mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Yep, it's like the internet, if you want a reaction, post something that's incorrect.
9 months as a Ham and trying to stay interested
- Thread starter fireboat61
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Yep, it's like the internet, if you want a reaction, post something that's incorrect.
Uh, just post anything at all, correct or not! :roll:
Most beginner class Hams don't upgrade , many don't even want to upgrade.
They don't see the need for it., and often during their studies were not told that learning and advancing is the intention of the multi level licensing scheme.
Instead they are told to have fun....
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Just a thought: what if you got your son interested in radio? Then you could combine quality time with him while playing radio, too!
Try this on the local repeaters, it works for me: when throwing your call sign out, add "anyone out there for a QSO?" You'll be surprised at how many of the lurkers/listeners come back to you. One of them always will.
The problem is that too many hams get on the repeater and just say "W1XYZ, listening" or "W1XYZ monitoring". Then, nothing. Add the "anyone want to QSO?" or "anyone up for a chat?" and you will get a response.
It's worked for me!!
mauiblue
Member
That is a cool idea. I like it. I will try every time I key up the repeater system. Thanks.
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mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
My wife has her license, and we've both tried a bit. She was even doing some flash cards with him.
But he's a 12 year old. Bi-polar, ADHD and a touch of Aspergers. Getting him through middle school is a full time job for both of us, and his teachers. It's all about picking your battles. Finding something he is interested in is important. At this point in his life, that's video games. Amateur radio, not so much, maybe some day.
We did recently get him a Polaris Ace 150 off road buggy. 149cc motor, he gets to go on trail rides with us, and gives him a level of responsibility he enjoys. I put a Motorola CDM-750 in there with a few channels I'm licensed under. He won't talk because he's having too much fun riding. He'll listen, and do what we tell him to do over the radio, but he won't talk back.
Right now academics are a challenge, but we'll get him on his amateur license at some point. Just takes time and patience.
razorseal
Member
I only read your post, and not the replies, but I will read them all as this relates to me closely.
I'm a 32 year old police officer with a tech license. I've done some repeater stuff, but like you old, it's a retiree community and I couldn't find my interest. To me it's always interesting getting in touch with the furthest contact.
I just got back into the hobby when I found out about DMR about a week ago. It's interesting, and I enjoy coding the radio and stuff. I bought a dual band dmr and a higher end hytera. It's interesting to talk to someone on the radio from anywhere int the world, but I do mostly monitoring too. I mean you can talk to anyone on North America TG, but it's mostly quiet. I think many people just monitor it and that's it.
I've been thinking about getting my general license, so I can get into HF. I think that would really interest me, because you can be hunting for stuff on several bands and see how far you can reach your transmission. Only problem is, on a zero lot home, my backyard is small, so I'm not sure how I'd run my HF antennas. I will need some help with that and ideas. It's one o fthe reasons I haven't gotten into it....
That being said, that's why it's hard to keep myself interested in this hobby. I keep tihkning about if this hobby will survive the millenials and the social media age. I bet if we had 1000 licensees a yaer in the 1980s, we probably have 100 now. what will it be when you and I retire in 20-30 years? 10 a year? Is this a dying hobby?
and for scanning... eh... I'm sick of hearing the radio/dispatch all day at work, last thing I want to do is scan lol. I used to love watching the COPS show before I became a cop. Now that I've been a cop for some time, I can't stand watching that show, and immediately change the channel LMAO.
To keep my interest, I've been thinking about also doing gear reviews on youtube... I'm a gear nerd (another reason I got into this hobby) so it would keep things interesting.
I'm a 32 year old police officer with a tech license. I've done some repeater stuff, but like you old, it's a retiree community and I couldn't find my interest. To me it's always interesting getting in touch with the furthest contact.
I just got back into the hobby when I found out about DMR about a week ago. It's interesting, and I enjoy coding the radio and stuff. I bought a dual band dmr and a higher end hytera. It's interesting to talk to someone on the radio from anywhere int the world, but I do mostly monitoring too. I mean you can talk to anyone on North America TG, but it's mostly quiet. I think many people just monitor it and that's it.
I've been thinking about getting my general license, so I can get into HF. I think that would really interest me, because you can be hunting for stuff on several bands and see how far you can reach your transmission. Only problem is, on a zero lot home, my backyard is small, so I'm not sure how I'd run my HF antennas. I will need some help with that and ideas. It's one o fthe reasons I haven't gotten into it....
That being said, that's why it's hard to keep myself interested in this hobby. I keep tihkning about if this hobby will survive the millenials and the social media age. I bet if we had 1000 licensees a yaer in the 1980s, we probably have 100 now. what will it be when you and I retire in 20-30 years? 10 a year? Is this a dying hobby?
and for scanning... eh... I'm sick of hearing the radio/dispatch all day at work, last thing I want to do is scan lol. I used to love watching the COPS show before I became a cop. Now that I've been a cop for some time, I can't stand watching that show, and immediately change the channel LMAO.
To keep my interest, I've been thinking about also doing gear reviews on youtube... I'm a gear nerd (another reason I got into this hobby) so it would keep things interesting.
KC3AKY
Newbie
I became a technician in 2013 and upgraded again to general in 2015. I only have a baofeng handheld and been using echolink on the computer and tablet. I have not been able to upgrade to an external antenna on our cars due to other things taking my time. I been using this mostly as a scanner since I know the limitations on the antenna on an ht in a car.
I joined a local club that is very active in ecomm and doing tech sessions every week at their club. Their repeater is the busiest that I can hear due to their weekly net, also they have an Elmer net where anyone can ask ham related questions
I am getting into building antennas to get I out farther when at home. I am also looking to get my cb back on the air to use SSB and to get into hf when I am able to get an hf rig
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I joined a local club that is very active in ecomm and doing tech sessions every week at their club. Their repeater is the busiest that I can hear due to their weekly net, also they have an Elmer net where anyone can ask ham related questions
I am getting into building antennas to get I out farther when at home. I am also looking to get my cb back on the air to use SSB and to get into hf when I am able to get an hf rig
Sent from my SM-T900 using Tapatalk
I hear you. My nephew, now 24, has high functioning autism. He found his love of acting and opera about ten years ago and is now in NYC at a two year drama school. My brother and sister-in-law spent all of their available energy on bringing him from non-verbal to where he is today.
Your son will reap rewards from your love and dedication!
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Thanks, obviously a labor of love. Underneath all those diagnoses, there's a really good kid. We'll keep working on him. Some day he'll get his license, but probably not soon.
TheSpaceMann
Member
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2014
- Messages
- 1,333
You are 100% correct!! Just saying "listening" will get few replies, partially because it is so short and it takes a while for the radios that are in scan mode to go through all of their frequencies! I have made WAY more contacts on repeaters by just asking for a radio check, drawing it out, and repeating it several times!!!
JACK26
Member
What is it with young ham operators expecting some kind of social network like facebook? Ham radio was never about that. It's always been about maintaining communications with other individuals throughout the world without any kind of obligations for some kind social requirements.
A few operators try to do a social thing with scheduled programming but that's up to them and is free. People who follow those channels should not have high expectations. That is not the goal of ham radio to have a facebook type social network.
A few operators try to do a social thing with scheduled programming but that's up to them and is free. People who follow those channels should not have high expectations. That is not the goal of ham radio to have a facebook type social network.
Socializing with fellow hams is certainly one aspect of the hobby. Whether it's on the air or in a club setting, etc. As I stated, you will almost always get a reply if you ask for one.
Meanwhile, from
FCC Part 97, Subpart A, 97.1:
(e) "Continuation and extension of the amateur's unique ability to enhance international goodwill."
This would indicate to me friendship, as part of International Goodwill. To say that making friends is not part of the hobby is absurd, frankly.
JACK26
Member
I think you misunderstood me. I never said that "making friends is not part of the hobby".
My statement is that ham radio does not depend on any kind of social requirements other than a FCC license.
My statement is that ham radio does not depend on any kind of social requirements other than a FCC license.
JACK26
Member
No worries. Are any of you ham operators old enough to remember the Johnsons who transmitted from Murray Hill NJ circa 1964? He was a Bell Labs engineer who was on the team that invented the transistor.
His son was Glen Johnson and the first ever hacker in the world and a childhood friend of mine.
Joking aside, Glen was able to hack the telephone network and call who ever he wanted for free long before the apple guys caught on.
His son was Glen Johnson and the first ever hacker in the world and a childhood friend of mine.
Joking aside, Glen was able to hack the telephone network and call who ever he wanted for free long before the apple guys caught on.
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Jasphetamine
Member
- Joined
- May 22, 2016
- Messages
- 63
Solution: start making contact with other early 30's HAM users. I'll pass the test when I take it so actually maybe we could both help each other out. If I knew a DMR guy was out there to talk about DMR with that'd motivate me into attending the test sessions coming up soon. Maybe some fun of elmering me a bit on DMR and I could talk about the crazy cool and practical stuff a 20 dollar RTL-SDR 3 gets you. Or whatever. Wanna start what could one day possibly the first aDMR Net run by and consisting of people in our age demo? :Cool:
Hmmm you are quite a ways away. Does DMR have the infrastructure in place to now have a pretty well linked east coast system?
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