Boring Hams Talking About The Weather

[nwoods]

Reminds me of being out in the middle of the Mojave desert and talking to a guy in a private jet at some ungodly altitude I don't remember any longer. He was moving so fast, we didn't get to talk for long but it was nice to do so!

I remember that! That was pretty cool.

My very first day with my HAM 2M set up was immediately after I finished installing it. I just sat in the driveway fiddling around. Despite passing the test, I still had no clue what I was doing, but I stumbled upon a freq that was from JPL, rebroadcasting the comms between them and some astronaughts on a space walk from the Shuttle. Coolest. Thing. Ever.

I think the first response in this thread was one of the most cogent, rational, and well contrived discriptions on why the license policy works, what it preserves, why it preserves it, and the value and merits of the program. Those comments should preface ever HAM study guide ever published!

 

[Hilldweller]

I'll step into this...

Where to start?

It's funny to me that we would spend hours fretting and stewing over the most mundane mods for our vehicles making sure things are just right. When it comes to Comms a lot of folks don't want to spend 10 minutes to take the very easy test and two hours ahead to study for it. Priorities I guess. My 7 Year old nephew can pass this test. I dont think its a barrier to entry to the use of a very powerful system. There are lots of activities that society attaches a "license" to for various reasons.

I think there are legit technical reasons as well as social reasons why we see new ham users in the off road community. Simple HAM equipment is far more powerful (not talking watts here though that my play in certain discussions) than our old friend CB Radio and FRS. The clarity and performance are far an above those other options.

From a social perspective I require HAM radio on all my trips. You dont have 2m? You dont go. I've lost count but I'm personally responsible for 25 or so new licensed HAMs. Why do i make trip participants do this? Is it because I want to them to be in my special club? No. It's a safety tool. Plain and simple. Perhaps I shame some of the lazier folks into doing this license thing but they have all thanked me after.

At the onset of this thread there was a tone of us and them. The old guys trying to keep the new guys out. Thats BS. The old guys want to preserve the memorialized and codified protocols that have kept the system useable and relevant. As a new guy if you use the correct protocols for communication the old guys are welcoming. Yeah there are lots of how's the weather in [insert location] conversations but thats a function of mostly uninteresting people just practicing the radio skills.

Theres no need to dumb down the process (study/test) or having a set of free use frequencies (FRS solves that). Just get off your *** and do the Tech test. Simple.

The baofeng radios have made the financial barrier zero so why not? BTW I used to recommend the Baofeng UV5R as a starter (for the very reason just mentioned) but I dont any more. I've had three bad ones in a row.

Nicely put.


I used to sell motorcycles. And I wouldn't let anybody ride off on their new bike without a MC license.

 

[DaveInDenver]

My very first day with my HAM 2M set up was immediately after I finished installing it. I just sat in the driveway fiddling around. Despite passing the test, I still had no clue what I was doing, but I stumbled upon a freq that was from JPL, rebroadcasting the comms between them and some astronaughts on a space walk from the Shuttle. Coolest. Thing. Ever.

A couple of years ago I got a QSL card from a satellite upon which I worked (where I worked built the JUNO bus power supplies). JPL needed to calibrate the WAVES instrument that is tasked with characterizing Jupiter's magnetosphere. They asked hams to transmit a slow CW signal on multiple bands during it's first Earth flyby. They asked you to submit what band and time you transmitted the message and they confirmed with a QSL card if they heard a CW 'HI' that matched. They couldn't say it was absolutely yours because they didn't want call signs, but they heard 1400 different signals across the spectrum from 80m up to 6m during event.

Videos explaining what they were doing.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/details.php?id=1263
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/details.php?id=1262

 

[DaveInDenver]

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html

A cool view of the Earth and Moon during the flyby.

 

[1911]

A couple of years ago I got a QSL card from a satellite upon which I worked (where I worked built the JUNO bus power supplies). JPL needed to calibrate the WAVES instrument that is tasked with characterizing Jupiter's magnetosphere. They asked hams to transmit a slow CW signal on multiple bands during it's first Earth flyby. They asked you to submit what band and time you transmitted the message and they confirmed with a QSL card if they heard a CW 'HI' that matched. They couldn't say it was absolutely yours because they didn't want call signs, but they heard 1400 different signals across the spectrum from 80m up to 6m during event.

That is pretty cool Dave!

 

[brentbba]

Very cool but what was the weather like at the time...?

Pretty cold in outer space I'd imagine!

 

[4x4junkie]

Just my two cents as a relatively new Baofeng owner:

I'm about to turn 50, so I'm either already in the "crusty old geezer" category or soon to fall into it, yet I have yet to get my Tech license. I've registered at QRZ.com and have handily passed multiple practice tests, yet I still haven't done the deed. Why?

Procrastination is the most likely answer, but the bigger reason is that I sympathize to a certain degree with the banned OP of the recently closed thread. The ham/FCC community is not to my liking, and it has nothing to do with boring weather conversations. The only thing ARRL, Hams, and the FCC have to offer is 100% stick and 0% carrot. There are many alternatives to acquiring a ham license ranging from simply using a cell phone where available and the free to use CB/FRS possiblities. And the best reason most folks can come up with for doing the right thing is "because it's the law" and we'll ruin your life if you don't comply. It is axiomatically assumed that the added benefits of range and power are enough to compel new users to comply. Well, apparently not.

If all that ham licensing has to offer is a reduced threat of legal action, that probably won't cut it in the current regime of relatively lax enforcement as it is. And heaven help those that instinctively will respond calls for radically increased heavy handed enforcement - that was tried sporadically in '76 with the CB bands and failed miserably.

The Chinese have opened the door via low prices for many, many new radio operators. It is up to the radio community to figure out how to embrace them or run the very real risk of becoming extinct or at best irrelevant.

×3, Great post.
About 25 years ago I actually got as far as dabbling in it a bit myself. No doubt it did always feel like there might be someone in the shadows with overzealous intentions wanting to turn in reports simply because he thought I might've forgotten to ID after 10 minutes or didn't like my radio gear or something, it always felt like 'walking on eggshells' (making sure I don't ever cuss or say anything strictly forbidden, etc.). By far the biggest disappointment however was that I was made fun of because I still wanted to talk to all of my friends ("children") on CB. Disgusted with it all I finally threw in the towel and never used nor renewed it again.

To this day (between CB, MURS, and FRS) I've had no problem communicating effectively with friends and those in my wheeling groups. If someone has an issue (rare, it does happen), I'll offer to help fix whatever it is that might be ailing their radio, rather than call their CB a piece of junk and insist they throw it in the trash and get a ham (license)... (I carry an SWR meter in my rig just for this purpose).

If you don't like the attitudes or the behaviour of the people you're listening to, spin the VFO and listen to someone else.

Problem is, those attitudes and behavior seemed to run the gamut no matter where you spun your VFO. Judging from what I've been seeing here, it seems it hasn't really changed much (the post about having been called almost every name in the book when asking about a Galaxy radio was particularly striking).

You make a good point about Chinese radios but I'm not sure if I understand the rest of your reasoning. There's another argument for becoming a ham operator vs using a non-licensed frequency in the same band. The process of becoming a ham is an educational process. Ham's learn how radio communications work; from the theory of electromagnetic waves, to transceiver and antenna design, to operating procedures. After the process of buying a Beofeng, turning it on, and picking a frequency, one really isn't likely to get any benefit from the radio. Sure, you'll be able to communicate with a buddy who is able to dial in the same frequency. If one was familiar with the unlicensed MURS frequencies, maybe a group could use those frequencies. Perhaps in an emergency you'd be able to find a ham frequency to call a ham radio operator(which is, in fact, legal to do without a license). But the usability of radios increases as your knowledge increases. And that's actually what ham radio is all about. In your case you've studied for your tech license you've already gotten the theory, so I'm not singling you out. So I don't get why you wouldn't want to take the next step and get a license. And don't worry, there's no danger or hams becoming extinct. There's more licensed hams now than there ever have been.

There's nothing to prevent you learning all that stuff on your own... Infact, learning something on your own because you truly have interest in it generally leads to far more intimate knowledge of it than if you're "forced" to learn it to be granted privilege to use another part of the radio spectrum (at that point it just becomes a "hurdle" which if you've managed to clear it, it isn't of interest any longer).

From a social perspective I require HAM radio on all my trips. You dont have 2m? You dont go.

Which is perfectly fine with me. I don't think you & I would get along very well.

 

[RobRed]

Which is perfectly fine with me. I don't think you & I would get along very well.

Perhaps we wouldn't. I also require other safety equipment like a well running 4x4 and a good attitude.

 

[Robert Bills]

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I have equipped my rig with Ham, CB, and FRS/GMRS. I also carry my cellphone. Heck, in a pinch I could probably remember enough Morse Code to send an SOS by flashlight or makeshift semaphore flags. I really don't care which method is perceived by any particular subset of society as more desirable or more "worthy." The point is to be able to communicate when necessary. All of these methods have their time and place.

How about that weather? Nothing boring about it this weekend in my neck of the woods.

 

[4x4junkie]

Perhaps we wouldn't. I also require other safety equipment like a well running 4x4 and a good attitude.

Exactly.

You don't know a thing about how well my 4x4 runs, so the fact you've chosen to bring it into a completely unrelated discussion says a lot about your attitude.

 

[brentbba]

I to have both ham and CB in my truck. A very good friend is happy and comfortable with CB and I keep it for him. I've got no issue with either. Some 'less organized' groups CB's are still prevalent and that's fine.

 

[k9lestat]

Can I get a weather report?;-)

Sent from my QMV7A using Tapatalk

 

[Robert Bills]

Can I get a weather report?;-)

Gentlemen, with that I am bowing out of this thread. It has strayed from the initial topic and has become non productive.

 

[k9lestat]

I love George Carlin.

Sent from my QMV7A using Tapatalk

 

[brentbba]

Superb way to end - George Carlin!