The ARRL Letter, Vol 28, No 11 (Friday, March 20, 2009)

what else?

Might be a bit off topic but im fairly new licensed ham operator but i only have a 2 meter mobile base and a yaesu HT tri-band -- i don't have any HF equipment at all but was curious what else you should avoid saying , such as come-back ? can anyone point me to a list? I've never been a CBer so im not aware of what your not suppose to say.

 

Having never been a CBer you are WAY ahead of the game of newcomer to amateur radio! Congratulations! And welcome. You have no CB bad habits to bring to the hobby, and that is a good thing, no kidding.

My advice is listen. Then listen some more, and after that, do a bit of listening. On two meters you'll hear 10 codes, which are not illegal but are badly frowned upon by hams who have been around a while. You'll hear now and then a few expressions like "break, breakity broke" which is really even pretty stupid for CB, but is heavily used there, or something like "you got cher ears on?"

But the best advice (besides listen) is this: Talk like you are talking to someone in person, over coffee in a cafe. Forget all the slang. Forget all the 'over's and "come back" and especially forget "QSL?" at the beginning and end of every transmission. Speak naturally. Most of us do.

Sure we will toss in a Q-signal now and then. They've been around a long, long time, and are a part of the ham radio tradition. But for the most part, hams speak plain old language.

So you listen a bit, skip the dudes that are using the ten codes and the cute phrases, and find the group that is speaking real language. That's where you want to be.

Ed

 

I would think number 5 is: (5) I don't care how it's always been done. I'm going to do it my way.

Ed

 

No. It was the North-East -- NYC and New England in the 40's, 50's, 60'and 70's. I did not move here until '72. -- ITF

 

Almost: #5 might even better read: "I don't care how it's always been done. I'm going to do it my way. And if you don't like it Ill call my lawyer and Ill sue you for libel, slander and everything else!"

Just a sign of today's "instant gratification" and "ultra litigious" society.

 

Barf, anyone??

Come on! What do you expect from this club. Look up the call sign W2OY. It is the club call sign for the Buffalo Amateur Radio Fraternity. B.A.R.F.!!!! Do you expect anything but K-rap from a club like this. Should fine the club and revoke the license. The money from the fine could be used for youth activities in Amateur radio. Teach them how not to be lids as a youth.
73, Bill

 

The W2OY being referred to is NOT the Buffalo club. The call W2OY originally belonged to one Mike Primus who lived in upstate New York and who became a SK in 1967.

Mike grew to be something of a legend in the days of AM because of the way he would select those hams he would make contact with and those. He avoided most newcommers -- for whom he seemed to have an inordinate amount of disdain.

He is best remembered for some lines that has outlived him and may well be have become embellished in folklore over the years. That said, I vividly recall his signal, his voice and the words that went something like this (paraphraded):

"CQ, CQ. This is W2OY calling CQ. CQ for the Class A operators only. No kids. No lids. No space cadets. The school bus does not stop on this frequency. This is W2OY."

While I never worked the guy (I was a Novice so could only listen on 20) his voice and disdain for those of us trying to climb the ham radio ladder has never gone away.

Thats the W2OY being referred to and I kind of doubt that the Buffalo group -- a very progressive club -- even knows who held the W2OY call before they did -- ITF

 

W2OY Calling CQ

I did a quick Google search and came up with this W2OY audio clip:

http://buffalokilowattbookends.blogharbor.com/_attachments/2819416/W2OY (calling CQ).mp3

 

Sounds like an old drunk in that clip.

I've heard quite a patchwork quilt of opinions about him. He undoubtedly was one of the "characters" you still encounter on AM, where storytelling, human-sounding audio, and good friends are all part of the operating experience.