farewell to HF

[G6URM]

HUMM - well amoungst the cries of "good riddance" and "we should care like why ?? " - i bid HF farewell - the last few days of listening to the yea - man standards of operating - and fraggle rock mentality on the bands have convinced me that HF is nooooooooooo place for me - so i have this morning removed my hf antennas ( such as they where ) and put the transverter back in the cupboard - frankly people if this is what HF amateur operating has degenerated to then i dont want to know

so i am going back to my main interest - VHF & UHF - where on the whole ,operating standards are seemingly better ( untill the bands really open and the LIDS turn up - you know the ones who are missing 99.99999 % of the time ) where there is still much experimenting to be done and where there STILL IS the extra mile to go ( unlike HF where its virtually all been done already ) - where the contesters ( yes we have to get them in too .lol ) are again seemingly more civalised - and on the whole its a MUCH nicer aptmosphere all round

but why has this happened ?? - it was never like it 30 years ago when i first started - what has gone so wrong with HF ?? - IS IT the dropping of the code requirement ?? ( this certainly HAS had an effect on vhf and up ) - or is it just indicitive of society generally ? with its "me first - screw the rest of you - and i have this desperate need to be the center of attention - and have more friends than you on farcebook and twatter - so would not p*** on you if you where on fire " attitudes

IMO - the dropping of standards reqired to GET a ticket in the first place has a LOT to do with it ( we will leave the code element aside here ) - the concept of SWL to "learn " good practice has seemingly gone - as most new hams plunge streight in with HF 100 w ( capability if not use ) and from SOME ( NOT ALL BY A LONG WAY ) of the new op's i have heard since i returned to AR after a fair few years break -have little real idea of operating or certainly the "curtousies " of same ( having said that nor do quite a few "old hands " )

ah well whatever - so if you hear my call on HF they are a pirate !!

what AM i going to do ?? - the one thing i have always wanted to acheive - EME on 70 cm ( 2 m is impractical owing to lack of space ) - with as much homebrew as i can - i MAY not succeed - but its going to be fun trying from a restricted location like mine

so ta ta HF - its been er "interesting " - NOT

[AF6LJ]

Well I am sorry to hear of your decision, I would point out if one looks for the good one sees good, if one looks for the bad one sees the bad.


These things come and go in cycles.

Who's to say this trend won't follow you to UHF.....

[NA0AA]

Hm. I can appreciate your point, but if I quit doing anything because morons are being morons, I'd have to quit driving, skiing, walking, shopping.....

That's OK, I actually heard yesterday, and I'm still in shock...."Break 240" on 14.240. Honest to gosh. Guy said it a dozen times! Wonder how he learned that?

[G4SKO]

You're correct and not a lot I can add at this juncture, standards in some cases are abysmal and yes it could be that the path to the ticket has not been through the traditional route ie. SWL. I feel if it was, then the new ops would have had time to appreciate what is required and what is "the right stuff" maybe it's to do with society at large and the general dumbing-down of everything....and by the way I heard a K1?? he knows who he is, on 20M with a station in Trinidad last night, he gave one of the newer calls a really hard time and this from a ham who's been in the biz for half a century. Shame on you, you should know better. Just goes to prove, it's not just the newer ops with poor practice.

de G4SKO Mark.

[K0BAM]

See ya. Yeah there's jerks when I go to Walmart, Target, Home Depot, The Zed, to a movie or driving on the Interstate. Will I stop doing those things? Nope. Will I ignore the jerks and not let them control my life? Yup.

Good luck of the 70cm EME thing, that sounds really cool.

[PE1RDW]

While I won't even try 70 cm EME because I'm limited to rooftop mounted antennas I do hope to work you on 2 or 70 ssb during the next tropo or Es, maybe even 23cm, still got to work G on 23cm.

[K4KYV]

I find that HF, with its ionospheric skip, has always had a certain magic quality about it that will never be found in VHF/UHF. Don't let the idiots spoil your fun.

Maybe you should consider building or restoring a tube-type transmitter and receiver, and operating a little AM phone on 160-80-40. Or just switch your transceiver to AM mode and give it a try. That's one of the few remaining bastions of genuine amateur radio, where hams actually are interested in what's inside their box, build, experiment and tinker with radio equipment, and sometimes even engage in technical discussions over the air. There is a strong AM community in N. America and a growing one in UK/Europe as well.

Not to say the AM community is totally immune to lids, but most of the miscreants you are talking about operate little or nothing but SSB, usually heard on the same frequency day after day, talking to the same small group of people about the same inane trivia, using transceivers they are incapable of modifying or servicing, shouting nonsense into PTT hand mics attached to spiral cords. Pretty much unchanged from their 11m days.

[AE7UT]

I've been doing this for about 2 years and I just don't get where your coming from.
I have wanted to be a ham for my whole life and feel it an honor to be able to transmit now.
There is a forest of band space and your concentrating on the weeds instead of the flowers.

"Peoples is peoples" one of my favorite quotes.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQgfgB-vgT0
I love meeting people. Most of us hams are quirky and strange. YOUR probably quirky and strange.
I know I won't change your mind and I'm not trying to, but maybe you'll think about enjoying people
for who and what they are... even if they are being wing-nuts.

Stan

[KA9JLM]

My Radio has a ON / OFF switch, and Frequency Dial.

I guess your does not.

Enjoy the line of site.

[N5XM]

Sir, I wouldn't worry about it. I know you've already taken the HF antennas down, but you should reconsider. We need all the good ops out there we can get, and I would observe you are definitely one of those. Much of this is why I am CW only, and you still run into a few idiots there. Less than the dumbing down of testing, the main problem I see is lack of respect for tradition, and a lack of a desire to learn and advance oneself. You just can't legislate the pursuit of excellence any more than you can legislate morality. We need Hams who are part of the solution, not part of the problem.