Fitting the radio hobby in with the rest of your life

[rapidcharger]

Wouldn't a significant other know about your interests LONG before you got to the "long-relationship point?"

Not necessarily. The interest in the hobby could have begun well into the relationship. Many hams became interested decades after they were married.

Often times, in hobbies, the subject of the hobby (radio, car, whatever) becomes "the other woman"

 

[vagrant]

I am able to monitor/control my scanner and HF rig from work, but the mute button is often used as work comes first. In the vehicle, an earplug works wonders on long trips when others do not want to hear.

I have found that friends and family enjoy the "real-time" news when they hear a siren or ghetto bird flying by, and ask me to turn on the radio.

An acquaintance told me once that his transceivers and scanners were there before his wife was, and they'll still be there if she leaves. The interesting part is when he informed me they are next to the bed. I thought I was really into the hobby until I heard that.

 

[JCNHB]

I had my HTs laid out next to me in my bed. My gf told me she had been replaced by electronics. Lol


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[JustLou]

My wife is completely indifferent towards my ham radio hobby. She doesn't care if I put up antennas or buy new radios. I don't spend enormous amounts of times on my radios during the day though. The only change I made when we got married was that I moved all my radios except for a couple of receivers out of our master bedroom, into a spare bedroom.

 

[WB4CS]

This applies to any area of the radio hobby, if this is amateur radio, shortwave listening, radio scanning, ultralight DXing or any other area. It becomes more of an issue as your other responsibilities taken over and other people / domestic harmony need to be considered.

I am very interested to get a discussion going on how we each manage this and any issues we have found, some general questions to get the discussion started.

Before I read the comments here, I'd like to answer, these are some great questions. (Answers in red)

- Do you set aside a specific time / day regularly for your radio hobby? To some degree, yes. But I don't have a set "radio time" schedule. I usually rag-chew with a few local friends on 2M on my way home from work during the week. When I get home, I have about an hour before the other half gets home from work, so I sometimes dedicate that time to playing on the radio. During the weekend, if we're both sitting around bored, I'll go play on the radio while she does her own thing.

-Do you generally try and fit your radio hobby around the rest of your life or your life around your radio hobby? This may be more important where other people are involved and you need to fit in with them either way.Life comes first, the hobby of ham radio comes second.

- How supportive are your family, friends and co-workers with your radio hobby and is it something that is seen as a part of your family life or is it something that is more hidden away and not really supported / understood by them? My family has always been supportive. I got into the hobby when I was a kid, and my parents encouraged it. Later in life, my stepfather got his ham license. My friends know that I'm a "radio geek" but don't really understand what it is I do. My co-workers really don't know about my ham hobby, unless they ask me why my car has so many antennas on it. I keep work and ham radio separate.

- Would you ever consider making a major decision due to how other people feel about your hobby such as ending a long-term relationship if the other person didn’t support your hobby and didn’t want you to participate in it? Participate in it, NO. Not support it, YES. My (soon to be) wife has absolutely no interest in ham radio at all. And that's okay, it's not her kind of hobby. But she does fully support my amateur radio hobby. She goes with me to hamfests, allows me to put up virtually any antenna I want outside, and doesn't mind if I spend my extra money on radio gear as long as the bills are paid. For a long term relationship, that kind of support and respect is something I could not live without.

- Any general tips or advice on the ways you combine your radio hobby with the rest of your life? Put your personal life FIRST. Radio is just a hobby, just like model planes, or painting, or gardening. When you have the extra time to dedicate o the hobby, enjoy it. But never let a hobby come before your personal life and family.

Regards
Paul
Ultralight DXing

 

[pb_lonny]

Thanks for all the replies, they make very interesting reading.