How many here are already licensed?

[Sunflower]

Whoa!!!   Good ON ya, Gil!

Extra, Extra, read all about it; Gil's an extra!  :)

Congratulations.

[Sunflower]

No licence here. No plans to study for now - maybe down the road. Just getting aquainted with the Ham-speak, and other terminology at this time.

At this early stage of my learning, I am most excited about the learning Morse Code. Not sure if I will accomplish that, but that is what partly attracted me to radios/Ham.

Well things change. I am studying for the Technician License now.

[Gambrinus]

Nice job Gil !

I took one exam a month for three months (T,G,E) to get my Extra.  Now the learning begins.

[gil]

Thanks  :)

[White Tiger]

Whoa!!!   Good ON ya, Gil!

Extra, Extra, read all about it; Gil's an extra!  :)

Congratulations.

Way to go Gil!

My man Luck - humble as he is - has been "guiding" me along this path!

I am focusing on HF voice - and those digital modes are calling...specifically SSTV, digitizing voice, PSK31, Olivia...

Along with finding out what folks are doing regarding licensing - I would also be interested to know how everyone has - or is - setting up their "shack"?

[gil]

Personally, I don't want a shack.. I want to operate portable. Somehow I prefer the idea of going somewhere else to use a radio. A field trip of sort. I spend enough time inside as it is. Sitting at a chair for hours isn't very appealing to me. I'd rather go to the beach or the woods and find the best way to set-up a station there. I'm cheap, I don't want to spend thousands on a tower, antennas, amps and whatnot. I need the exercise anyway..

Gil.

[White Tiger]

Personally, I don't want a shack.. I want to operate portable. Somehow I prefer the idea of going somewhere else to use a radio. A field trip of sort. I spend enough time inside as it is. Sitting at a chair for hours isn't very appealing to me. I'd rather go to the beach or the woods and find the best way to set-up a station there. I'm cheap, I don't want to spend thousands on a tower, antennas, amps and whatnot. I need the exercise anyway..

Gil.

OK, that is very interesting Gil - I prefer a shack because I travel a lot for work...do you?

Maybe there is an inverse relationship to where we spend the bulk our time?

I do intend to have a mobile option, but I intend on using voice primarily, and I want to use HF radio to make local and DX contacts to find out what is REALLY going on in places we are (or perhaps, are NOT) hearing about - and I want the ability to plot and plan.

Depending on the nature of the "STUFF" hitting the fan - I currently only have a "bug in" plan - but ultimately I think I'd like to be in a better location if the nature of the "STUFF" looks to be long-term (and I think it will eventually deveolve into long-term), I want to be in place that has fresh water, a little land, near a small(ish) community.

For now, I'm investing in a shack - but my radio can go mobile...

[gil]

OK, that is very interesting Gil - I prefer a shack because I travel a lot for work...do you? Maybe there is an inverse relationship to where we spend the bulk our time?

That must be so.. Although I could travel, since I am a programmer and can work anywhere on my laptop, I usually don't. We;;, except for a bit cross-country trip last summer.. So, When I'm not working, I want to get out...

Gil.

[RadioRay]

Funny how the 'inverse' rule works:

I used to work in very highly complex military robotics research.  The work WAS fascinating and sometimes FUN.  However, when it came to my life away from work, on my little sailboat, I specifically did NOT want anything high-tech aboard.   None of the CRAP that you see in Sailing World with the chromed everything & paid bikini models on the cover. (Well, the girls aboard are fine, and no need for bikinis... ;)   This is for many reasons, not the least of which is survivability of 'simple tech' and frankly the opportunity to keep it simple while learning new skills. If I wanted complex high tech, I could go work some overtime.


Same-same in ham radio. I appreciate the ability for digital modes to make some aspects of HF communications convienent. HOWEVER, I truly enjoy the sheer efficiency of CW (Morse code) for long range communication. It is a joy to use skill, rather than money to solve a problem.  It's a joy for me to never have to re-boot my hand key or have an essential laptop prevent my transceiver from working...   It is a joy to have a conversation with someone in an elegant manner, using a home brewed, simple radio, with a wire tossed into a tree for an antenna while out camping.  I cannot remember ever having someone take the time to tap out an obscenity in Morse, though I hear it often in SSB voice. The ability to build a tiny transceiver into a pipe tobacco tin and tap code to a fellow camping almost 700 miles away using it on battery power is still simply amazing to me, even after doing it for forty years. I also know that it works - when all else fails.

If it's too much like work, why do it for fun?  If work was so great, they wouldn't have to PAY us to do it, now WOULD they?

:)   >>>This sermon is available on CD for a $30 offering...  <<<   :)

de RadioRay ..._ ._


Ps.  Simple like this :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvHfRJvjUN4&feature=colike

and this ...

http://youtu.be/hj9va9LMB78

[gil]

Though if "crystal controlled rigs belong in the bin," I'd have to throw away three of them! I haven't tried my Rock-Mites yet, but they are neat little radios. What I'd like now is a mono-band tiny radio with a VFO... I hope Dave Benson will bring back his SW20..

Gil.

[RadioRay]

Dave Benson designs some great rigs.  I have my old SW40+ from 1999, in a aluminum clam shell case that I got at a surplus store for under a buck.  I was leaving on a 9 days survival trip with Hoods Woods into the No Return Wilderness and built this in a day and a half...  Not my best work, but it's still working, all these years later.

I just landed some cash from selling my big rig, so plan to do more building and like you (Gil)  I am thinking of a small, mono-bander, likely with a EndFeds type antenna coupler for quick QSOs with a half wave wire in the air.

>Ray

Ps.  XTAL control makes it MUCH more difficult to make QSO's but entirely do-able with patience.  A VXO of even 10-20 KHz swing can change that entirely with not much change in parts count.

[gil]

I just landed some cash from selling my big rig, so plan to do more building and like you (Gil)  I am thinking of a small, mono-bander.

If you find a good one Ray, let me know.. Ten Tec maybe? The KX1 is tempting... I'm not sure I will keep my K2, though it is a great radio...

Gil.

[raybiker73]

I'm licensed, and hoping to take my Extra exam this fall.

[madball13]

Got my tech last November and my general in March.

I'm with you Gil, no shack, want to run portable. Although with winter setting in I have my 817 with a HF packer amp set up in "my room" with a simple multi band single wire dipole in the trees outside my window. When I go portable I have single band end feds and a buddipole.

[gil]

Congratulation on the tickets and welcome aboard  :)
I have the Buddistick, and it works great up to 30m.
The jury is still out on 40...


gil.