Things You Like About Amatuer Radio

[KI4MBK]

I like the way of amateur radio, where you can actually sit down have a nice good conversation with out having someone chewing your butt out for some reason or another. Also since im kinda still new at amatuer radio im getting the basics down and still got a long way to go. My son is helping me learn some of the call basic's like when you want to talk to the person on the frequency you have to say the person's call sign then say your name and your call sign.

[KC0KBH]

RAGCHEWING! I can talk all day long about nearly anything! I love to talk. I also love PSK31, commercial radios, computers, and pagers.

[ai4ep]

I dont have an amatUEr radio, I have an amateur radio.

Seriously I like amateur radio for several reasons...one being that ..after all the hard I work I put into learning all this information, plus learning morse code...I get to legally talk to all these great other folks without worrying about some cb snitch telling on me to the fcc for talking over 150 miles, and half the time I am using 50 watts or less to talk across the continent, or even an ocean. Oh sure, there is a LID or two every now and then, but most of those situations are more dumb than worth getting angry over. Plus they dont last THAT long.

About a half dozen folks I have talked to recognise my call from this site, and all have been nice ( you know who you are ) while on-the-air & in person.

Some one was telling me that " you put as much effort and time into studying for all the tests and learning morse code as you would for a college course, if not more "....so mentioning on a job application that you are an amateur radio operator might impress a person at a job who does the hiring...they might THINK if you are THAT determined to be an EXTRA class operator that you could be that determined to be a good employee for his company. { there is another incentive for some of you to upgrade }.

Plus if you talk on cb, you CAN still do that, but it just as much FUN as talking on the amateur frequencies.I still use my cb, mostly for giving directions, etc to others.

But amateur radio is just so much FUN .In a polite type of way.

[KC9GUZ]

What do i like about ham radio??
Well, The friendly folks that are willing to give a helping hand when one needs help.
Encoragement when one is upgrading from NCT to General or Extra. Ive yet to find anyone that has refused to give me some pointers in getting the code down!

One can talk using power up to 1500 watts.

Talking DX LEGALLY!

You can tinker on your own gear legally.

You can learn something new every day.
http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[w4ass]

same here , love the ragchewing , and the friendy people ive met on the radio , ive just got back into it after a 3yr 's of being away due to health and it has not changed like other bands ( i dare not say), and now i have my gen written down ive been studying my code and decoverd how fun morse can be from listening to code on other bands and cant belive what ive been missing .

before i got sick and had my other call n2pvv i used to climb towers for other hams ,and thought that was a ball of fun ,and the meeting of hams on field day , so ham radio has changed my life alot


73's bob

[WA2ZDY]

Mainly I enjoy ragchewing on CW. Secondly I enjoy trying to help folks out on here. I don't know that I often have the best info but it sure is fun trying. It's a "feel good" experience for me.

And I don't mind being able to use my collection of stuff on the air just for the sake of doing it either.

[n0ov]

Meeting decent people who still have ethics, values, are willing to help each other without an expectation of getting something in return, and used light hearted humor and coaching to make new folks feel welcome, encourage learning, and become better operators. #Folks that are not afraid to support the troops (and say so) and measure marrage in years vs months or days. Folks that say "God Bless You" and do so to actually wish you well, not to jam their religious beliefs on you. #Folks that no matter how bad things get are there and can be called friends. #(Not a qualification for being an Amateur Radio operator, however, it is a trend I've noticed in the nicer folks I've met in this hobby.)

Believe it or not, there are still quite a few folks out there that fit this mold.

Unfortunately there's the flip side -- which we won't talk about, don't want to side track a positive thread

[KE5FRF]

My draw to being an amateur radio operator is mostly technically based, but all the other things that go along with it are there too. I am fascinated by electronic circuits, and I enjoy learning about what makes them "tick". This interest goes back to the first time I opened up a CB radio, and experienced the "smell" of an energized electronic circuit for the first time. It doesn't matter how much I know now about electronics after 15 years of training, the mystery is still as fresh today as it was then.

Honestly, I am not a big talker/ragchewer. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy making QSOs and checking into nets. But a lot of times I just sandbag and listen. The mystery of different forms of propogation intrigues me, so when I upgrade my license, DXing will certainly be part of my regular activities. The "Service" part of amateur radio is also a plus for me. During Katrina and Rita I was eager to help out any way I could.

....But the draw that brought me here and will always keep me here is my desire to constantly learn new things and expand my technical knowledge.

[KB3KCJ]

My favorite about the hobby is people. #By and large for the most part, every one that I have ragchewed with or met have been great people. #Personalities are so diversified and opinions. #There are new (young and old) #and not so new (young and old) operators who always seem willing to lend a helping hand. #I got into the hobby late in life and only wish I had started much, much earlier. #If you look for the BAD you will find the BAD; however if you look for the GOOD you will find a lot of GOOD also. #Ragchew, repeater, code, psk or whatever - this hobby has it all. #Everyone has a chance without having to have trillions of dollars. #Sure, we all make mistakes, but that is what makes us humans and ham radio is a good place to help someone else or get help yourself. #Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[N3ATS]

Meeting people. I've met all kinds of neat people on the air. Some quasi-famous, radio personalities, etc.

Hearing quality audio.

Experimenting and tinkering. Almost anything goes!

[w8cbc]

Experimenting and tinkering are big with me too. I like the informal roundtables in 80 and 160. Making it across the ocean with my limited setup is cool. I'm another one who's fascinated by propagation. And, finally, a hundred watts into a thousand ft. of end-fed wire will do amazing things. I'll have my next go at that scenario in April. Am waiting impatiently.

[kl7aj]

160 meters. There's always some surprise there....some unexplored little cranny. Always someone running AM or some homebrew. And DX stations WITHOUT pileups. The trick is just BEING there. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

eric

[W5HTW]

W0PEE said it pretty well. I like giving aid when I am able, though I readily admit I am not much into the digital world. Can't help often in troubleshooting digital circuitry. But then few can, which is why we have "board swap" technicians. Fine with me. I prefer the old discrete component stuff, but who wants to learn that today? So my teaching days are pretty much over. I loved them while they lasted!

With that mostly gone, I enjoy the personal skill of CW. Unless I lose an arm or hand, I'll stick with it using a paddle and keyer, as a keyboard is "cheating" to me! Just my opinion, though. The paddle makes it a personal skill since I have to know how to form the characters, and that to me is like the day I learned to ride a bicycle. Wow, I was seven years old, and got a brand new 26" (adult sized) Schwinn Roadmaster for Christmas. And I got in the back yard and learned to ride that thing. Right now I remember the day I first went about 20 feet forward without falling over.

I love the achievement. It didn't make me an elitist to get the Extra, either. It made me simply a person who met a challenge. And I liked that. Have met many challenges in my lifetime - learning to repair sports cars, ride motorcycles, fly an airplane, drive a tractor-trailer, swim - dozens of them. Some came down the pike and I couldn't hack it, but others came along and I did.

Ham radio took me there. Modifying military surplus gear to make it into useful ham gear. Repairing my radios. Stringing up antennas and making them work. Learning electronics theory. Learning Morse code.

I guess what I like about ham radio is it is still challenging, after nearly 50 years in it. That weak one on 40 CW is one I'd like to talk to. That noisy net on 75 is one I'd like to get into. That 75 meter roundtable discussing Ford versus Chevy versus Dodge trucks is one I'd like to get into.

As long as it is a challenge, I'll probably stick to it. Many things I don't like about it today, but they are not things I am forced to do. What I enjoy, I can do. What I don't enjoy, can slide by.

I miss the old fraternity. I miss the comraderie that went with ham radio in the 50s through the early 70s. I miss the friendliness that was given every ham, not just the ones of the "class I prefer."

But then I miss unlocked house doors, and cars parked with the keys in them, and biscuits and gravy with fried chicken every Sunday. I miss girls with below the knee skirts and white bobby socks. I miss 1950 Fords, and that old Schwinn. I miss the Windom strung across the valley, and the breadboarded transmitter and homemade receiver. I miss high school ham clubs, and the Viking I. I miss Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison. I miss Dinah Shore on a snowy black and white TV. I miss flat tires and changing and repairing a tire beside the road. Uh, no, I don't actually miss that, come to think of it! I miss 27 cents a gallon gasoline, when the 12 bucks a week I made working part time after school not only put gas in the car and took a gal on a date, but made the payments on my Hallicrafters S-85, my first-ever credit purchase!

So times do change. Some say change is good.

Well, maybe.

Ed

[k7unz]

It's MAGIC! #That's what I love about it.

It was magic to me 45+ years ago, and it still is today!

Jim/k7unz http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[KI4MBK]

I see alot of amateur's that posted in this thread who been lincensed for sometime now. For my choosing of my upcoming purchase im looking at the Kenwood Tm-V708a 2/440 dual band radio. For antenna I prolly will choose a dual bander either from comet for my first choice or from mfj dont know yet. Guys question for anyone of you guys and ladies if there's maybe like 3 to 5 people listen on frequency 145.65
perhaps who would be the person that is responsible of everyone passing the cueso around? I heard of this term before while listen to one of the local frequencys when I lived in Orlando Fl.

[ai4ep]

...and if you thought amateur radio operators got upset about high prices for USED equipment --- you should listen to the ole cb radio. These folks that bought all these $300 - $ 600 10-11-12 meter mobiles and amplifiers and cant balance a budget cant sell them now for $50 or more. No one wants to buy their junk. I heard of a 400 watt mobile cb amplifier being sold in Decatur yesterday for $20 at the Pilot truck stop at the intersection of i-65 and ala hwy 67, and it worked good ( I heard it ). It IS amazing the " bad luck " stories you can hear, both on amateur AND cb bands around every year from Thanksgiving through about the middle of February....and no 2 meters is not an exception. You can hear just as many on your local repeater as on cb channel 19 .....folks spending money on some one they wont have nothing to do with 3 years and 2 kids later.

Pawn shops are stocking up on all kinds of goodies that no one will come back for next year. The folks who run them can usually tell the type that WILL return for their pawned goods when they walk in the door.

and best of all, YOU didnt need an amateur radio to read this.

oh, dont forget ---MERRY CHRISTMAS !!

ai4ep

[N4QX]

I like that with modest equipment, low power, and an inconspicuous antenna, I can engage in local or long distance communications without relying on someone else's infrastructure, using darn near whatever mode I feel like and several more I don't feel like but am glad are there.

When one stops to think about the wonder of it all, it really puts the relative insignificance of the mode battles or the morse testing wars in perspective.

[wa9cwx]

Magic.
43 years ago/today. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[W4LTM]

For me it is getting a piece of vintage tube equipment and opening it up to find it is original (and not modified beyond recognition) and just waiting on a good cleaning, replacement caps, a few resistors, a fresh alignment and ultimately putting it back on the air.

Now if I can just find a darn Power Supply for that Harvey Wells TBS-50... (no I do not want to make one I would just like to have the complete station with the matching VFO as seen in the Handbook.

The hunt is also fun for me. You know, searching for that component part or piece of gear and finally finding it It took me a year, but I found that pristine Hammarlund Four-11 Modulator.

Nice topic BTW.

Edit - Oh, and breaking through a huge pileup is darn satisfying as well.

73,
Matt
W4LTM

[KI4CIA]

Quote[/b] (wa9cwx @ Dec. 15 2005,14:46)]Magic.
43 years ago/today. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Happy 43rd anniversary!

[KI4CIA]

There’s always something new to try … and there’s something for everyone ...

1. Storm spotting
2. Emergency communications
3. Net control
4. Traffic
5. CW
6. Ragchewing
7. Awards – DXCC, WAS, etc.
8. other digital modes
9. Homebrew
10. LEARNING!


There’s probably many, many more … this is just the sequence I’ve taken - My 2006 resolution is to tackle items 7 + (not particularly in that order). I’ve only been in amateur radio for a couple of years, add a couple of months to that and that’s how long I’ve known what the hobby was all about!! I have my husband to thank for that.

[KI4BNC]

You never know who you are going to meet!!

[w8cbc]

W4LTM: Quote[/b] ]Edit - Oh, and breaking through a huge pileup is darn satisfying as well.

...especially when it's full of kilowatt ops with high-gain beams and you've only got 100 watts into an end-fed wire. Very nice indeed. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Running the Apache in an AM ragchew roundtable is a Sunday afternoon's enjoyment that I hope never to give up.

[N5LRZ]

What I like the most is the math, the numbers....

Per QRZ there are 675274 amateurs licensed in the US and its territories. There are how many people in the US? What percentage of that population is a legal licensed amateur operator?

Thats what I like the most, being hmmmm one of the privledged few. The perks if you will.

Comming in Second would be the paper collecting--gotta keep that hole in the wall covered.

R Arceneaux
N5LRZ

[WA2ZDY]

Melinda, I notice you keep coming up with some of the better answers to "perspective" questions. You didn't major in philosophy did you?

[KI4CIA]

Quote[/b] (WA2ZDY @ Dec. 16 2005,11:15)]Melinda, I notice you keep coming up with some of the better answers to "perspective" questions. #You didn't major in philosophy did you?
You're joking, right? Me? Philosophy? Not hardly ... I just work for lawyers so I guess I'm getting better at BS than I thought http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif


Thanks for the compliment though http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[KI4ITV]

I like the exposure I have to the people of 'vintage' and their perspectives on the hobby and life in general.
There is also alot of really neat stuff to make, trade, or buy if your a gadget geek like me. #And there are enough different aspects to this hobby that you'll find it hard to do all of it.
Amateur radio has also added another dimension of mystery to what my neighbors and friends perceive as my rather legendary strangeness. #Sitting on the roof of my shop with a 3 element yagi while trying to listen in on a satilite does wonders for the neighborhood gossip. lol
ki4itv
http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif
...And I look really great in a Tinfoil Hat!

[WA2ZDY]

"Gadget geek." I like that term. It fits a lot of us better than we'd care to admit. Another way to describe the need for gadgets is to bring up the "thrill of the chase."

I can't tell you how much stuff I have that I just HAD TO HAVE. But once I had it, it sat, unused. I wonder if any other folks want to confess to that syndrome here.

This must be why I've got a couple dozen Motorola HTs around here. I just had to get them but then once the chase was over, so went the thrill. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the fact that I have them, but most don't get nearly the use I expected they would when I was shelling out the cash to pay for them.

Gadget geek. Must be why so many of us have multiple HF rigs and such too.

[K0RGR]

I like the magic and the blinking lights. There is always something new.

[ai4ep]

I like the knowledge that when there is 9 s units of racket on cb channel 19, that all I have to do is come to 10 meters ssb and usually find the band open . Really, it usually IS like that around here.

[w8cbc]

15 metres mobile. The RAC winter contest woke the band up today. 10 contacts for me in under an hour, I worked everyone I could hear. That was nice.

[ai4ep]

The title of this thread is " things you like about amateur radio ".

Associating with all of you fine folks.

Simple & to the point.

73

AI4EP

[n8yx]

Building stuff and repairing Olde Boate Anchorz... http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[n8yx]

Quote[/b] (ai4ep @ Dec. 18 2005,07:03)]Associating with all of you fine folks.
Unless we bring up POSSUMS... http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[KD8CHM]

If you have a mobile radio, you will find it very useful. I have used mine for direction alot! If you have firends on the air, you can get alot out of it. I love it! Welcome aboard! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[K8AG]

I get the biggest blast out of QRP contacts hunderds and even thousnds of miles away. #Imagining my little signal, half the power of a Christmas tree lightbulb, reaching someone a few thousand #miles away by bouncing off of the planet's ionosphere using a wire antenna and homebuilt gear... #Doesn't get any better than that.

72, K8AG

[WA2ZDY]

AG, that is called the magic that attracted us when we were kids. That magic, the awe, the mystique, is what's missing these days.

How can kids today feel the mystique? When I got my ticket in 1975, radio was still magic. The idea that I could hear signals from far away . . . wow. I remember the first portable 2m rig I saw. I was awestruck that such a thing could exist. TV signals from overseas still had the caption "live via satellite" on them. And Maxwell Smart's shoe phone was a hilarious joke and nothing more.

Now kids have cell phones - full duplex digital transceivers - in their pockets. Every other house has a satellite dish and the kids who don't have cell phones have FRS walkie talkies.

The mystique for too many is too abstract to feel. THAT is why ham radio is getting older.

[N1MLF]

My first exposure to ham radio was from our local mailman. Ellis WA1FXC was a brass pounder and I enjoied the talks we has about the folks & far away places he had talked. As I grew older, like many others, cars.. girls.. music.. military time etc put ham radio on the back burner.
In the 70's I had a renewed interest & got my Novice call KA1GUA but again life took me to sea and I let it lapse with very little activity.
In the early 90's I had another go at it.. passed the tech & CW but couldnt get to the magic 13 for the general. Then after CW was relaxed I took the theory & aced it. Currently I'm working on Extra & if I ever meet Mr. Smith he's gotta can of whooparse comin courtesy of yours truly..LOL
Education is my first enjoyment of the hobby.. Any day that *I* learn something then it's not a day wasted. Helping others..directly or indirectly. The wonderful folks I have met on the air and in person. Keeping the smoke contained. Tinkering & the list goes on & on.
I cant think of any other hobby that offers so much and asks so little.
There's my .02 worth.
Great thread..
JW

[kg4kww]

What I like about amateur radio is all the nice people that tell you in so many words you are a nobody if you don't pass code, anotherwords, you are a non person (non ham). http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[wa9cwx]

Who was speaking?
Did anyone hear something?

[KI4BNC]

I like also the fact that I am not the only one with a cluttered (putting it excessively mildly!!)desk.

[kc7jty]

Being able to sock it to the stuffed shirt pro codies on QRZ.

[ai4ep]

Being able to sock it to the anti - code folks in real life on hf.

[KI4MBK]

Interesting 2 post above mine http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[vu2kds]

Really I like amatuer radio. When I first heard about this thro' OM VU2RM idid'nt believe. That time he was in a QSO thro' satellite with funny antennae on his roof. Later I got trained by vu2WC got my ticket in 1986. After a long gap I am on air with a home brew QRP (5W) rig of single band(20mtr) developed by VU2RM. Talking to DX stations is really a fun. Later VU2NXM helped me by providing a good radio. Trying different kinds of antenna is very interesting. Mostly I will be on air in the week ends.

[w5ljm]

Tom T. Hall
"I Love"

I love little baby ducks, old pick-up trucks, slow-moving trains, and rain
I love little country streams, sleep without dreams, sunday school in may,
And hay
And I love you too

I love leaves in the wind, pictures of my friends, birds in the world, and squirrels
I love coffee in a cup, little fuzzy pups, bourbon in a glass, and grass and I love you too

I love honest open smiles, kisses from a child, tomatoes on the vine, and onions
I love winners when they cry, losers when they try, music when it’s good, and life
And I love you too
**********************************************
I like raghew with good friends. W5LJM http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[kg4kww]

Like I said before; What I like about amateur radio is all the nice people that tell you in so many words you are a nobody if you don't pass code, anotherwords, you are a non person (non ham). http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[ai4ep]

...the folks who ( by their own lack of effort ) remain cry babies through all the years and chances to upgrade....and the folks who tried real hard, and got to the top, only to discover those tests really are not THAT hard.

[W2LYS]

I liked going to my very first field day, going up to the GOTA station, acting like a complete dumba$$ with the radio even trying to talk into the wrong side of the microphone...

Then I told the guy who was running the GOTA station my name... we'd talked on the air on the local repeaters many times before. He actually enjoyed that I got him so well...

Ah, the fun you can have with radio. He'll probably get me back someday...

[WA2ZDY]

Quote[/b] (kg4kww @ Dec. 21 2005,19:19)]anotherwords,
Ummmm . . . #Do you mean "in other words?" # I last worked in the prison a year ago. My fluency in "foreign" tongues is diminishing.

Quote[/b] (w2lys @ Dec. 21 2005, 21;09)]
I liked going to my very first field day, going up to the GOTA station, acting like a complete dumba$$ with the radio even trying to talk into the wrong side of the microphone...

My favourite stunt is going to a field day site where I'm not known, or where only one or two guys who know my sense of humour are and ask something like "are you fellers really able to talk skip with your big CB radidios and do you have big 20 pill kickers?" I can keep I can keep that going for a good hour. A few times I've left without ever telling them who I really was. It's more fun watching some new guy who's a CBer at heart himself trying to resist the urge to go Stockholm Syndrome with me - his compadre in illegality!

[AB8UU]

Quote[/b] ]
Like I said before; What I like about amateur radio is all the nice people that tell you in so many words you are a nobody if you don't pass code, anotherwords, you are a non person (non ham).
Come on already,
PLEASE not another code/no code thread.
If you like it, great, keep it alive on the air.
If not, stop whining about those who do.

Ok now

I like 40M CW and SSB, and the 2M/70CM repeater ragchews in this area.

[kc7jty]

Quote[/b] (AB8UU @ Dec. 21 2005,12:31)]If you like it, great, keep it alive on the air.
If not, stop whining about those who do.
The whine is not about those who do, its about those who insist EVERYBODY MUST.

[w8cbc]

Calling CQ in CW at 28085.7kc when the freebanders are there.

[ai4ep]

Things you like about Amatuer Radio --- the simple fact that a 47 year old man from Alabama can / did learn morse code and some of you wont.

[ai4ep]

Taking the initiative and doing / running the weekly North Alabama & Southern Middle Tennessee Skywarn training Net on the spur-of-the-moment tonight at 8;00 --- 8;27 pm, with about 40 check-in s and all kinds of fun. Plus I & others had the unique chance to wish every one listening on their amateur radios & scanners a MERRY CHRISTMAS ( whether the politically correct folks liked it or not ). I had not run that net in a long, long time ( couple of years ) yet it was kind of FUN to do it. You get to accent the reading, with style and punctuation...highlight certain words, oause, and continue as fast or as slow as YOU wanted...knowing you had a captive audience and that YOU are in charge of the situation.

Great fun...may do it again next Thursday night ( ya neva know ) !!

[KI4BNC]

not having to say:
I'm sorry.