Were you once a HAM, quit activity, let your license expire and never looked back?

[BMDaug]

Wow-talk about ultra-wackerific! Loads of Youtube videos, like watching a train wreck-apalling but can't stop watching 😜. And I thought I was bad in my whacker days! (decades ago)

Videos of that dude on his motorcycle yelling at people during his funeral processions are amazingly hard to watch! I thought he got out… or did he go back in?!?! He said he always wanted to be a cop and couldn’t get into the academy BECAUSE he impersonated an officer!! Talk about shooting yourself in the foot… which I’m sure he would have done at some point if he was allowed to carry a service weapon!

-B

 

[mmckenna]

Videos of that dude on his motorcycle yelling at people during his funeral processions are amazingly hard to watch! I thought he got out… or did he go back in?!?! He said he always wanted to be a cop and couldn’t get into the academy BECAUSE he impersonated an officer!! Talk about shooting yourself in the foot… which I’m sure he would have done at some point if he was allowed to carry a service weapon!

-B

I don't know, I don't follow him. It's hard to watch. Obviously in need of some psychiatric help.

 

[AK9R]

I don't know, I don't follow him. It's hard to watch. Obviously in need of some psychiatric help.

And, has very little to do with amateur radio.

 

[BMDaug]

And, has very little to do with amateur radio.

I think the point, at least my point, was just to not be a whacker. As hams, we gotta know our place, which most of the time (maybe even an entire lifetime) is NOT public safety.

The greatest regular application for a ham license in the context of public safety is being in an organization that augments comms with ham repeaters, which obviously requires a callsign. So it’s more that you are already performing a first responder role and the ham license extends your capabilities, not that a license grants you immediate first responder status. It’s just another tool in the box. Use your callsign as a tool, don’t be one!

-B

 

[alcahuete]

I think the point, at least my point, was just to not be a whacker....It’s just another tool in the box. Use your callsign as a tool, don’t be one!

Words to live by.

 

[K2KOH]

I stepped back for a while, but maintained my license. D-Star, DMR, and the Icom 705 brought me back.

 

[EricRF]

Got my novice in the late 70s, general a few years later. But could never afford any equipment, other than my dad's old Heathkit DX-20. Used my college's station a little bit. Kept renewing my license and not using it, and let it expire 20 or so years ago.

 

[N8MXL]

I got my Novice license when I was 10 and worked my way up to General by 14. I was introduced to computer programming in high school, which made me lose interest in my older hobbies. I kept my license active even though I haven't used it in over 30 years. I recently dug my dad's Elecraft K2 out of storage, which I inherited after he died. It reignited my interest and has me trying to get back on the air, although my living arrangements make setting up an antenna difficult. Interestingly, once I left the software business I started getting back into the hobbies I had prior to my introduction to the IT world. I'll add that to the list of ways my life improved after leaving that career.

 

[CHHTX]

Got my no code tech in 1994'ish in the Raleigh Durham area and promptly got a 2m/440 radio. Within about a year, I became rather disappointed. Couple of key memories: several of us were chatting on a repeater after 2am and were lectured about how one guy keeps his radio on at night to hear emergency traffic and we were keeping everyone up. Another was when I was in the truck, headed into town to go to Lowes hardware and was lectured about mentioning commercial names over the air. I tried to reason with the guy (different than the 2am mention) that I wasn't doing a commercial. I was just talking with friends about what we all were doing today. And then there were the constant radio checks where they built a better antenna from a coathanger and a pie tin than any manufacturer could create. Getting good help or questions answered was often difficult. I understand it is a hobby and home building things are a big part of it but so much of it seemed to be what you could make home-made and then it never worked quite right and you were forever fidgeting with it in the never ending quest to "fix it". And one man's home made solution was always better (& different) than anyone elses. One last annoyance was the royalty heirarchy of the area. Someone always outranked someone else because they had a higher level license and had it longer and they were sure going to tell everyone about it.

Hopefully that area was just really full of bad apples. Anyways, I sold all the radio equipment within 5yrs and let my license expire. Recently (in the past year or two) I have tested again and got it back. Still haven't bought a new radio though. I'm really just more of a listener I guess and that's why I focus on scanners.

(last edit - it wasnt ALL bad. there were good times but the bad often overshadowed them.)

 

[mmckenna]

One last annoyance was the royalty heirarchy of the area. Someone always outranked someone else because they had a higher level license and had it longer and they were sure going to tell everyone about it.

This has been a big one I noticed early on, and I notice it every now and then on this site. QRZ is famous for it.

When you run across this, remind yourself that some of these guys have health or social issues that keep them pretty well isolated from the rest of society. Ham radio can sometimes be there only interface with others. Usually most of them handle it well and are good guys. But then you always get the few that need to feel special and use license class/time in grade as a measuring stick to judge others.

For some of those, it's the only time they get to feel superior to anyone else.

I tend to let them have it. If it lets them feel good about themselves for a little bit, I might boost their day, keep them from kicking the dog etc.

It's also why I personally choose not to use my ham call as part of my identity. I share in the hobby, but that's no reason to feel superior to anyone else. I'll always have more to learn.

 

[BMDaug]

I’ll admit I’ve ‘bragged’ about my class one time to make a specific point to a specific individual, but I don’t think of myself as ‘better’ because I’m a gen as opposed to a tech. Heck, experience has way more to do with it than class or years that the license is held! I got mine in 2013 and then didn’t use it for eight years! So I hardly have two years experience and consider myself a beginner.

It’s just ham radio and it sucks to be happy where you are or working toward something greater and have someone tell you how much better they are than you for whatever reason. That’s detrimental to the entire hobby.

Remember too that there are lots of hams that did radio work for the military or for commercial before becoming hams and know WAY more about radio than their license ‘reflects’. Snobs are frustrating! You can always learn something from another ham, regardless of license class etc. That’s what makes the hobby great!! There’s so much to explore!

-B

 

[Lauri-CoyoteFrostbite]

.

".......Hopefully that area was just really full of bad apples........"

I think this bares out the dangers that faces a new Tech level licensee... that they are are pretty much ordained to operate on 2 metre's and thus restricted to repeaters-- for better or worst this can be very limiting, especially to who you will have as bad apples for radio neighbors.
Say what you will, ham radio is a hell of a lot more than 2 metre repeaters. Maybe that's all a Tech desires, but for quite a few it seems, they are stuck in a radio ghetto where they wither and die *.

About a year ago I advised an aspirant to go directly for her General Class license - to start out on HF and then- maybe -add 2 metre's.... All for this very reason. She followed my sage ** advice and quickly fell in love with the hobby thru the friendly HF national nets and the many international contacts she was making.
I am familiar with the local VHF scene where she lives and was fearful she would find about as warm a welcome on those repeaters as a turd in a punch bowl ***.
She later added a 2 metre handheld to her arsenal, but thank'd me for steering her first to HF--- what I warned her about was proving all too true.

It's a pity that tech's don't have HF privileges ****. There is--was ? a glacial-moving proposal before the Regulators to expand the Tech privileges into the HF phone bands.
Who knows ?-- maybe that will solve some of this radio induced angst-- but this change I would not hold my breath for.... the FCC moves at a brilliantly slow pace.
Meanwhile, I strongly advise any new ham to get their General Class license right from the start; get on HF and begin with some positive experiences.

Lauri






_________________________________________________________________________________________

* note the clever illusion to "apples"

** that's sarcasm----

*** Sorry

**** I know, they have a small restricted sliver of 10, plus some pathetic CW-only segments other HF bands--- CW !!!.... for crying out loud! ....what is this? ...its a throw back to Novices of the 1950's ??

 

[N8MXL]

One last annoyance was the royalty heirarchy of the area. Someone always outranked someone else because they had a higher level license and had it longer and they were sure going to tell everyone about it.

My own experience was fortunately much more positive. My dad would take me to hamfests, club meetings, and field days. All the more experienced people were always very encouraging of us beginners and there was an overall attitude of everyone being equal and on the same side. At my first field day the club paired me up with someone more experienced with CW so I could learn the ropes of contesting and improve my copying speed. Everyone was always willing to answer beginner questions and give whatever guidance I needed. It was kind of a bright spot in an otherwise very unpleasant time in my life.

About a year ago I advised an aspirant to go directly for her General Class license - to start out on HF and then- maybe -add 2 metre's.... All for this very reason. She followed my sage ** advice and quickly fell in love with the hobby thru the friendly HF national nets and the many international contacts she was making

Maybe this is part of why I had such a positive experience. I started out on HF with my Novice Class license and only added VHF/UHF a year or so later when I upgraded to Technician.

 

[EricRF]

When I was a kid I read a book titled, "Today I Am A Ham". It was a fun read for a 4th grader and the idea of Amateur Radio stuck with me.

View attachment 118116

Reading this thread, I just remembered this book. Though the cover on mine was a little older:

 

[R0am3r]

This was the book that helped me earn a Novice license in 1978. I'm still enjoying the hobby after 44 years.

 

[alcahuete]

This has been a big one I noticed early on, and I notice it every now and then on this site. QRZ is famous for it.

That's in any hobby though. I think it's just human nature.

 

[spongella]

I started listening to shortwave radio in the early '60's, got my General license in '77. My interest has waxed and waned over the decades but always kept my license. Nowadays I have no ham equipment and listen to shortwave just like I did 60+ years ago.

 

[Omega-TI]

Reading this thread, I just remembered this book. Though the cover on mine was a little older

I first read that book in junior high school, it had the exact same cover. The licensing procedure the kid went through is a lot different than todays. I remember in the book something about a limited time to upgrade from novice, and dropping the N from his callsign. If someone could get the rights to that book, and modernize it, it might inspire a few elementary age kids to pick up the radio hobby.

 

[Boombox]

Lauri Coyote said:
" **** I know, they have a small restricted sliver of 10, plus some pathetic CW-only segments other HF bands--- CW !!!.... for crying out loud! ....what is this? ...its a throw back to Novices of the 1950's ?? "

CW rules. If you're a tech, that's HF. Aside from the 10 Meter SSB segment, that right now is still iffy.

So there's that.

 

[Omega-TI]

There's always 6 meters, when the band is open it can give you a taste of DXing. Yeah, I know it's not exactly HF, but it's better than nothing.