"good old days"
That was a great read I enjoyed that thank you
Boy I could not agree with you more about the modern way of listening I too am using a PC running a Yaesu FT950 /HDSDR /HRD and CSVUserlistBrowser Ya its cool and all to be able to do that but on the other hand it takes all the Mystery out of it when you can just look it up on the internet and sometimes I wonder is my rig even worth the trouble having all those antennas up there when you can just listen to the same station on the internet ?
Its funny sometimes I sit there and decode weather FAX from PT Reyes and think to myself wow this is kinda dumb using all this expense equipment for something that's just a click away with the mouse LOL
Ya I think it was more fun not knowing what it is your picking up and not knowing what the person looks like your taking to and when you get that hand written QSL card in the mail it was exciting it was more personal then just a email or text
FB on the 2 meter AM days that must have been a lot of fun I remember my dad talking about 6 meter AM said he enjoyed working DX however had nothing but problems with the neighbors and the FCC coming out to his house He was within legal limits however never could keep off the TVs LOL and when I told him I wanted to work 6 meters he talked me right out of that mess so I just stuck with 10 meters but I still had the same problems however I was using a old swan 350 and my dad told me not to use that thing on 10m but that's all I had
I also remember none of my dads old gear had AM in his shack so when I was a kid I used to think the SW broadcasters sounded awful since I was trying to tune them in on SSB LOL I was so happy when I got my first rig that had the AM mode man that was a lot better !
The best HAM days of my life was in the late 80s on 10 meters that was the most fun for me and even back then I was out of time using a old swan 350 I remember my contacts asking me to move to another frequency because the band was so crowded back then but I had to find them because i just had a dial and it was hard to see it I also got a lot of complaints from the (new hams) about drifting up and down the band and splattering I really had to watch my mic gain Wow that swan put out about 400 watts and would really get out of control if not tuned properly !
I miss that too it was more fun tuning the rig first and looking at all those meters going You could just feel the power ! lol
Well those days are gone Now I just turn the rig on and look at my monitor go to a frq with my mouse and key the mic not much to talk about anymore I mean really what should I say (im running a Yaesu ft950) and something about my transistors) LOL
Now I know why my dad stopped talking on Ham radio years before he died and to tell you the truth I did not understand why he did that back then it was so sad to see all of his antennas go down
To be honest I think Im done with ham radio as well
( I understand now dad)