Any amateur "ham" radio operators here?

Register to hide this ad
W6RBH, formely 5A2TR (Libya), DL4RT (Germany), W7UXN (WA), W5JOF(MS)

Got a nice QSL map on my wall of the initial SSB Collins Rig SAC Check Flight as they flew across the Atlantic and back. Had nice QSO with them on way over and back...was stationed in Germany at the time.

Been at it since about 1953...not active at present.

73
 
Last edited:
DE K4BEV QRZ?

I did mostly CW, but I've been inactive for a few years now - except when mobile and then mostly 17m SSB or 146.520 FM
 
N1GAF here. General but not very active as my hearing is so bad it is tough to copy conversations without much asking over.
 
Wow, brings back fond memories of my dad tinkering with his radios back in the 80's...

One day he listened in on some soviet transmission (we live in australia)... write to them to confirm if it was actually them... they wrote back and said yes ..

i still have the cool envelope and postmarks that the reply came in..
 
KY0X here in MN. Operate mostly CW, some QRP. Haven't been on for a couple of months, summer is busy time for me.
73
Dave
 
I had no idea there are still so many ham opr. around. A article
in our local paper a while back led me to believe it was all but
gone. Said the internet had taken it's place. Glad to know it's
still alive and kicking. Goose
 
Sorry you feel so frustrated about "Talking to strangers in other places.


Personally I have had rather pleasant conversations with
Tom Christian....on Pitcairn Island in the sourth pacific...yep...relative of the Mr Christian of Mutiny on the Bounty."

Sevreal very nice people at the South pole...of all nationalities.

Worked Pacific Maritine Net for years and aided a blind young man on his voyage from the USA to Austrailia...yes, he made it,...yes he was really blind.

Chatted with a couple of Koreans who were to bring a boat from Korea to San Francisco...they had NO sailing experience...were sighted south of Midway Island and wound up in Marina Del Rey, CA...Los Angeles..just a mere 295 miles off target.

Kurt Carlsen, the famous sea captian whose ship was going down in the north sea...he was rescued....later talked to him when he was in port in India.

Mirko in Yugoslavia who could not get tubes...sent him an 813 and he sent back one of the most beautiful silver necklace I have ever seen.

K7CJ...Crackers Jack...an old, old friend...we started together...he was on an ol tanker from Prudoe Bay to San Fransicso.

Gen Curtis Le May and Gen "Butch" Griswold on the test run for SSB for the U S Airforce....they flew a KC-97 from Omaha to Europe and back on the test run...it was successful and SSB became the new method of transmitting.

Was aware of it but did not participate in the initial ham radio coast to coast 2-Meter Repeater trial...it worked.

Yep, talking with "Strangers" can be interesting and entertaining.

Perhpaps your frustration was that you "Bro" could not get his illegal rig to work?
 
I've not spoken to as many "interesting people" as you have, but find all of my contacts, other than contests, interesting. Have made casual friends with folks around the world and I think that's great in itself.
 
Airpark said:
Sorry you feel so frustrated about "Talking to strangers in other places.


Personally I have had rather pleasant conversations with
Tom Christian....on Pitcairn Island in the sourth pacific...yep...relative of the Mr Christian of Mutiny on the Bounty."

Sevreal very nice people at the South pole...of all nationalities.

Worked Pacific Maritine Net for years and aided a blind young man on his voyage from the USA to Austrailia...yes, he made it,...yes he was really blind.

Chatted with a couple of Koreans who were to bring a boat from Korea to San Francisco...they had NO sailing experience...were sighted south of Midway Island and wound up in Marina Del Rey, CA...Los Angeles..just a mere 295 miles off target.

Kurt Carlsen, the famous sea captian whose ship was going down in the north sea...he was rescued....later talked to him when he was in port in India.

Mirko in Yugoslavia who could not get tubes...sent him an 813 and he sent back one of the most beautiful silver necklace I have ever seen.

K7CJ...Crackers Jack...an old, old friend...we started together...he was on an ol tanker from Prudoe Bay to San Fransicso.

Gen Curtis Le May and Gen "Butch" Griswold on the test run for SSB for the U S Airforce....they flew a KC-97 from Omaha to Europe and back on the test run...it was successful and SSB became the new method of transmitting.

Was aware of it but did not participate in the initial ham radio coast to coast 2-Meter Repeater trial...it worked.

Yep, talking with "Strangers" can be interesting and entertaining.

Perhpaps your frustration was that you "Bro" could not get his illegal rig to work?
Click to expand...

I "worked" a prince in Brunei,Tom Christian on Pitcairn, a priest in Nepal, the Amundsen Scott South Pole station and many other fascinating people/places even Barry Goldwater! There are ,or were at least a lot of very interesting folks on the air. It is the hobby of commoners & kings. I still have an autograhed photo that King Hussian of Jordan in his his ham radio "shack" that he sent to me......
 
Collects said:
I never wanted to randomly talk to strangers in other countries or places, just to say I spoke to a stranger briefly.
Click to expand...

So you prefer to talk randomly to strangers in other countries or places in an Internet forum board instead? ;). Ham is not for everyone, and some get into it more than others. I like the emergency communications aspect of it. Plus, I have watched too many movies from the 70's and 80's.
 
As I said before I don't get into it much anymore but I still have it and will get back into it before too much longer. I like CW because when you start the conversation you have no idea who you are talking to. One night I was talking to a man in his upper eighties and the very next person I chatted with was a 12 year old girl.

Couldn't tell the difference just listening to the fist and both were really interesting contacts. It's still alive and well but more and more people are going to the net instead of the air.
 
ham radio operators in the usa are at an all time high...over 775,000 licensed operators...i love the hobby and lately have been on 2 and 10 meter a lot...i have my general license
73's
KK4EMO
 
WB7UXD

Been licensed (General) since a friend got me interested in the mid 70s. Pretty much straight key CW. Most fun I've had was building my own QRP (low power) CW transmitter/receiver--amazing what you can do with ~1 watt. and an antenna tossed into a tree. :-) I've met some great people on the air.

Jim
 
W0FG here; first licensed in 1963 as WN0FYG. About 275 countries worked, 90% or better on CW (I was a Morse op in the Navy), probably 125 or so also worked QRP. Did 10-meter WAS in one weekend during the 10M contest 20-25 years ago. I live about 30 miles from the Collins Radio plant and had a couple of the great Collins station setups over the years. Haven't really been active much the last few years, except messing around some with APRS on 2M.
 
Damn Yankee said:
Why so many inactive users? Is the hobby dieing out?
Click to expand...

I got my ticket back in 1972 along with my 1st Class Commercial license. I have done DXpeditions, QRP, ragchewing.

I think much of the original allure was that you could bridge cultures, bridge continents and make friends all from your shack.

Now, I can clearly speak with anyone around the world on Skype, I can have conversations with dozens of folks from around the world on the internet without leaving my office.

Most of the ragchewing on 40 and 80 for years was nothing more or less than the political forums on the internet and facebook...same subjects, same polarizing opinions.

Ham started dying when usenet began and then internet didn't help it.


Sitting here listening to Syria on my Drake R7A while typing.

_._
 
Damn Yankee said:
Why so many inactive users? Is the hobby dieing out?
Click to expand...

In my case it is a matter of having time to enjoy it. I've had my Extra Class and a Radio Telephone 1st Class Operators with Radar Endorsement for several years now and plan to be active in the future. Mostly was on 2 meters and was involved with experimentation and adaptation to place phone calls via 2meters before the advent of todays cell phones. I do keep my 2 meter rig ready for emergency situations.
 
kennyb said:
ham radio operators in the usa are at an all time high...over 775,000 licensed operators...i love the hobby and lately have been on 2 and 10 meter a lot...i have my general license
73's
KK4EMO
Click to expand...

Isn't 10 meter used for cb's (its been to long since I looked at the band's LOL)
 
wacky_weeble said:
Isn't 10 meter used for cb's (its been to long since I looked at the band's LOL)
Click to expand...

CB is 26.965 MHz for Channel 1 up to 27.405 for Channel 40, with many restrictions that are frequently violated.

10 meter ham is 28.000 MHz to 29.700 MHz with varying modes and privileges for different license levels.

My first license was for Restricted Radiotelephone Operator permit to allow me to use marine ITU channels on my sailboat when I cruised to foreign countries. Eventually, a friend persuaded me to study and test for my ham licenses to have more communications options. HF propagation is excellent with saltwater ground.

I have Amateur Extra ham license.

... --- -- . --- ..-. -.-- --- ..- -.. --- -. --- - .--. ..- -... .-.. .. ... .... -.-- --- ..- .-. .-.. --- -.-. .- - .. --- -. ... -... ..- - .. -.- -. --- .-- .-- .... . .-. . -.-- --- ..- .-.. .. ...- . .- ... .-- . .-.. .-.. .- ... -.-- --- ..- .-. ..-. ..- .-.. .-.. -. .- -- . ... .-.-.-
 
Last edited:
It was always on my list

Ham has been on my list of hobbies, but it always stayed on the list behind music, art, shooting, chess and photography.

I didn't need another expensive hobby.

I had a group of friends back in the 80's that about had me talked into it.
 
rwsmith said:
Ham has been on my list of hobbies, but it always stayed on the list behind music, art, shooting, chess and photography.

I didn't need another expensive hobby.

I had a group of friends back in the 80's that about had me talked into it.
Click to expand...

It doesn't NEED to be an expensive hobby!
Unless you get into contesting you don't need to spend a lot of money - You can get decent radios for a few hundred on eBay (not the latest and greatest, but still high quality equipment). Wire antennas are cheap and work.
Learn Morse Code and work CW for cheap and L O T S O F U N :)

Ham radio's big investment is in your head - There's a lot to learn Grasshopper :cool:
Getting a license is pretty much a matter of memorization = There's no code requirement anymore - just a test that you can actually get all of the questions and answers to beforehand (legally even) :eek:

-73-
 
wacky_weeble said:
Isn't 10 meter used for cb's (its been to long since I looked at the band's LOL)
Click to expand...


no...10 meter has never been for cb use...cb is 11 meter...as i mentioned earlier...licensed ham operators here in the usa is at an all time high with over 775,000...so much for dying out :cool:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

ACORN
Amateur Radio rabbit hole
2
Replies
38
Views
2K
Exaviator
Exaviator
G
systolic blood pressure and heart rate (beats)
2
Replies
39
Views
2K
greenwellg
G
ACORN
  • Locked
**SOLD** Yaesu FT60R amateur radio
Replies
1
Views
383
Sam McCord
S
MelvinWalker
OK, let's talk batons and any leather guys, come on in...
2
Replies
43
Views
2K
pawncop
P
Faulkner
Tales from the Faulkner Files: Vehicle vs deer
2
Replies
42
Views
2K
steelslaver
steelslaver

Latest posts

Back
Top