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

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Easily fixed. We ran modems over analog lines on a hybrid PBX that had IP between sites up until recently.
And I still carry a butt set in my truck. In fact, I used it last night. I've got quite a collection now as our techs don't want to carry them anymore and give them to me.

Our OES is putting in for a grant for SHARES HF equipment. One of our PD sergeants and I are both hams and have offered to test it periodically for, uh, proper operation. Yeah. All these years of holding off on buying an HF radio might be solved thanks to a state grant.
-I love my job-

I had to pitch my fax machine a while back because my residential VoIP lines don't like the tones. You might be able to do 1200 baud, but the 9600 dial up is obsolete, at least where I am at.

 

[mmckenna]

I had to pitch my fax machine a while back because my residential VoIP lines don't like the tones. You might be able to do 1200 baud, but the 9600 dial up is obsolete, at least where I am at.

Our PBX will recognize the fax setup tones and switch to a "clear mode" 3.1KHz audio. Consumer VoIP carriers don't want to let the unwashed masses have access to all that huge amount of bandwidth. Time to build your own crossbar switch and set up your own phone company.

 

[AK9R]

One of our PD sergeants and I are both hams and have offered to test it periodically for, uh, proper operation.

You could test it the weekend of October 1-2. That's the California QSO Party. You'd give that equipment a good work out.

 

[wa8pyr]

And I still carry a butt set in my truck. In fact, I used it last night. I've got quite a collection now as our techs don't want to carry them anymore and give them to me.

Want to sell one?

 

[KevinC]

Want to sell one?

Us old timers need to stick together. I carry a butt set, TIMS, T-1 tester and solder. Only thing I'm missing is a Simpson 260.

 

[wa8pyr]

Us old timers need to stick together. I carry a butt set, TIMS, T-1 tester and solder. Only thing I'm missing is a Simpson 260.

Ha ha. I have a Simpson 260 (including the case with the roll-up door).

I've got a butt set around the house somewhere, but can't seem to locate it; don't need it often, but when I need it, I need it.

PS - there's a whole raft of Simpson 260s for decent prices on eBay right now... one of them has got to be calling your name. Get a later model that uses normal batteries (I think Model 6 or later).

 

[mmckenna]

Us old timers need to stick together. I carry a butt set, TIMS, T-1 tester and solder. Only thing I'm missing is a Simpson 260.

Check, check and check. Harris TS-21, HP TIMS, and my 25 year old T-1 tester. Only thing I don't have is the 260. I had one, but the batteries leaked and I'm not sure where it went. I do still carry and use frequently my Sidekick 7B meter. Can't be beat for copper pair fault finding.

That's one of the fun sides of ham that I find interesting, the resurrection, care and feeding of ancient test gear.

 

[AK9R]

Only thing I'm missing is a Simpson 260.

You need to get one. I think I have three plus a couple Triplett 630s. One of my 260s is the 8 Xi version. Industrial yellow housing with a yellow nylon padded carrying case. Bought it at a hamfest for $20. I like using analog meters to set voltages that vary as you adjust the pots...like bias voltages on tube amplifiers.

 

[tweiss3]

I have been hanging out on one of those 2600 threads where once hip, now very old, folks are reminiscing about the "good old days" of Blue Boxes, coin phones and BBS's. It occurred to me that the BBS world was a pretty wonderful thing and was a resilient piece of distributed infrastructure. Then I remembered modems don't work anymore because of those damn VoIP phone lines. A thought just appeared out of nowhere. Can we Hams reconstruct the BBS infrastructure and somehow link all of this, not with fancy mesh networked IP, not with AX25, but good old 9600 baud radio modems, maybe 900 MHz ISM so that the rules are lets say, a bit "fuzzy"?

BBS is still around. In fact, if I can figure out how to get it running on my Pi (my programming skills are fuzzy, and all the other writeups are rough), I plan on adding a UHF Winlink/BBS dual use gateway. There are a handful of guys north of me that run both on the same radio, but I can't reach them over the ridge.

 

[wa8pyr]

You need to get one. I think I have three plus a couple Triplett 630s. One of my 260s is the 8 Xi version. Industrial yellow housing with a yellow nylon padded carrying case. Bought it at a hamfest for $20. I like using analog meters to set voltages that vary as you adjust the pots...like bias voltages on tube amplifiers.

Or aligning radios. I've used mine many times to align old tube radios, MASTR-II repeaters, etc. Even aligned some modern QRP kits with it. Can't beat that big meter face with the needle swinging over; lots easier to keep track of than a DMM that's hopping around all the time.

 

[6079smithw]

Us old timers need to stick together. I carry a butt set, TIMS, T-1 tester and solder. Only thing I'm missing is a Simpson 260.

Hell yeah... $5.00 at a yard sale a few years back while the ladies were fighting over chafing dishes and fondue pots. My brother
borrowed the probe; hope to get it back sometime before I die... had a 260 at one time, think it got lost during a move.
Old-school gear is hard to beat.

 

[Token]

Did the hobby no longer seem "cutting edge enough" for you?
Did it get too "commercial"?
Did your favorite hang out or mode dry up and fade away?
Were there local politics that put a damper on your enthusiasm"?
Were too many of your buddies dying off?
Was it getting too expensive?
Was the XYL an issue?
Was it due to lack of time?
Did the Internet play a part in leaving Amateur Radio?

I let my license expire, and then came back to the hobby.

As a youngster I did the Novice, Conditional, General trip. Then life got in the way, military, family, career. I let the license laps. In the early 90's the wife expressed interest, my license had been inactive too long, and so we both did the Tech thing, her no code and me Tech+. Then General and Extra.

I sometimes say I have been a ham since the late 60's, but really in order to more fully explain it, it was late 60's to today taking the 80's off.

So in my case the only thing on your list that applies was "lack of time", and I corrected that issue.

T!

 

[N4GIX]

The final question seems a bit pointless, since anyone who "never looked back" is unlikely to be here to read the question!

 

[WPXS472]

This is an interesting topic. Most replies say that they never even thought of letting their Amateur license go. Some, let it go, but got back in later. I have had mine since the early 70's. At first, I wanted to talk on the local 2 meter repeater, but that wore off pretty quickly. Then, got interested in 2 meter sideband, but lacked the funds to build a station that could compete. Lost interest in ham radio, but worked in the electronics/telecommunications fields. For probably the last 20 years, the only band I have been interested in is 900 MHz. I have done a bit of experimentation there, and enjoyed most of it. I don't really care about talking anymore, and keep the license just to be able to legally transmit on my favorite band. I am getting on in years, so probably one more renewal will be it for me. Amateur radio is an interesting hobby. There is something there for almost anyone. You don't have to be interested in HF, or DXing. There are a lot of very specific fields of interest one can pursue. I have found microwave and weak signal to be fascinating, but never had the time to devote to them. Kind of wish I had.

 

[smason]

When I was a kid I read a book titled, "Today I Am A Ham".

I remember that book! In fact I was thinking about it not that long ago. I read it the mid-70s in High School when I was 15, visited a local OMs shack with a buddy shortly after and really wanted to become a Ham. Didn't actually do it until I was 28. Still remember him, his shack and that book.

 

[Thorndike113]

You don't have to be interested in HF, or DXing.

You are very correct. The issue comes when 90% or more of hams in your area don't bother with the bands you love or just don't use them much at all. I've always dreamt of setting up simplex systems where you crossband and link stations together. So instead of relying on repeaters (lets say the grid goes down) you can rely on equipment that all the hams have at their locations. Around my area, repeaters are used when quick local communication is needed. For the most part, Hams use HF only to communicate full time between each other even if they are in the same town. What I have noticed is that it also depends on what part of the country you are in. The northeast part of the US is dead when it comes to bands above 10 meters compared to other parts of the country. Go down to Texas or California and they have much more activity on 2 meters and above. I've been told to my face by many that HF is where its at. If I refuse to upgrade and go to HF, Ham radio is going to be pretty quiet for what I want. I find that real sad because, like you said, and I totally agree, There is something there for almost anyone. I have to also say that each and every part of Ham radio serves a valuable purpose. Hams need not all crawl off to only one part of Ham Radio and stop using the rest.

 

[popnokick]

You are very correct. The issue comes when 90% or more of hams in your area don't bother with the bands you love or just don't use them much at all. I've always dreamt of setting up simplex systems where you crossband and link stations together. So instead of relying on repeaters (lets say the grid goes down) you can rely on equipment that all the hams have at their locations. Around my area, repeaters are used when quick local communication is needed. For the most part, Hams use HF only to communicate full time between each other even if they are in the same town. What I have noticed is that it also depends on what part of the country you are in. The northeast part of the US is dead when it comes to bands above 10 meters compared to other parts of the country. Go down to Texas or California and they have much more activity on 2 meters and above. I've been told to my face by many that HF is where its at. If I refuse to upgrade and go to HF, Ham radio is going to be pretty quiet for what I want. I find that real sad because, like you said, and I totally agree, There is something there for almost anyone. I have to also say that each and every part of Ham radio serves a valuable purpose. Hams need not all crawl off to only one part of Ham Radio and stop using the rest.

You're missing a major component in your assessment of current ham activity: DIGITAL (both voice and text modes).

 

[Thorndike113]

You're missing a major component in your assessment of current ham activity: DIGITAL (both voice and text modes).

Oh I include that. I actually only use digital voice because analog is just about totally dead in my area. Digital voice is about the same but at least I can connect with those outside my area. Digital voice is so dead that I heard one guy trying to get his last few contacts to complete his 50 state list or whatever it is in contesting terms and he made a comment about how dead my state or region was because he couldn't make any contact. I wasn't able to get back to him because I monitored it on hoseline for Brandmeister and had multiple groups going at once. Even digital has died down in the last year. I know on Brandmeister, the only regions I hear call signs from the most are 3,4,5,6,7,8, and 0. On occasion I hear some 2 and 9 calls and on a rare occasion a 1 call. Supposedly fusion is getting "huge" in my area but I hardly hear anyone on there unless there is a net. As for text modes, I am not familiar with it nor have I heard any hams around me raving about it. Most hams in my area are scared of or really irritated at anything digital because its too hard. Eh, I guess its easier to just push a couple buttons, turn a knob, and yell CQ several times. Personally I want to hear the voice modes on the upper bands come alive again whether they be digital or analog.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

So many digital voice modes to choose from. Problem is, you are sort of locked into choosing one based on the commercial hardware you own.

D-STAR
DMR
P-25
Fusion (C4FM)
FreeDV
etc....

The analog modes remain the ones that are inter operable.

 

[N1XDS]

I'm a license amatuer radio operator still but rarely ever listen to the active frequencies around here just haven't time to listen or scan around and see what is being said. There is a bunch of Analog/Dstar and DMR repeaters in the area but some keep it active and some don't. I may let my license expire on its own thinking about it.