Just a schmuck with a handheld

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alcahuete

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They will get the message one day, "it ain't what you got, it's how you use it!"

Trust me...the only people who think that are guys who "ain't got it." ;)

In any event, sounds like it's time for a new club. I don't know a single ham who didn't get started with a handheld. Why you would alienate those folks is beyond me.
 

k6cpo

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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.

It's exactly the same radio, whether it's made in China or Japan. Being made in China doesn't automatically make it a Baofeng. The Chinese are perfectly able to produce a quality product when the occasion arises. Apple does a lot of their manufacturing in China, including the iPhones and Beats headphones. Nobody can accuse those of being junk products. I have a Yaesu FT-270R and FT-60R both bought in the 2011-2012 time frame that were both made in China. If I handed them to you, you would be unable to tell them apart from the ones made in Japan without looking for the label in the battery compartment.
 

mastr

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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...

People have been trying (sometimes successfully) to "impress everyone else" with their possessions since the beginning of recorded history.
And accordingly, some (not all) think they are better than others who have less.

That is just the way human nature works- it is not going to change because a person gets an amateur radio license.
 

trentbob

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It's exactly the same radio, whether it's made in China or Japan. Being made in China doesn't automatically make it a Baofeng. The Chinese are perfectly able to produce a quality product when the occasion arises. Apple does a lot of their manufacturing in China, including the iPhones and Beats headphones. Nobody can accuse those of being junk products. I have a Yaesu FT-270R and FT-60R both bought in the 2011-2012 time frame that were both made in China. If I handed them to you, you would be unable to tell them apart from the ones made in Japan without looking for the label in the battery compartment.
Yep when they were made in China they said they were made to the exact specifications of Yaesu. I don't know why it had to have the reverse SMA, flashlight and alarm LOL.

Apparently the models are exactly the same, to me the radio is built like a tank and it performs well.

At our hamfest a lot of people were carrying a portable radio for the clubs simplex 2 m frequency, didn't matter to me what brand it was. It's the brand they want to use.
 

W9OHM

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A wise man once said, or maybe a few times.....

"I sent the club a wire stating, PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT ME (and my measly handheld) AS A MEMBER!"
 

mass-man

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Trust me...the only people who think that are guys who "ain't got it." ;)

In any event, sounds like it's time for a new club. I don't know a single ham who didn't get started with a handheld. Why you would alienate those folks is beyond me.
We’ll you just outed a bunch of us old farts cuz there weren’t repeaters when I got my Novice! We were running 100 watt tube mobile rigs on simplex!
 

kk9h

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I feel that this is a very unfortunate title and thread. Everybody has to start somewhere and getting a new license and hand held radio are the most frequent way new hams get introduced to the hobby these days. My local club offers license classes and exams. At the end of each exam we invite the excited new hams to look into our club and give our repeaters a try which also includes helping them program their radios if needed. When we hear them on the air they are greeted with friendly and fun conversations. I would hope that this would be the standard for all ham clubs and new hams. 73
 
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I thought that this hobby was going to hell in a hand basket when Icom stopped making the IC-2AT :).

Ok, that is a real exaggeration, I know.... but the 2AT was/is so simple to operate--- a thumb wheel for frequency selection, no LED read outs with a zillion choice menu..... It was a radio for simpler times..... days when repeaters were just carrier access's, no PL tones to program, etc. .......sighs

My father gave me one of his 2AT's about the time auto-patch's had disappeared. I still have it- and the thing is built like a battleship. Lately I have permanently lent it to a friend for mountain top-ing SOTA excursions since its practically idiot proof ---(that's no reflection on my friend,
but, well, some people are just more suited to thumb wheel's than touch screens :giggle: )

icom.jpg

With just a rubber duck she's talk summit-to-summit, simplex 146.52--with the 2AT over 200+ miles.


Lauri

7fb5e-80.jpg

.:rolleyes:
 

El_Kabong

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I remember going to my first club meeting as a Novice in the late 80's. I mainly just sat there and listened. No handheld. Just a notepad and pen to take notes as instructed by my elmer. I was alone, but never felt shunned. They were relatively polite, yet their knowledge I found fascinating. I was unable to really add much to the conversation besides being "just a student from the local community college." I remember one ham was an eccentric that stood out and seemed to be full of himself. He was kind to me, though. A few years later he was one of the administering VE's for my Advanced exam. I will never forget how nervous I felt as he looked over my shoulder during the exam. Thankfully I passed... Many years later I saw him at field day just before C-19 hit. I was on 6m chattering away with an iambic Bencher and felt a presence behind me. Looked around and it was him with a big smile on his face. Although he looked much older- I couldn't help but think about that afternoon in 1990 as he stood behind me during the exam. Then in a flash we were reminiscing about days gone by. It went well.

Back to OP- Being the new kid on the block is not always going to be comfortable.

Build your knowledge. Listen to the old timers. Ask questions. I am telling you now that you will make some lifelong friends. In the meantime- keep your chin up. You may be over reacting. The latest handheld is not all that important.

Peace
 
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tunnelmot

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I hate to hear that. I personally know folks who are cought up in one-upping others...bigger boat, bigger house, bigger side by side, newer diesel truck.( I love the ones who trade in their Power Stroke in every year with 10k miles) Its a game that you cant win, and most conversations with those people revolve around acquiring the next item which make for pretty shallow conversation tbh.

I have been blessed enough to own some fairly recent-production quality commercial type radios. They do cost more. I do like them better. But I never look down on anyone's equipment. In fact I (and others I know) are very welcoming to new voices on the air and make a friend no matter what their are using.

I do think the cheapest crop of CCRs are kind of cheesy, and there are well documented issues about spectral purity, etc. But...how does a new ham even know that? I find more often than not most folks who stick around after the initial honeymoon period after getting their ticket inevitably end up eventually upgrading to higher quality equipment.

As for those who actually show up and support the club's activities I say good on them. I wouldn't care if they're on a Baofeng, APX, Flex or homebrew spark gap transmitter.

Another interesting observation is for most people ham radio seems to be a 2nd, 3rd or even 4th hobby. So the guy that gets trashed for having a cheap radio may have the best gear in another hobby. He may have the latest and greatest camera gear, the best hand fabricated 4wd in four counties, or a no expense spared restored classic car. We never know another's total budget picture.
 

AK9R

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the elitist attitude has kept me from clubs and mostly on the fringe of the hobby for the 10 years I've been licensed.
I have found just the opposite with some clubs. I have been to club meetings where just about everyone in the room was a "novice" (no matter how long they had been licensed) and very few members had any particular technical or operating skills. I just don't feel mentally stimulated by clubs like that.

Ok, that is a real exaggeration, I know.... but the 2AT was/is so simple to operate--- a thumb wheel for frequency selection, no LED read outs with a zillion choice menu..... It was a radio for simpler times.
The challenge with the IC-2AT was the "idiot switch" on the back. By that, I mean the repeater offset switch. Way too easy to get yer booger hooks on that switch when you picked up the radio. Next thing you know, you are keying up while not using the repeater input or not on the simplex frequency you thought you were on.

FWIW, I picked up an IC-4AT in an estate sale. I need to power it up (I'm sure the batteries are dead, stone dead, deceased, shagged out, passed on, ceased to be, bereft of life, not even pining for the fjords) and see if it still works. I suspect that it does.
 

El_Kabong

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I have found just the opposite with some clubs. I have been to club meetings where just about everyone in the room was a "novice" (no matter how long they had been licensed) and very few members had any particular technical or operating skills. I just don't feel mentally stimulated by clubs like that.


The challenge with the IC-2AT was the "idiot switch" on the back. By that, I mean the repeater offset switch. Way too easy to get yer booger hooks on that switch when you picked up the radio. Next thing you know, you are keying up while not using the repeater input or not on the simplex frequency you thought you were on.

FWIW, I picked up an IC-4AT in an estate sale. I need to power it up (I'm sure the batteries are dead, stone dead, deceased, shagged out, passed on, ceased to be, bereft of life, not even pining for the fjords) and see if it still works. I suspect that it does.
I would like to get my hands on a mint IC-O2AT with the sub audible tone board. Or maybe a IC-2GAT
 

PACNWDude

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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.
I work for a nationwide company where we have amateur radio types as Auxiliary Communication Service (ACS) for the privately owned fire departments the company is responsible for. High salaries also means there is a raid on the local Ham Radio Outlet (HRO) store as well, but then no knowledge of how to use any of the new gear. I have seen more Yaesu FT-991A radios on desks with no antenna connected (being keyed up), dual band handhelds that can't hit the local repeater (the frequencies are entered backwards input/output wise), and more money thrown at a hobby while corporate bean counters state that we have no money to maintain buildings and infrastructure, to include the nationwide P25 radio system I administer.
 

ladn

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I used to run 2 channel HT-1000's.
Both channels programmed the same.
On/Off Volume
Push to Talk.
Same idea with the newer (but still old) radios with 16-channel rotary switches. Your most important channel was programmed in both the Channel 1 and Channel 16 position. In the dark or high stress situation, you just turned the know to full stop in either direction and you were good to go.
 

ladn

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I have found just the opposite with some clubs. I have been to club meetings where just about everyone in the room was a "novice" (no matter how long they had been licensed) and very few members had any particular technical or operating skills. I just don't feel mentally stimulated by clubs like that.
+1
 
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