Jerks hogging the repeater.
- Thread starter dave6890
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Jon, do you have a mentor? If not then please consider finding someone who will take you under their wing for a while.
A ham radio license is like a Commercial Driver's License. Just because you can take a test doesn't mean that you can drive across the country safely. Lots of skills to master to do it right.
A ham radio license is like a Commercial Driver's License. Just because you can take a test doesn't mean that you can drive across the country safely. Lots of skills to master to do it right.
Oh really now....well little do you know that I own and operate a repeater on this network and have deployed or have assisted over 1/2 dozen P25 repeaters in Part 97 spectrum....
http://forums.radioreference.com/di...57645-mototrbo-ham-repeaters.html#post2024077
http://forums.radioreference.com/di...e/4096-apco-25-ham-systems-13.html#post717418
I won't include my professional deployments as that is a bit OT, but I'm far from being an analog only user oh and yes I do like to have lng meaningful QSO's as that is what Amateur Radio is pretty much meant for.
73
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Folks, I would like to keep this thread open as I think the OP posed a legitimate concern. I think you will hear long, drawn-out repeater conversations between just two people in pretty much all parts of the country. New hams and old hams alike need to exercise some tolerance to members of the other group.
And, that goes for these forums, too. When someone exhibits behavior that seems designed to incite an argument, just let it go.
And, that goes for these forums, too. When someone exhibits behavior that seems designed to incite an argument, just let it go.
jim202
Member
The bottom line here is if the repeater trustee allows long winded conversations to take place, who are you to voice your not liking it. Go to another repeater, or take the one your unhappy with out of the scan list.
I have been a ham for a good number of years. There are repeaters that I stay away from because of the type of people or the normal way the repeater is used. In my travels around the country, I hear this type of activity all the time. That's life, put up with it or deal with it and move on.
I hate to be so blunt, but until your the repeater trustee, you have little say on the way the repeater is used.
Jim
I have been a ham for a good number of years. There are repeaters that I stay away from because of the type of people or the normal way the repeater is used. In my travels around the country, I hear this type of activity all the time. That's life, put up with it or deal with it and move on.
I hate to be so blunt, but until your the repeater trustee, you have little say on the way the repeater is used.
Jim
This is a great example to the person who reads this forum because they are thinking about getting into ham radio or scanning. A great way to send them looking for another hobby. Grow up. The world does not revolve around any one person.
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Wow, don't you feel special! Again, I'm not against the long winded QSOs. My problem is the fact that old hams are not welcoming to new hams and new ideas. I have talked to other new hams trying to use repeaters in my area. We talked about how the existing groups are "cliquee" and unaccepting / cold towards new hams. There are a bunch of retirees, about 5 guys who talk to each other almost all day every day and don't really want anything to do with talking to anyone else. I mean... what do we all have this equipment for? To be shut out by the old folks ? If HAM radio wants to live on, these existing old timers have to be more accepting of new people and share and be kinder. The other guy who was being treated poorly was about 45... so i guess thats young too in comparison to the people hogging the repeater... point is ... HAM radio is about talking to everyone and sharing information and conversations... Like I stated earlier ...if you are going to use the repeater constantly and just talk to a few select people, use a conference call on a telephone or something. Any way... i have made my point 5 times im done with this thread..im going to actually use my radio hopefully there is another kind ham that wants to actually talk about something meaningful and not about going to the doctor with his buddy while shunning the rest of the ham population
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ecps92
Member
Maybe join the local CLUB and you will meet some of the Ole Farts and change your opinion of them 
You might surprise yourself
You might surprise yourself Project25_MASTR
Millennial Graying OBT Guy
Maybe join the local CLUB and you will meet some of the Ole Farts and change your opinion of them
Like any hobby there are a few weird hobbyists out there.
So 5 older hams only want to talk to themselves. Question of the OP is still around, this repeater you're listening to, is it an open or closed repeater?
There are some hams out there still resentful at the run of no-code hams. That's fine by me.
But assuming that the old farts are all like that…that's a bit out there. They say several things about assumption. My personal favorite is a quote from Under Siege 2 but another is that it brings forth the *** in you and me.
Let them talk…build your own repeater. Put a dpl on it. Invest the thousands in going digital (I'd only do that if others are interested in acquiring digital radios). There is nothing that says they can not talk as long as they want. Hell, they can talk until the melt the pa's out of the equipment if they want. And you can continue to complain about it if you so please. Just gives some of us something to do when playing on a radio isn't practical.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
mikepdx
Member
"long, drawn-out repeater conversations" - 15 minutes?? You people don't
know what long and drawn out is. That's nuthin' around here.
Also:
Who said or where does it say two hams in a QSO must
always accept comments from other hams in their QSO???
No small wonder they're not accepting of rude 'memorizers'
who insist on interrupting a QSO to add their
unsolicited remarks. Not everybody wants that.
It's entirely the prerogative of those in the QSO.
Ham radio isn't Facebook, thank God.
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profiledescent
Member
Excellent!
The last sentence has me wondering what the OP has contributed to the operation of the repeater in question? Time and Elbow Grease? Money? My experience has been those with the most complaints and operational desires/demands, generally treat the trustee and the machine as though they were public utilities, sans the part where they pay a bill.
902
Member
I had to think about exactly that maybe 12 years ago when I first set up Echolink on my repeater. I would wake up to a couple of guys chatting for hours on the repeater most mornings when I was still living in the Midwest. I had an MSF repeater with an antenna on top of a water tank. They connected through a control station in my ham shack. I was kind of torqued as the control station got really hot during the QSO, but waited a while to try to figure out what was going on. As it turned out, they were both in the military together years (and years) ago and were pilots. The one lived near me, the other in Michigan. They were able to dial up on the repeater and pretty much talk about nothing, but kept each other company throughout the morning.
Then I looked back at the reason why I set up Echolink in the first place. It wasn't to connect randomly from hither and yon. I had a friend back east who I wanted to keep in touch with. Very long story short, my setup only got turned on after my friend died. Stuff happens. We would have been doing exactly the same thing. This sounds strange, but I feet like I didn't go through all the work for nothing, even though my buddy and I weren't using it.
At the end of the day, I was glad these guys were able to connect. Not for any other reason that ham radio was keeping two friends in touch. I never broke in on them when they were talking, but did manage to speak with both of the guys after they wrapped up. They were okay guys. I was also happy somebody other than my family was using the repeater. Pretty soon, I got tired of the Echolink random connect-and-leave-connected stuff, so I blocked everything except the port these guys used.
We had a saying about this stuff in New Jersey: "Eh, whaddaya gonna do?"
vagrant
ker-muhj-uhn
I now understand your expectations and since they have not been met, your dissatisfaction. Thus, if your expectations were different, you may not have the concerns you do now. This probably applies to the OP as well.
Being able to appropriately set one's own expectations can take some time, even decades. Once that is mastered, amateur radio will easily fall into place.
My own experience provided me with visiting local clubs and interacting with numerous operators over the air. I eventually found like minded operators and enjoy sharing with them. I also found other groups with different likes and share those interests with them. Still, there are operators I do not share similar interests with. When that occurs I can change the frequency.
I once shared with a particular group that I own an Yaesu 817 and enjoy working portable from time to time. Several began to remark that life's too short for QRP. My response was that comment sounds like it's coming from someone who doesn't have long to live. Suddenly, the most boisterous ones got a case of STFU and did not have an immediate reply. A few others chuckled. I still interact quite often with the boisterous ones, but only about our shared interests. I don't bring up working QRP with that group and they don't either.
The OP seems to be saying that these two guys represent ALL older hams. That seems to be the problem to me. Just because these guys may be resistant to letting new guys into their QSO, or try new digital modes, doesn't mean all older hams are like that.
Here in CT, we have a ton of old timers getting active again on VHF/UHF now that we have two DMR networks blanketing the state. If you think a 2 person QSO is bad on one machine, how would you like it when almost 30 machines in one state are tied up with such a QSO? As long as decent breaks are left between transmissions, all is good. I am involved in installing and maintaining two of these machines, and I can tell you that I am thrilled to have the help and guidance from the old timers. It may be digital, but it is still RF and needs all of the same RF equipment to make it work.
If that is the only repeater in the OP's area, I wold suggest building his own and attracting the like minded people to chat with and letting these guys chat with their like minded people. I just hope you don't need to ask those two old timers for help building your system!
Here in CT, we have a ton of old timers getting active again on VHF/UHF now that we have two DMR networks blanketing the state. If you think a 2 person QSO is bad on one machine, how would you like it when almost 30 machines in one state are tied up with such a QSO? As long as decent breaks are left between transmissions, all is good. I am involved in installing and maintaining two of these machines, and I can tell you that I am thrilled to have the help and guidance from the old timers. It may be digital, but it is still RF and needs all of the same RF equipment to make it work.
If that is the only repeater in the OP's area, I wold suggest building his own and attracting the like minded people to chat with and letting these guys chat with their like minded people. I just hope you don't need to ask those two old timers for help building your system!
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Well on my repeater, no one will be shunned, even the mean old people
902, that is a cool story about your echolink experience
902, that is a cool story about your echolink experience
KF7DWA
Member
There is no law that says anyone HAS to be your friend just because you have a radio. Maybe they didn't want to talk to you.
With over 700,000 licensed hams in the US alone, certainly you could find someone ELSE to talk to.
With over 700,000 licensed hams in the US alone, certainly you could find someone ELSE to talk to.
We have a few "club" repeaters here in the NYC Metro area and the same thing happens. Two or three guys (LID's) just hogging the repeater talking about radios, antennas, microphone audio and what used ham gear they seen on Ebay and they are absolutely clueless about repeater courtesy or the topics they are "rag chewing" about.
I really don't get the reasoning to complain. Perhaps SOME ONE can post audio of the offensive (to you) conversations taking place?
Talking about radios and antennas, really? That's part of the basis of the hobby.
Talking about radios and antennas, really? That's part of the basis of the hobby.
These LID operators just quick key and quite frankly, day in and day out their QSO's are just downright boring.
They purchase cheap Chinese built radios for $50.00 and expect the audio quality to sound like an Icom, Kenwood or Yaesu. They switch $5.00 speaker/mikes on them and say which one sounds better? Day in and day out. They don't know the difference between an Omni and a Yagi. It can get very frustrating listening to the same LID's day in and day out clogging up the "club repeater" with their babble!
Praise on the air, scold in private. If truly a club repeater it sounds like some trustees should have a meeting and then a nice long talk with the offenders.
Like it or not, a $50 radio is more available on the market (*cough* Amazon *cough*)than one from "the big three". They're not going away anytime soon. Is it unfortunate? Kind of... but they're here and now. On a lighter note, you should hear what happens when someone gets on 52.68 here in Ohio who isn't welcome. Heck, I'm not even sure I'm welcome recreationally on that machine other than Skywarn! Never tried to figure that one out.
Like it or not, a $50 radio is more available on the market (*cough* Amazon *cough*)than one from "the big three". They're not going away anytime soon. Is it unfortunate? Kind of... but they're here and now. On a lighter note, you should hear what happens when someone gets on 52.68 here in Ohio who isn't welcome. Heck, I'm not even sure I'm welcome recreationally on that machine other than Skywarn! Never tried to figure that one out.
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