Just a schmuck with a handheld

[Golay]

I'm getting a tad perturbed about something I'm seeing a little more in our club.

An influx of affluent members buying the latest and greatest vs. members with just a handheld.

New members carrying the most expensive D-Star or Fusion handheld looking down on members with just a Beofeng.
Members with the most expensive base station looking down on members who are running a used rig.
Members putting up a 40 meter Force 12 atop a free standing 80' tower looking down on the members that just got a Junior in the back yard, or heaven forbid a dipole strung up in the attic.

The member with the Beofeng is the one coming out for Field Day setup.
The member with the used rig is the one volunteering for club events.
The member with the dipole is showing up to work VE sessions.

Amateurs shouldn't be trying to impress everyone else about all the stuff they have.
It's great they have a sailboat and an airplane and a Class A motor home and can afford all the latest ham radio toys money can buy.

But is their self-centered egotistical Brag-A-Thon alienating the workers in the club? Is it time to quit looking down on those with just a handheld?
If it wasn't for folks with nothing more than a handheld, out club would be half the size it is now.

Anyway just a little wah I wanted to throw out.

 

[ladn]

An influx of affluent members buying the latest and greatest vs. members with just a handheld.

I see the same thing, too, and in other areas besides ham radio. I've also noticed a lot of folks with the "latest and greatest" haven't a clue as to how to use their gear.

 

[mmckenna]

Baofengs have absolutely earned their scorn.

But, if it is all someone can afford, and it does the job, then good for them. It's a good starter radio.
-starter radio-

I don't like the attitudes that some seem to get, but as others have said, it happens in all hobbies.
Important thing to remember is it's not a competition. Having fun should be #1 priority. If you can have fun with a CCR, then good for them.

 

[trentbob]

I don't see that in my club, there is however a wide variance of equipment and assets from different members.

Personally I'm not a big fan of CCR. A Yaesu ft 65 made in Japan for a buck and a quarter is more my speed for a handheld.

Again nobody in my club rubs it in anyone's face or brags about summer homes at the shore or the mountains and swimming pools to maintain but people do talk about it. I'm happy for their success. Some of them are still working in their late sixties to maintain this, I'm retired.

The hobby is what you make of it and it consists of whatever you use in your personal realm of equipment. Lots of other clubs and folks out there to meet on the air. Don't let other people bother you too much, get out of it what you can.

 

[kinglou0]

I hear you and living in an area with a high concentration of former tech workers, government employees, and military members, I see this all the time. A lifetime of working in fields where one can retire at a young age along with double dipping at another job leading to buckets of disposable income.

Don’t let it bother you. Experiences and friendships are worth more than shiny belongings.

I do see the opposite in Ham Radio happening as well. I got bitten by the commercial bug a few years ago and the amount of people who will spend hours trying to convince me that I’m wasting my money is annoying long.

Chinese, Homebrew, and surplus gear all have a place and it is wonderful that people are using this stuff to get on the air.

 

[drdispatch]

It's not just about money, either. There's often a "spousal factor" at play as well: "What do you mean it's only a 40-foot tower?" "You want another radio??????" "That thing costs how much????" That's an extreme example, but there's more than one reason I don't have a shack that looks like the control room of VOA. (In fact, I really don't have a shack to speak of. But I'm content with just my handheld. It might not be the latest & greatest, and it's no CCR, but I'll get 20+ years out of it.)

 

[MTS2000des]

The hobby is what you make of it and it consists of whatever you use in your personal realm of equipment. Lots of other clubs and folks out there to meet on the air. Don't let other people bother you too much, get out of it what you can.

It's also about the skill of the operator. Technical proficiency is becoming a lost art.

Just because someone can drop coin on a roomful of high end gear doesn't mean anything. We all know zero to extras who drop 10 grand at HRO and can't even program a simple analog repeater into their radio, or diagnose an antenna/feedline problem.

 

[drdispatch]

It's also about the skill of the operator. Technical proficiency is becoming a lost art.

Just because someone can drop coin on a roomful of high end gear doesn't mean anything. We all know zero to extras who drop 10 grand at HRO and can't even program a simple analog repeater into their radio, or diagnose an antenna/feedline problem.

THIS. 👆👆👆

 

[W9WSS]

I haven't seen any of this behavior in the five clubs I belong to. No one looks down on any new or old ham who uses a BAOFENG (not Beofeng), pronounced BOW-Feng. Everyone in our clubs is helping others out, as a matter of fact, one Club has designated "Elmers" who help newer hams out tremendously. Don't let ANYONE look down on you for the equipment you own and operate. Ignore the naysayers and ones who think they are better than you are, just because of the radio you own and operate. There are philosophical issues about those kinds of people, but ignore them and enjoy Ham Radio.

 

[GlobalNorth]

There is intolerance throughout the hobby. Go to a club meeting and you'll see members ignoring prospective new members, long time DX contesters looking down on the guy who runs VHF/UHF because his spouse demands to live in a HOA controlled community, the guy who has a considerable crop of ear hair who looks down on someone who got their General a couple of years ago, sans 13 WPM, and "isn't a real Ham", the owners/users of now antique gear that look askance at the guy who bought a Flex radio system because it lacks 'vacuum valves'.

No one and I mean no one person in this hobby knows everything. Maxim may have founded ARRL, but does he know sat ops? Nope. I know a few guys that know computer operations in radio very well, but aren't conversant with a Hammarlund 170A. I wanted to be a Ham at age 12, but I was a child of the working poor. It simply took a heck of a lot longer for me than many. It's a hobby, not a delineator of societal class, intelligence, economic status, etc. We are all in the hobby because we want to be.

 

[GlobalNorth]

Please bother to learn what the anglicized term "smuck" and the original Yiddish phrase 'schmuck' means. It is a very odious and derogatory term and one shouldn't bandy it about in polite conversation.

 

[W9WSS]

I was going to say something (about a certain word), but couldn't have said it as eloquently as you, Global North. There is a local Ham club that literally ignores visitors seeking to be new members. Whereas other Clubs welcome newcomers and visitors with open arms. There shouldn't be cliques or super secret handshake requirements, but as in any organization, it does happen. I've been in police groups, railroad enthusiast clubs, airplane watchers clubs, and even some municipal organizations have these people who bandy about extolling the virtues of their supposed intelligence. I do not wish to be part of those groups. But it's human nature, and unfortunately, it happens.

 

[Lauri-CoyoteFrostbite]

.




'Lauri's Coven..... ahhh, "Radio Club"

"Come on in, Deary's !.... " (hee hee) "Everyone is welcome !"

("You are an 20wpm Extra, aren't you ?!")


.

 

[k7ng]

Stir us up a cauldron of sunspots, will you, Lauri?

 

[N4KVE]

That’s just the way it is. One of the clubs I used to belong to had meetings once a month on Friday nights. Many members owned motor homes, & on the night of the meeting, the parking lot looked like Camping World, even though most members drove less than three miles to attend. They were all trying to one up each other with their campers. As for the CCR’s, I’m guilty. At Dayton Hamvention a few years ago, I was checking in at the hotel. The guy next to me who was also checking in was giving the gal behind the desk a bunch of grief because there were no more handicapped spaces, so he couldn’t park close to the door. He looked as healthy as me, but I didn’t like the way he was berating the gal. So I looked at him, saw his CCR, & said it’s not her fault they ran out of handicapped spaces. Then I rudely said to him right in front of the gal “so you came to Dayton spending a ton of cash, & your radio is Baofeng. Get a real radio like this APX8000. Heck, my microphone is worth six times your radio“. It wasn’t my best moment, & I’m not proud, but it sure made the gal feel better.

 

[El_Kabong]

Regarding the OP

THIS is what comes to mind.

Enjoy the hobby. Sometimes less is more.

You will be just fine.

"Envy can also be seen as a projection of goodness into another person, so that one idealizes the other while devaluing oneself, and eventually hating the other. Envy is a painful emotion and is almost not in the awareness of the individual. It is also integral to being human, and hence it exists in every reasonably living functioning person."

Peace

 

[KD8DVR]

I don't see that in my club, there is however a wide variance of equipment and assets from different members.

Personally I'm not a big fan of CCR. A Yaesu ft 65 made in Japan for a buck and a quarter is more my speed for a handheld.

The FT-65 is made in China.

 

[Tobydog]

Always those in life who THINK they have to have the latest and greatest toy!! So long as what you have works and gets the job done, ignore them. They will get the message one day, "it ain't what you got, it's how you use it!"

 

[W8HDU]

I'm getting a tad perturbed about something I'm seeing a little more in our club.
An influx of affluent members buying the latest and greatest vs. members with just a handheld.
New members carrying the most expensive D-Star or Fusion handheld looking down on members with just a Beofeng.

What you describe is not that uncommon. A lot of clubs have died because of cliques and bullies playing the "my mode is better than your mode". Years ago it was, "you're not a real ham unless you only do CW." Then it was looking down, and making fun of anyone who touched a CB. Now it seems if you have GMRS or other comms you're considered a rebel and troublemaker.

You will find all sorts of damaged egos in the hobby, and the only way they can feel good about themselves is by buying something exotic or expensive and throwing it in other ham's faces.

Personally, I could care less what mode someone has, the cost of their rig(s) and antenna farm, etc. If you have achieved licensed status, and you are happy with what you have and what you're doing, all is good.

 

[trentbob]

The FT-65 is made in China.

It was but now it's made in japan. Check inside the battery cover it'll tell you which one it is.