What kind of listener are you ?

[TAC4]

I think we all fall into some of these categories if not all lol

1-GEAR HEAD This type of person has way to many radios according to the misses and is constantly buying and selling radios all the time. This person has no room in there shack and suffers from GAS day and night.

2-ANTENNA/PERFORMANCE JOCKEY This type of person is constantly tweaking there existing antenna, building homebrew
antennas and buying new ones in hope of squeezing every S unit
out of there signal. This type of listener typically has an
ANTENNA FARM. lol

3-DXER This listener spends endless hours spinning the dial
up and down the band in hopes of finding that elusive 1Kw
station in the Philippines. This listener is always wearing
HEADPHONES.

4-VINTAGE HEAD This listener has and collects vintage tube radios. This listener has at least one or more HALLICRAFTER radios in there shack.

5-SOFTWARE GEEK This listener is big into SDR software,
digital decoding software, weather satellite decoding software.
This listener typically has MULTIPLE COMPUTERS AND SCREENS in there shack.

6-EBAY FLIPPER Typically this person is not really a listener. This person is often seen in thrift stores and estate sales buying up radio gear on the cheap
in hopes of making a huge profit on eBay. These people are important because they do the leg work and creat the SUPPLY
and we are the DEMAND.

In the 40 years I have been in the radio 📻 hobby I have been all these types of listeners at one point or another and would not change a thing !

Skippy 🇨🇦

 

[AB5ID]

You also need a THEORY GEEK 🤓—someone who enjoys learning more about radios and how they work than actually using them. They used to experiment and make circuit modifications with harebrained schemes just to see what would happen. But since the invention of the internet, they spend more time reading articles and sharing ideas on hobby radio forums than time spent with actual hardware.

 

[merlin]

I fall into "1" way overboard, last thing I need is more radios.
> 2. Deffinately an antenna nerd, got 3 projects on the plate now. No real estate for my dream antenna farm.
> 3. When i need a break from the bench, you find me going through VLF through V low band.
> 4. Not so much glow in the dark stuff the last couple decades, but gladly take an HQ-180 or R-390 at a good deal.
> 5. I have that too, compliments #3
> 6. Nope, these sorts drive prices in to orbit.
I am a genuine old school radio hacker. Result of 3 decades in the trade including aerospace. Now a retired hobby.
I'm with AB5ID.

 

[KB2GOM]

I think we all fall into some of these categories if not all lol

1-GEAR HEAD This type of person has way to many radios according to the misses and is constantly buying and selling radios all the time. This person has no room in there shack and suffers from GAS day and night.

2-ANTENNA/PERFORMANCE JOCKEY This type of person is constantly tweaking there existing antenna, building homebrew
antennas and buying new ones in hope of squeezing every S unit
out of there signal. This type of listener typically has an
ANTENNA FARM. lol

3-DXER This listener spends endless hours spinning the dial
up and down the band in hopes of finding that elusive 1Kw
station in the Philippines. This listener is always wearing
HEADPHONES.

4-VINTAGE HEAD This listener has and collects vintage tube radios. This listener has at least one or more HALLICRAFTER radios in there shack.

5-SOFTWARE GEEK This listener is big into SDR software,
digital decoding software, weather satellite decoding software.
This listener typically has MULTIPLE COMPUTERS AND SCREENS in there shack.

6-EBAY FLIPPER Typically this person is not really a listener. This person is often seen in thrift stores and estate sales buying up radio gear on the cheap
in hopes of making a huge profit on eBay. These people are important because they do the leg work and creat the SUPPLY
and we are the DEMAND.

In the 40 years I have been in the radio 📻 hobby I have been all these types of listeners at one point or another and would not change a thing !

Skippy 🇨🇦

I am a CONTENT DXer, constantly looking for "interesting" stuff to listen to, whether it is on the shortwave bands, SSB utlities, or the ham bands or even on my scanners.

 

[Token]

I think we all fall into some of these categories if not all lol

Hmmm, I don't see Mil / Utility listener there anywhere.

T!

 

[joncleve]

Then there is the dial spinner, a quick sweep from one end to the other just to get a feel of what's out there, not really listening to anything. I know a few of these, sort of like the TV channel changer.

 

[13dka]

That list is more like asking "what kind of radio buyer/owner are you". There used to be traditional categories for listeners ranging from "program (broadcast) listeners" with little to no interest in the technical side of shortwave to "DXers" in various sub-categories with a varying tendency to be tinkerers, but these categories didn't fit most people even back then. Today we have even more categories, for example the surprisingly high number of people seemingly buying shortwave radios just for endlessly monitoring the "buzzer".

 

[bearcatrp]

I am number 3. Enjoy starting from the bottom and working up.

 

[Token]

I think we all fall into some of these categories if not all lol

1-GEAR HEAD This type of person has way to many radios according to the misses and is constantly buying and selling radios all the time. This person has no room in there shack and suffers from GAS day and night.

OK, this fits me pretty well except I almost never sell radios. Once I get one I tend to keep it. Except for the duplicates, I sometimes sell dups when I acquire them.

2-ANTENNA/PERFORMANCE JOCKEY This type of person is constantly tweaking there existing antenna, building homebrew
antennas and buying new ones in hope of squeezing every S unit
out of there signal. This type of listener typically has an
ANTENNA FARM. lol

This one also fits me, there are currently 17 HF antennas in use here.

3-DXER This listener spends endless hours spinning the dial
up and down the band in hopes of finding that elusive 1Kw
station in the Philippines. This listener is always wearing
HEADPHONES.

This one fits, except I am not looking for the elusive low power BC station, rather the illusive low power utility station.

4-VINTAGE HEAD This listener has and collects vintage tube radios. This listener has at least one or more HALLICRAFTER radios in there shack.

This one fits me. Among many others, I still have the first Hallicrafters I got in the 1960's.

5-SOFTWARE GEEK This listener is big into SDR software,
digital decoding software, weather satellite decoding software.
This listener typically has MULTIPLE COMPUTERS AND SCREENS in there shack.

Errrrr...

And that image is from 6 or 7 years ago, I don't remember the exact number, but there were 10'ish SDRs in use at the time the picture was taken, it is even worse now. That image is of the listening shack in the living room, not the ham shack in a converted bedroom. SO this "station" is TX lite, and RX heavy.

6-EBAY FLIPPER Typically this person is not really a listener. This person is often seen in thrift stores and estate sales buying up radio gear on the cheap
in hopes of making a huge profit on eBay. These people are important because they do the leg work and creat the SUPPLY
and we are the DEMAND.

This is the only one that does not fit me. While I occasionally buy on Ebay, I have never sold a radio on Ebay. I do, occasionally, do as described in person though, buy cheap, repair, sell locally.

In the 40 years I have been in the radio 📻 hobby I have been all these types of listeners at one point or another and would not change a thing !

Skippy 🇨🇦

I would say pretty much all of these fit me today, with the possible exception of #6.

T!

 

[TAC4]

OK, this fits me pretty well except I almost never sell radios. Once I get one I tend to keep it. Except for the duplicates, I sometimes sell dups when I acquire them.



This one also fits me, there are currently 17 HF antennas in use here.



This one fits, except I am not looking for the elusive low power BC station, rather the illusive low power utility station.



This one fits me. Among many others, I still have the first Hallicrafters I got in the 1960's.



Errrrr...

View attachment 157905

And that image is from 6 or 7 years ago, I don't remember the exact number, but there were 10'ish SDRs in use at the time the picture was taken, it is even worse now. That image is of the listening shack in the living room, not the ham shack in a converted bedroom. SO this "station" is TX lite, and RX heavy.



This is the only one that does not fit me. While I occasionally buy on Ebay, I have never sold a radio on Ebay. I do, occasionally, do as described in person though, buy cheap, repair, sell locally.



I would say pretty much all of these fit me today, with the possible exception of #6.

T!

Stunning shack

 

[TAC4]

Hmmm, I don't see Mil / Utility listener there anywhere.

T!

Oops I did not put a Utility listener category because I thought you guys gave up on that a long time ago because everything is encrypted and it is just a waste of time. Even the CW is encrypted lollll just kidding.

Skippy 🇨🇦

 

[cc333]

3-DXER This listener spends endless hours spinning the dial
up and down the band in hopes of finding that elusive 1Kw
station in the Philippines. This listener is always wearing
HEADPHONES.

I would say this describes me more or less, although I really only do it part time, picking up a radio and tuning around every now and then as time allows. I will tune anywhere from LW to the top of the HF bands, but my main interest lies in MW DXing.

I don't have an amateur license (yet...), so I don't Tx anything other than unlicensed Part 15 experimentations on MW.

c

 

[kk9h]

I think we all fall into some of these categories if not all lol

1-GEAR HEAD This type of person has way to many radios according to the misses and is constantly buying and selling radios all the time. This person has no room in there shack and suffers from GAS day and night.

2-ANTENNA/PERFORMANCE JOCKEY This type of person is constantly tweaking there existing antenna, building homebrew
antennas and buying new ones in hope of squeezing every S unit
out of there signal. This type of listener typically has an
ANTENNA FARM. lol

3-DXER This listener spends endless hours spinning the dial
up and down the band in hopes of finding that elusive 1Kw
station in the Philippines. This listener is always wearing
HEADPHONES.

4-VINTAGE HEAD This listener has and collects vintage tube radios. This listener has at least one or more HALLICRAFTER radios in there shack.

5-SOFTWARE GEEK This listener is big into SDR software,
digital decoding software, weather satellite decoding software.
This listener typically has MULTIPLE COMPUTERS AND SCREENS in there shack.

6-EBAY FLIPPER Typically this person is not really a listener. This person is often seen in thrift stores and estate sales buying up radio gear on the cheap
in hopes of making a huge profit on eBay. These people are important because they do the leg work and creat the SUPPLY
and we are the DEMAND.

In the 40 years I have been in the radio 📻 hobby I have been all these types of listeners at one point or another and would not change a thing !

Skippy 🇨🇦

I guess I’m closest to 3-DXER, but I can’t say that I spend endless hours spinning the dial and I only occasionally use headphones. I am a ham and I enjoy working DX.

 

[Omega-TI]

My category is not listed, I come under the "Part Time Casual Listener" heading. I have too many hobbies to divide my time around so get hot and heavy for a few days then rotate into something else and come back to listening when it suits my fancy.

 

[Boombox]

Closest thing I am is #3, although I'm not really a DXer. I tune the SWBC bands from bottom to top (mainly the 31, 49, 41 and 25 M bands) and log what I hear, whether domestic or otherwise. I'll stop and listen if something sounds interesting, even if it's foreign language. Grab a book, drink my tea, and I always use headphones.

I do much the same with the MW band, where I probably have been more of an actual DXer... I also scan through the HF ham bands, including the CW sections, seeing how conditions are. I suppose I'm more of a propagation monitor and sometime program listener than anything else.

I have a lot of portables, no external antenna since the last one blew down (life got in the way which is why a new one hasn't been erected yet -- maybe this summer). Couldn't say I'm a gear junkie because high performance gear really doesn't appeal, I'd rather see what I can hear with the more plebian gear that I have.

 

[CcSkyEye]

My category is not listed, I come under the "Part Time Casual Listener" heading. I have too many hobbies to divide my time around so get hot and heavy for a few days then rotate into something else and come back to listening when it suits my fancy.

Add one more to this column.

 

[RichardKramer]

Mil/Utilities; I have a notebook full of logs from AF1/2 from the 70s & 80s.

 

[Blackswan73]

I’m mostly a broadcast pirate hunter. These are some of the best DX targets on shortwave these days. They are usually low powered, operate on various frequencies and have broadcasts of short duration. I also like to roam the SWBC bands looking for that elusive broadcast from a domestic station in a distant country

B.S.

 

[sunwave]

I think we all fall into some of these categories if not all lol

1-GEAR HEAD This type of person has way to many radios according to the misses and is constantly buying and selling radios all the time. This person has no room in there shack and suffers from GAS day and night.

2-ANTENNA/PERFORMANCE JOCKEY This type of person is constantly tweaking there existing antenna, building homebrew
antennas and buying new ones in hope of squeezing every S unit
out of there signal. This type of listener typically has an
ANTENNA FARM. lol

3-DXER This listener spends endless hours spinning the dial
up and down the band in hopes of finding that elusive 1Kw
station in the Philippines. This listener is always wearing
HEADPHONES.

4-VINTAGE HEAD This listener has and collects vintage tube radios. This listener has at least one or more HALLICRAFTER radios in there shack.

5-SOFTWARE GEEK This listener is big into SDR software,
digital decoding software, weather satellite decoding software.
This listener typically has MULTIPLE COMPUTERS AND SCREENS in there shack.

6-EBAY FLIPPER Typically this person is not really a listener. This person is often seen in thrift stores and estate sales buying up radio gear on the cheap
in hopes of making a huge profit on eBay. These people are important because they do the leg work and creat the SUPPLY
and we are the DEMAND.

In the 40 years I have been in the radio 📻 hobby I have been all these types of listeners at one point or another and would not change a thing !

Skippy 🇨🇦

I consider myself #5
I scan through ham frequencies for DX using my RSP1b and MLA 30+ loop because there are hams in countries that have no shortwave broadcasters. On CB band I use a 9ft wire on 1:9 balun.

 

[krokus]

#6 doesn't apply to me, but the others do, to varying degrees. I like having newer models for VHF/UHF stuff, collect some vintage radios, and want to explore more with SDR.