"My handle is"....

[KD8TZC]

Okay... so the other day I was on my mobile and put my call out and a station ID came back that I had never heard before... he went on to say his call sign and then ",..... and my handle is..."

I had never heard this (on HAM radio before) but do remember it from back in the '70's when my Dad's friend had a CB. Part of me wanted to say "I didn't realize I was on 11 meters, I better get my radio checked", but I didn't want to come off as a jerk (I do that easily enough though).

Just curious... do many of you hear people giving their "handle" on the HAM bands? All I have is a callsign and a name, and that's all I plan on using.

 

[autovon]

Sure, people say it on ham radio. It's not really that big of a deal.
I'm a fan of using plain english on the radio though.

 

[WX5JCH]

Most people use their first names and not a handle -here anyway.
Jim/WX5JCH


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rapidcharger]

Just relax.

When people say that in ham radio, they're talking about their name.

 

[profiledescent]

I was asked for my handle on a net recently. I replied "I don't have one, but my name is……" At the coffee get together 2 days later, more guys told me that was the funniest reply they had heard in a while. The net controller is a nice enough guy, but he even talks in jargon and Q codes at group meet ups.

 

[AK9R]

I'm a fan of using plain english on the radio though.

Same here. I prefer to talk like a "normal" person on the air. I have a name, not a handle. I have a home, not a QTH. I laugh out loud rather than saying "hi, hi".

The sad part is that these "ham-isms" perpetuate themselves. New guys hear the old guys doing it, so the new guys start doing it themselves.

Bottom line, though, is that you gotta roll with the crowd.

 

[KD8TZC]

Well, on was on a different side of town and on a different repeater, so maybe even 30 miles away people talk differently. I know on my side of town, I have never heard "my handle" before, so maybe I just circle with a different type of bird. I do hear the Q codes all the time, and some of them I'm not familiar with, but most of the usual ones I recognize, I just thought the "Handle" was more of a CB crowd thing (my Mother in laws handle was "Snow Flake") even though they mean their real name.

Oh well.. not going to let it bother me, just thought it was odd.

 

[robertmac]

You generally hear 'Handle" from people migrating from the crappy band and are self taught. Handles are for opening doors, not sounding dumb on ham radio.

 

[russellmaher]

I would let "handle" slide, but I'm drawing the line at "10-4, good buddy".

These terms, I think, are holdovers from the glory days of CB'ers.

Russell

 

[pjtnascar]

The "handle" on amateur radio is also known as your "personal." LOL. Hams that say "hi hi" use Q codes, etc. sound like douches, even if they don't realize it. Some of my other favorites include affirm instead of roger or 10-4 and destinated when they have arrived at their destination.

 

[elk2370bruce]

"Much ado about nothing" Not worth pages of comments
William (The Bard) Shakespere.

 

[WB4CS]

I used to have this link in my signature, but I believe I took it off.

An oldie but a goodie, and something all hams that operate on VHF/UHF should really read.

ENJOY! How to sound like a LID

 

[newsphotog]

Why not just say "name?" It's even one less syllable...

 

[pinballwiz86]

I've heard several hams ask me for my handle or my persona on VHF and HF. I just go ahead and give them my name and don't make a comment on it. They've been at radio a lot longer than I have. Who am I to say anything.

 

[KD8TZC]

I used to have this link in my signature, but I believe I took it off.

An oldie but a goodie, and something all hams that operate on VHF/UHF should really read.

ENJOY! How to sound like a LID

Some of those are great.... it's amazing how often you hear most of those too.... wow... Handles are for suitcases...

 

[russellmaher]

I used to have this link in my signature, but I believe I took it off.

An oldie but a goodie, and something all hams that operate on VHF/UHF should really read.

ENJOY! How to sound like a LID

Thanks for that link...it was funny and entertaining.

I enjoyed all those humorous links also.

Russell :lol:

 

[Lifesaver2000]

I believe that using the word "handle" to mean "name" was once more common, especially in the South. I recall hearing Jed Clampett on "The Beverly Hillbillies" use the term that way long before the CB craze of the '70's.

That said, I have no idea if those on the Ham bands are using it due to regional dialect or just as a holdover from CB as mentioned. When I was more active back in the 80's and 90's, I never heard the word "handle" being used at all on the bands.

 

[AgentCOPP1]

I don't know about you guys but when someone says or writes (on a digital mode besides CW) "hi-hi," it really rustles my jimmies. It's fine for CW but it's so pointless everywhere else. Why can't you just actually laugh or write "haha" like it's pronounced?

 

[AK9R]

Folks, let's keep this on-topic.

If you have something useful to contribute to the thread, post it.

 

[902]

I've got a whole family of hams and have two repeaters on the air (2m and 440). A couple of people (in several different regions we've lived in) have told us that we "don't sound like hams" on the radio. Our conversations are quick, brief, typically important stuff, rapid-fire back and forth, then done. Not idle chitchat. Some people have said that we "sound like stuff on the scanner." No surprise, because the Mrs. spent two decades dispatching and I'm a "ustabe." And, now the kids are non-traditional hams. They won't get on any of the "hi hi" repeaters. But (curiously), they've developed their own lingo that's nothing like ham radio. Like being "redballed at the light." I was driving home a few weeks ago and were listening to them talking on our family ham repeater (that's what I consider it, at least), and they sounded more like a stakeout team than anything else, except they gave their ham calls as IDs. LOL. Got to be proud of them for not saying "fine business" on the radio.