Greetings!

Started by Gambrinus, September 16, 2012, 05:10:44 PM

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Gambrinus

Hi all, I?m new to ham and was actually looking through a couple of other forums but decided not to join. A lot of the posters didn?t seem to care for people invading their life long hobby unless they joined for the same reasons and took the same test, I don?t need the drama.

There are some good people there but I don?t need to forge a path when I?m not really wanted.  Then they complain because they are all getting older and there is no new blood coming in, go figure.

I?m getting into ham because I?ve always wanted to and never did. I wanted ham as both a hobby but first for emergency communications.  In today?s world of communications, there really isn?t much need for ham other than emcomm anyway.  That seems to be a bad reason for a lot of folks on ham forums.  It seems your not a real ham unless you spend a few hours a day talking about politics or your last prostate exam on the air.

I hope this forum works because there does seem to be a need for it.

gil

Quoteunless you spend a few hours a day talking about politics or your last prostate exam on the air

LOL, you're right, there is a lot of that going on. That's why I don't plan on hanging around VHF much. Welcome aboard  :)
There are many different kinds of people in Ham radio. You can select who you want to talk to. For me, it is all about forming friendships with people having similar interests, not only in Ham radio.

Quotethere really isn?t much need for ham other than emcomm anyway

Right now this is true; until... <fill in the blank>. Modern communications rely heavily on infrastructures that are easily disturbed. Those infrastructures might not be there next year, or even tomorrow. Only radio would be left. Not to mention that they are not found everywhere. Try your cell phone in the middle of Idaho and see what happens... Go sailing a few hundred miles from shore.. Same thing.. Radio will always have a place.

I have been listening for months, maybe a year, I can't remember. Most of the stuff I hear on VHF is boooorrriing.. People keying on each others, bickering, arguments and bad language. HF is much better, most of the time. CW on HF is even more interesting. I guess when you have spent weeks or months learning the code, you don't want to waste your efforts in frivolities..

There is also a lot of ego in Ham radio. A lot of people seem to feel special about being a Ham radio operator. Nothing wrong with being proud of it mind you, I am. However, when it's been thrown at your face, it isn't so pleasant. The good thing is, you can turn the dial really fast  ;)

Gil.

WA4STO

Ya know, I've noticed something interesting over the years.

I started out with Morse Code.  Never (ever!) met anyone that was boring; never bumped into anyone who had a serious axe to grind, political or otherwise.

Then one day, I went to work for an organization that was somewhat involved with the enforcement of amateur radio rules.  That lasted about five minutes before I discovered that the real jerks out there in radio land always seemed to have a microphone in front of them.  One of them sued me.

Along about that time, I quit the voice modes, pretty much.  Stuck with amtor, CW, RTTY and eventually the whole mish-mash of new digital modes.  Without exception, all the modes (except you-know-what) were chock full of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.

To this day, I'm loathe to go looking for a microphone.  I know it's around the shack, somewhere.  Has to be.  Funny thing, though, I know exactly where my CW paddles are, and my Signalink interface is right smack in front of me.