If you weren't a ham already, would you get into it today?

[902]

Just to let y'all know, I passed the technician exam this past Thursday. Now I'm just waiting for my call numbers to show up on the FCC website. I'm already studying to upgrade to general.

YAY!!! Congratulations! So, what direction do you think you'll go in at first? I have to put a plug in for my favorite aspect of the hobby - weak signal VHF and UHF work. I love listening to stuff from far away. Bonus points if I could work them.

Michael, having someone travel 70 miles speaks to the reputation of your club. People know you guys and must've driven past a bunch of other groups.

 

[AC2OY]

I guess Steve. Yesterday we did a special event in Hackensack,NJ at the USS Ling. We had a great day. I tried to work a guy in Italy but he didn't hear me I guess it wasn't to be. I can't wait to hook up a HF station...I'll probably never sleep but have a lot of fun!!! Pics...

 

[AC2OY]

Sorry

 

[AC2OY]

Another

 

[902]

That's beautiful! I've always wanted to go on the Ling, but never did when I was still living in Bergen County. After we moved, every time we came out to visit, everything was closed. We did get to see the other parts of the park there. My friend, Dee, NB2F (SK) was one of the guys who used to participate in that event. I've been on the Growler and the Clamagore, but never on the Ling. Would have fired up the HF station to work you had I known.

 

[AC2OY]

That's beautiful! I've always wanted to go on the Ling, but never did when I was still living in Bergen County. After we moved, every time we came out to visit, everything was closed. We did get to see the other parts of the park there. My friend, Dee, NB2F (SK) was one of the guys who used to participate in that event. I've been on the Growler and the Clamagore, but never on the Ling. Would have fired up the HF station to work you had I known.

LOL Steve I tried so hard to work a IA0 call I heard him good low noise but he couldn't hear me. Mostly I was working the grill.

 

[902]

Mostly I was working the grill.

Okay, now I'm really upset I missed it! LOL! You guys keep it up! You're doing it right!

BTW, that's what my oldest runs to first. Gets the burgers and dogs cranked out and then someone eventually cons her into sitting down at a station. You know, she doesn't think it's cool (when I suggest she gets on the air), but if one of her friends says, "I'll do the logging if you call CQ," she's in there. Then when I show up, she's like, "Yeah, I'm just sitting here for a couple of minutes." Yeah, right!

 

[avdrummerboy]

I honestly think that if I hadn't known ham radio 11 years ago when I was 13, and I first heard of it today, I probably would get my license. I just love everything RF, the ability to talk through invisible waves just blows my mind! I don't know that I would be super active, as I must admit that I am not as active as I was a few years ago, but I would most certainly have a call

KD7WNJ

 

[KD2EQF]

I guess Steve. Yesterday we did a special event in Hackensack,NJ at the USS Ling. We had a great day. I tried to work a guy in Italy but he didn't hear me I guess it wasn't to be. I can't wait to hook up a HF station...I'll probably never sleep but have a lot of fun!!! Pics...

I wish I had known about that event. I live barely 15 minutes away from the Ling.

tonypl056,
I'm also a CERT/CART member!

 

[flecom]

yes because it lets me do stupid power all over the place for experimenting

no to talk on

 

[JustLou]

I'm glad the Ling is still around. I used to live right down the road from it in Little Ferry.

 

[khooke]

Yes, I just got my tech and general licenses this year. Have always had an interest in radio communications since a kid in the late 80s, but just never got round to pursuing and getting a ham license until recently.

The need to rely on ham radio for a primary means of communications though wasn't my main motivation, although before cell phones became so commonplace I can see that this would have been an attractive reason a few years back. There's far better and more readily accessible means for communication via cell phones and the internet that fill that need today if what you're looking for is just a means to communicate with others. My motivation was purely because I find the ability to communicate over long distances via radio fascinating

As a newly licensed ham I have to be honest and say that the technology of the gear available and the commonly used modes in use are not exactly hi tech or even advancing the field of communications. I've been enjoying digital modes, PSK, RTTY and JT65, for their ability to communicate with weak signals over much longer distances than possible with phone in the same conditions, but when I describe digital modes to others their response is like 'so it's like connecting a 28.8k modem to the radio?' ... and I reply 'yes, but a lot slower than that' ... not exactly hi tech stuff with these modes, but I still find it interesting

Kevin KK6DCT

 

[KC8ESL]

I would probably be in the "no" category.

A bit of background: I was licensed in 1996 at the age of 14. My parents bought for me the year before a christmas present, the 200-in-one electronics kit. Spring terminals, bank of resistors,7 segment LED, 7404 and 7408, bank of caps, am radio coil, and a switch that resembled a code key. I know there was much more to the kit but you get the idea. If they gave me the newer kits with the plastic building blocks that have components encased inside, I probably would have given up on the kit.

Flash to 2013: I own and dabble with the arduino, basic stamps, and want the raspberry pi. Where is the AM radio kit?

 

[902]

I would probably be in the "no" category.

A bit of background: I was licensed in 1996 at the age of 14. My parents bought for me the year before a christmas present, the 200-in-one electronics kit. Spring terminals, bank of resistors,7 segment LED, 7404 and 7408, bank of caps, am radio coil, and a switch that resembled a code key. I know there was much more to the kit but you get the idea. If they gave me the newer kits with the plastic building blocks that have components encased inside, I probably would have given up on the kit.

Flash to 2013: I own and dabble with the arduino, basic stamps, and want the raspberry pi. Where is the AM radio kit?

Oh, it's still there. It's just not front-shelf and you won't find it in the same places where the Arduinos are.

I had one of those N-in-one kits, too. I built all kinds of stuff at an age where I couldn't use most of it. But I did build an AM radio. My favorite was building an AM radio. Not with the earphone, but using the speaker. Then I messed around and made the meter move with the modulation. That was great. Had no idea what I was doing, but man, that thing looked like the real thing to me as a little kid. I bought one for my son through an auction site maybe 10 years ago. He didn't like that snap-together garbage, either. Today, he messes with electronics and can do some basic things, like repairing electrical circuits without hurting himself or others.

I played with Parallax basic stamps years ago. I got voluntold into making a fire station alerting box out of one. It would take a momentary output from a Motorola receiver equipped with a 2-tone decoder, then activate a DVR with a "squad 51" QuikCall sequence that fed to a PA system, operated the garage door, and turned off a solenoid to the stove. Push a button and it reset. Had a night switch to disable radio through the PA. Was pretty neat, but didn't make a dime off it. I also made a "pig farm alarm" for a local farmer, so that when his hog house power went off, while running on battery, the thing would detect the failure, take the phone off hook, then autodial his pager and enter a sequence so he could recognize he needs to get back and connect a generator to the ventilation system. It was okay, but not as interesting to me as pulling radio signals out of the air.

Never played with Arduino, although a kid in our local ham club has decked his car out with them and can almost drive it around using his smart phone and an interface he coded. My son wants a starter set. I guess I'm going to have to give in... but only after he gets his Extra.

 

[KC8ESL]

Good for you! I have my 200-in-one kit stored away for another few years. I have a 5 and 2 year old. It'll be a nice winter project for us someday to make some LED's blink and count in binary with that kit. Maybe we'll make the audio oscillator and they can learn about oscillators. Once they hit high school I'll show them the BASIC stamp and arduino, unless of course they really want to learn it earlier.

 

[kickinkz]

Since I'm waiting for my call sign and my sons call signs to be posted on the FCC's website, I'd say yes.

I've always been an electronics geek, it fascinates me I guess...computers, radios, whatever.

I've wanted to get into amateur radio for years, but time was always an issue...now I have it and I'm trying to get my two boys into it also....all three of us had classes and tested out on our technician's licenses this past weekend.

Phil

 

[KG4NEL]

I honestly think that if I hadn't known ham radio 11 years ago when I was 13, and I first heard of it today, I probably would get my license. I just love everything RF, the ability to talk through invisible waves just blows my mind! I don't know that I would be super active, as I must admit that I am not as active as I was a few years ago, but I would most certainly have a call

KD7WNJ

This.

And yeah, when I was in my early to mid 20s, I had other priorities

Really looking forward to somewhat settling down in a town I like soon, being at a place where I can put up antennas is going to be cool. Might work the next 100 DX entities sooner than I did the first 100...

 

[RFD245]

This has been a very interesting thread, I must admit I'm not quite sure how I would answer. I was licensed in 1991 and as a boy growing up in Nebraska before moving to Georgia I used to listen to a 8 channel Bearcat scanner my dad bought me as well as a CB and a Montgomery Wards shortwave receiver. I found it all to be almost magical and spent countless hours listening and talking, fast forward to 1991 here in Georgia and the 2 meter / 440 / 220 bands were all so active and all of the time, it was a lot of fun with new hams joining by the day, my current friends were all met on the air back then and we had nothing in common, Airline Pilots for Delta and United, a Pharmacist, a small business owner, a police officer, all of us so different yet we all shared the same excitement for the hobby. Today we are all still best friends and all still licensed but almost never talk on the radio anymore at least to each other but spend time at lunch together talking about the hobby and old times. We all are still somewhat active mostly on HF as the Vhf+ activity is almost non existent around Atlanta. With all that said I would never in a million years not have taken the time to get licensed because I would have never met my dear friends but I probably would have not gone to the effort had it not been for my childhood on the great plains back before cable TV was the norm with not much else to do but listen to the radio, great memories which I will always cherish. Best regards to all.....Ed

 

[902]

Ed,

I found that that's the greatest aspect of the hobby - not just getting on the air and talking, but connecting with a group of people who are friends outside of radio. I had a similar "crew" back in the day in NJ. Most of us had one foot in public safety in one sort or another. A few cops, a few firefighters, a few EMS people, volunteer, paid, this and that. I suppose I was the pied piper, because I got licensed in 1978 and then the next one of us got his license in 1981 (but didn't upgrade from novice until maybe 1986). Then one at a time the other guys got bit. It was more of a "Hey, if Bob can do it, so can I" thing. We all knew each other outside the radio and only caught each other on the way to or from work (and sometimes during). But over the years guys got married/divorced, moved away, and some even died. Ham radio for us wasn't just turning the thing on, it was a part of our life, and the ups and downs were there, too. Some of the capers we've been involved in over the years include working a cardiac arrest and having the APCOR crap out, then using the autopatch on the repeater to dial up the doctor and get permission on what drugs to give the patient (that kinda qualifies as a life/death emergency in most folks' books). You just never knew what was going to happen next back then. Magic for sure!

I still keep in touch with the surviving members of the "crew" (think Sopranos "tough guys," LOL). But not as often, and usually through social media rather than on the air. I moved away, too (twice), but friends never leave.