk that occurs on the HAM bands. The conversations are the same mindless, dull, and generic forms one could imagine. I don't even announce my call because rarely is there anybody I would want to have a conversation with... mainly because everyone seems to be 70 years old and older and I have nothing in common with them. I am in my early 30's, listen to alternative/metal/screamo, into tattoos and piercings, etc, etc... so yeah, it's hard to find others of a similar demographic to converse with.

However, I still have an interest in the Amateur Radio community and think HAM radio has awesome capabilities when crap really starts to happen. I do listen more in the Winter months during large snow falls and Winter storms when Skywarn Nets are set-up.

I have been pretty impressed with the mission and fantasy element of the Zombie Squad. I think the whole "Zombie" front to the very important arena of emergency preparedness is exactly what is needed to spark interest in the younger generations and garner their participation. Young people do not want to attend HAM club meetings and participate in events with members that look more like nursing home residents out on a Sunday excursion.

Still a lot of fun to be had on the ham bands - esp HF. KD1JV (Melt solder) Weber has some awesome kits and check it out.

Survial kit in an Altoids tin, how about a ham station in that tin??? Small Wonder Labs have a Rock Mite - a thing to behold as a 'kit' - for CW or PSK-31.. Photos of the tin-can station HERE THere is an entire industry for this DIY rig. And very cool.

**HF Pack**, a good mix --I used to hump a PRC-47 (ya, I AM that old) and a PRC-104 - and as a ham, got to run some QSOs on the down time. I even worked Bonnie Crystal KQ6XA - felt like I had talked with a rock star - as a former 'caver' we had quite the chat.

Like old military gear? Nets for that. Got reprodcution spy gear, they have nets for that. So get out that old AN/GRC-109, hook up the GN8 and get cranking!

There are a lot of Old Farts (OF) on the bands - I'm getting there myself, but there is still a lot fun left in the hobby.

And ya, my ticket goes to a PO Box.

[American_Infidel]

You can also check into the APRN preppers net, 3.818 LSB, Sundays at 9 p.m. EST.

I mostly do PSK now on HF and while chatting a fellow up, I'll mention that I am cleaning/looking/building xyz gun or drop some other subtle hint about my interests. More often than not, the other guy opens up and I find we have similar interests.

[Noven]

Being in my 20's, I agree that it can be hard to have a conversation with people in their 60's+. I even went to a local club meeting to realize that I am the youngest by at least 30 years. I still do the occasional conversation with the old farts though, since they know their radio stuff and once and a while yo can have a good chat with them about life in general... like kids and whatnot.

[buxyrk]

Being in my 20's, I agree that it can be hard to have a conversation with people in their 60's+. I even went to a local club meeting to realize that I am the youngest by at least 30 years. I still do the occasional conversation with the old farts though, since they know their radio stuff and once and a while yo can have a good chat with them about life in general... like kids and whatnot.

ditto, plus im not really that talkative of a person myself, but I got all this gear and almost never use it which bothers me, if anyone here wants to try to make contact on hf, let me know. I think I've used my equipment all of about twice in the past year, except field day.

[Medic77]

I bought a Yaesu VX-170 HT for my first radio which I rarely ever use. I got it out of the drawer today just to mess with it and listen to one of the local repeaters for a bit. The other radio I own is an Icom IC-2200h mobile. Both are 2meter single band radios.

They didn't cost all that much and I have a little peace of mind knowing that I am able to communicate when all else fails. But yeah, sucks to have the radio gear and not use it.

[mattltm]

I am in my early 30's, like to prep, talk geek, have an interest in anything ZS related and like to blow s**t up!

Very active on psk31, usually 40 & 80M . I am more than happy to try for transatlantic HF contacts on psk31 and get involved in a good rag chew if the conditions are right.

The problem seems to be that there are a fair few of us who would use our radios more if we could find the fight contacts. How about setting up a VHF net via echo link repeaters? Don't know if it would work but may be worth looking into?

[Noven]

That could be cool =)

[buxyrk]

id be up for it, ideally id like to not rely on the internet and just use hf, but we got to start somewhere.
Does anybody know of a repeater that wouldn't mind a bunch of guys from the internet talking about zombies borrowing it for a little while?

[Noven]

Echolink is awesome. I am not really setup for HF, and when I will be, I will only be allowed on the tech portion of the 10m band.

[Mojave]

You know, until I found this thread, I seriously thought I was just a cranky old curmudgeon. I first got into the amateur radio thing because a family member was doing it - I popped on the interwebs and did some research, and thought I'd found heaven. I love dabbling in electronics, and messing around with buttons and switches and pretending I'm controlling the Batmobile or something. I dug the idea of finally having an excuse to stop putting off learning morse code (like I've been telling myself I'll do since roughly second grade.) And of course, the chance for me and my friends to pretend we're being intellectuals when what we're really doing is hiding the fact that we're 30ish and still like to play with absolutely anything that could possibly be called a gadget. (note to self: Get some friends.)

Yeah, well, turns out I didn't even bother to get my license. By the time I'd gone halfway through the local classes, listening to the constant inane crap coming out of the handheld unit our instructor apparently couldn't tear himself away from for the entire hour or so a week that he was supposed to be giving classes just drained me of my will to live. Add to that a couple of licensed hams in the class who were there as "moral support" for glassy-eyed family members who had to top EVERY freaking story the instructor went off onto a tangent about.... ugh.

To be fair though, I'm sure they'd all hate listening to us talk about zombies and the apocalypse. Heck, let's be honest - how many of us would even read this board if we couldn't ignore half the topics? And I guess that brings me to the point of all this: Can anyone think of anything that's actually worth talking about to random people on a daily basis? Because as much fun as radio sounds like it is - I just can't think of anything materially better to do with the airways than talk about bunions and callouses, either.

I still like the idea of amateur radio, and I'll probably go get my license after the holidays, if only to say I've done it - but I have the sneaking suspicion that it's just going to be one more got-it-and-forgot-it in my collection. It can keep my scuba certificate company during long long years of disuse.

[mattltm]

My primary interest was in emergency communications which is the main reason I done my licence. I have since got into doing lots of SOTA and portable working, every antenna I own is home brewed and I have now started making my own TX/RX equipment.

During the last 2 months, via ham I have:

* met a mountain leader instructor who is currently putting me through my mountain leader course and provides me updates and tuition on 2M
* regularly chat with hams I have never met about antenna theory and construction projects
* had a 2 hour PSK contact with an operator that lives in Spain about the state of the global economy, the area that I want to live someday and now have a regular QSO with him where we only use Spanish to try and improve my vocabulary
* got advice on treating redmite on chickens from a French chicken farmer

Without trying to sound too harsh, yes ham is full of old folk talking about their health but remember that those old folk also have a wealth of knowledge about radio and may have other interests. The problem that I hear day in, day out is that most operators won't challenge what is said. I have found that if you raise an interesting topic, 60% of the time it will get taken up and others will have an input.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the hobby is what you make it. Ham is not a spectator sport. You can sit listening to how the latest round of piles treatment is going or you could re-tune you radio, call CQ and lead the contact to a topic that interests you. Get bored with the topic? Great! Change the topic or find a new contact. Easy huh?

[JeffTx]

My interest varies from day to day. I got my Tech back in the spring. I am in the process of joining the county EMROG but that is going kind of slow. Locally there are a couple of clubs that I might chase down and look seriously at. What I really enjoy is during hurricane season listening to some of the local weather nets. One of the guys is tied in with the local weather radar and gives incredibly accurate (you have eight minutes to get home or you are going to get wet!) real time reports.

I used to work in emergency services so I know the value of comms. I have first hand experience with what happens when cell phones and land line dont work. I also have family with medical issues. I have GMRS stuff for the family, ham gear I can contact the county EOC on if needed, and when I am out on the water I have a vhf marine band portable. I don't ever want to find myself in a position where I cant get a message out if I need to.

[Cromwell]

I got my ticket specifically for the emergency communications aspect as well. The only time I get on the radio is for a survival/preparedness net, or a pre-arranged QSO, usually with someone from the forums. It's difficult to me to imagine a scenario where I would wish to speak with a random radio operator. My energies have been much more toward achieving skills and equipment levels to let me talk to relatives and friends/acquaintances when I want to do so.

There is value in just getting on the air, though. There's a lot more to radio than plugging it in and keying the microphone. Every time I get on the air, it seems like I learn a new tip, or discover some kernel of information about running my station that helps me do it better.

Cromwell

[Shok]

Check out 3950.net they have lively discussions on 75m.

Shok

[MrCoffee]

For us, really, HAM is about having comms when SHTF. It may be the *only* way we will get reliable information about what is going on in other parts of the country. For example if I'm being told by local officals "just evacuate to here and its all good" but on the radio I am hearing this same message is being said to every single american city then I know we are looking at a potential INCH scenario and I can bug out accordingly.

Ok, well I tend not to agree with this first statement, not because I think that HAM radio isn't a good resource in a SHTF scenario, but like most things, the weak link is the contacts at the other end. People seem to think that because HAM operators are "trained", that you won't get folks sending completely incorrect or inaccurate information. Sadly this isn't the case.

During 9/11 there were reports of a third plane hitting the Empire State Building, subway attacks and a number of other reports which turned out to be completely false and incorrect going out over the airwaves. People over at eHam.net and QRZ.com tend to get all huffy about the subject, but the truth of the matter is that the information you are getting is only as reliable as the person you are talking too.

Back to the subject, I am a member of my local ARES and CERT, but otherwise, I use my HAM gear very little. Most of the folks I know that I would want to contact in a SHTF scenario do not have their ticket, nor the interest. So I mostly use the information from my local nets. Also handy to take an HT when I go out to the woods, and hit the local repeaters if there is a problem.

I hope you find some folks you do want to converse with, and if not, then you might think about starting your own net.

Cheers!