"Take Your Handheld to Work Day." June 20

There are WAAAAAAAAAAAAY TOOOOOOOOO many folks with attitude problems commenting,  making it clear to me (from the callbook data) that we have to replace cranky middle-aged men with more young people!

Those crank middle-aged men are being replaced, by cranky young people with attitude problems!   Where do you think cranky old men come from anyway?  

 

Yep


and


Yep

 

Actually, that depends.  In the South, respect is a given - you don't have to earn it, but you can destroy it by your actions. I always assume you are respect-worthy as a starting point.  Makes for much nicer society.

 

Amen, Mark. I have been at this over 30 years, and I agree with you.

 

So what it boils down to is basic human respect. I have to agree with you, if you are a young person growing up in a segregated, old-world train of thought, you will likely grow old and become a cranky, "kids these days" kind of person...two sides to this, though.

Im not an old timer, im only 40, but i can see their point...to a point. Somewhere along the line there was a good idea that folks should try to understand everyone, not just certain skin colors or lifestyles, etc...but, of course, opportunists abound in every genre. and some folks took it too far (with the help of thousands of ready made lawyers looking for an easy win on the grounds of "discrimination" or "emotional anguish", etc...), creating the baby-bottle grownups that Charlie was refering to.

To the old world citizens who had to actually work through problems and handle things, this seems an outrage. I can see the point and agree with them. Unfortunately, there are folks from both sides that absolutely refuse compromise, seeing anything unfamiliar as bad. They may be right on numerous cases, but may unfairly label modern hard working folks as the new crybaby, i.e. "folks today", out of sensory overload...this happens to young folks as well.

Then theres the other side of the coin, If you are a kid growing up in a baby-boomer world of "heeeey frowny face, all you need is a huggy wuggy", it can get confusing (if not downright irritating). remember, those hippies from the 60's became the older professionals of today, many of them went into psychology back then and became "doctors", many others went into law to fight the wrongs of society, indeed there were some wrongs and the change was needed...but again, it seems that a fight can be taken into a position of uncompromise. some folks just NEED to fight something. Those hippies had kids, and kids of the 80's is what you ended up with...depressed, angry, shut out. one side telling them they arent good enough, "back in my day we worked hard, not like you little punks", the other side trying to figure them out with "emotional nurturing" psychobabble which completely missed the mark. shunned by one side and relegated to child psychologists by the other, those kids are now parents themselves.

What do you tell THEIR kids?

Its true, you usually become a vessel of the enviroment you grew up in, new ideas can be alien to many. There are older folks who still would disown their daughter for marrying a black man, or think all music sucks after Glenn Miller...and lots of baby-boomer kids who would rather sue you for emotional distress if you say something they dont agree with, or try to psychoanalyze everything to compensate for an inability to relax properly, then just stuff their oversized bellies with pills to numb down. On the flipside, there are old folks who lived the life we should all live now, simple, hard working, and trustworthiness actually meant something...so did honesty. those are things i dearly wish we had more of these days. but we also need change and forward movement so we dont stagnate, and open minded, respectful, hardworking modern people will carry this torch.

Hopefully, somewhere along the line, we can all just simply show basic human respect to one another...you do what you do and ill do what i do and more power to ya. when this happens, open minds follow...open minds that we can ALL agree on. nobody trying to change anyone elses opinion, nobody trying to convert anyone, just folks coexisting. working together and fixing our problems like adults. at that point, we can really help our kids grow up right.

But, i dont think that day is coming anytime soon...what we have now is what weve always had, easygoing folks and uptight folks. Im easy going, ill say that with confidence...im also a realist. humans have, for all our greatness, one inherent flaw, our egos.

Please, if you are young...check your gauges as you come up. make sure you are learning as much as you can from older folks and dont turn into a cranky old soreass, embrace change freely. if you are old and cranky, theres nothing i can tell you that you dont already know so why bother....and if you are old and cool, i dont have to tell you anything except Thank You.

73...Adam, N7YA

 

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I see a lot of complaining about the two meter "cb" band and the nerds and misfits and weirdos and the like...but....very little about how much they like this hobby they chose to be involved in.  If things are all that bad, why keep up your license..let it expire..no one will miss you...no one will care...and, maybe there will be a lot less BS on these postings.  There are plenty of bands to get on; find one and go there. Leave the ones alone that DO like this hobby and aren't ashamed of their activities whether it involves a H/T or a mobile with more antennas than wheels or a base station with a tower and waayyyyy too many antennas hanging off of it.  BTW, I am guilty of all three of the above mentioned, and I'm proud of it.

Ken K5KEG

 

Ken,

Please explain how anyone can possibly have waayyyy too many antennas?

...Is that even possible?

 

Too many antennas? I have no clue how that can be possibe. However, I did take my HT to work and heard something in CW at about 12:15 on 445.000 Mhz. Outside of that, nobody really said anything, guess they are getting used to my having it with me. Of course most of them think that thier cell phone service is superior to my radio. I can only wonder if they will still have phone service when/if Mt. Rainier erupts. I will likely try to operate scatter using the ash cloud, hopefully I will be able to help people, even if I only manage to help reunite family members. As for my cell phone dependant co-workers, I will probably find myself helping them first, at which point I do hope they will realize the usefulness of amateur radio.

 

I did not have any HT to take to work on Tuesday so can anyone please mention where one could go to receive a printed version of these important ARRL Messages that were delivered?
No one in my location seems to have heard anything come through that were listening?

 

"Take my handheld to work and show my fellow workers? Are you kidding me. How embarrassing that would be hearing all those hee-haws who upgraded from the cb ranks on the local 2 meter repeater. If I did that I certainly would not have the respect of my fellow co-workers any longer".

Ditto!

 

WOW... After reading all of that I think we all need a group hug!!!!!!

You know I have actually bitten my tongue quite a few times in this forum, and even in this thread. I am currently a tech without code. The main reason I did that is just to get my ticket so I can be on the air and work with the weather net! Yes I am currently studying to get my code, and even working on my general ticket. And I don’t really care to be lumped into the group of CB'errs or anything like that.

The reason I didn’t get my code portion, at that time was the class that was offered by a local ham club, while it was a great time, great guys, I had missed few of the classes and couldn’t catch up on the code part of the class with the way that the code portion was being taught. It seemed like there was no review it was more along the lines of OK, here we go .- .- .- -. -. And the answers where put on the dry erase board. And then it would be ok here are the next letters ABC, next week we get into to class… and hear OK here we go .- . -. .- . . -. No review, No nothing, when the new letters where given. Now is this and excuse? NO, I know that it is my fault, but at the same time, I really had no time to study at home, so instead of dropping all of the class, I just dropped the code portion, and continued on with my no code tech.

That would be the reason I am a NO CODE tech.

As for the embarrassment of being a ham the only thing I am embarrassed about is the way the people respect other hams / code or no code!

Whatever happened to the code of conduct?

The Radio Amateur is
CONSIDERATE...never knowingly operates in such a way as to lessen the pleasure of others.
LOYAL...offers loyalty, encouragement and support to other amateurs, local clubs, and the American Radio Relay League, through which Amateur Radio in the United States is represented nationally and internationally.
PROGRESSIVE...with knowledge abreast of science, a well-built and efficient station and operation above reproach.
FRIENDLY...slow and patient operating when requested; friendly advice and counsel to the beginner; kindly assistance, cooperation and consideration for the interests of others. These are the hallmarks of the amateur spirit.
BALANCED...radio is an avocation, never interfering with duties owed to family, job, school or community.
PATRIOTIC...station and skill always ready for service to country and community.
--The original Amateur's Code was written by Paul M. Segal, W9EEA, in 1928.

I think that even in this thread I can find that a lot of people have MISSED the above statements.

I am not saying that there are people out there who only get the no code ticket just so they can have clear channels to chat with there buddies. But there are A LOT Of us who that was just the first step into ham and we are working on the rest.

SO for you "REAL hams" as someone put it either in this thread or another…. Don’t ASSuME anything on NO code tech.

BE a REAL HAM and be…. CONSIDERATE, LOYAL, PROGRESSIVE, FRIENDLY, BALANCED, PATRIOTIC!!!

Sorry but I had to give my 2 cents worth, and I hope I haven’t stepped on anyone's toes.

But you wonder WHY people don’t want to continue on after passing the tech no code and or even try for it in the first place.

 

Have any suggestions? I'm all ears.

 

Well said!

 

Please Folks!
I am sitting here patiently waiting for ANYONE who would
be so kind as to tell me what the message from the ARRL on Tuesday was?

I do not own an HT and I can not get a reponse out of anyone?

What does this mean?

This silence is overwhelming!

 

SoLiD!