I've been away for awhile, I guess. One of the things I did in the meantime was become a ham radio operator.
Anybody here operate on the High Frequency bands?
Anybody here know the 3850 Crew?
"But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain--that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist." --Lysander Spooner, 1867
Wife and I are both extra class Hams. Just made a contact with Pat85 last week. He up graded to Extra last weekend. Congratulations. A campfire round table would be fun. Conditions seem to be improving too.
Working, studying, shooting, coding...and of course arguing politics.
"But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain--that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist." --Lysander Spooner, 1867
Wife and I are both extra class Hams. Just made a contact with Pat85 last week. He up graded to Extra last weekend. Congratulations. A campfire round table would be fun. Conditions seem to be improving too.
I agree.
Wow--you and the wife both Extras? I know a couple of General or Extra-class guys who have convinced their wives to go Technician, but that's it. Good for you and your wife!
"But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain--that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist." --Lysander Spooner, 1867
I had an uncle that was a ham, and I remember he had two shacks - one in the attic and on in his barn. The one in the attic was “wall papered” with contact cards. I distinctly remember being told he had on from Yuri Gagarin. 🤷♀️
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time. --Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice. --ironbender
Solar Cycle 25 is already beginning to show its influence on long distance radio propagation...and ARRL members get a front row seat! Enjoy exclusive ARRL Cycle 25 content and resources throughout the pages of our membership magazines, website, and opportunities to discover and learn. Let ARRL help you get ready and on the air. Cycle 25 is here!
Cycle 24 was kind of a bummer. We have antennas set up for 6 through 160 Meters on HF and can generally find interesting people to talk to. People in the local Ham club that have been on the air for 50 plus years still talk about the great cycles of the past.... "Could work the World with 10 watts and a wet noodle for an antenna....".
Options on how much better cycle 25 is going to be are not all as glowing as ARRL is suggesting but I have seen improvement over the past 6 Months or so... fingers crossed.
No to your questions. I do have a question for operators.
Do ham guys still send contact cards?
I've only been a ham since last July (little over a year), but I did get one QSL card. I don't have any of my own, so I couldn't reciprocate. I think most folks probably just use Logbook Of The World these days.
I'm actually not particularly interested in the whole concept of making brief three-transmission contacts; I much prefer ragchewing. I don't even remember my longest two-way contact; it's probably on the order of about 1000 miles (not counting things like System Fusion, of course: that's cheating). However, I did once hear a guy in New Zealand via grey-line propagation. He wasn't ragchewing, though--he was in the middle of a huge pileup trying to log as many contacts as he could before the grey line moved on, and I'm no good at climbing to the top of a pileup because I don't practice it.
Grey-line propagation happens along the day/night terminator, or grey line. If it's dawn or dusk where you are, and the conditions are right for it, you can get incredible propagation to almost anywhere else on the Earth where it's also dawn or dusk, for maybe ten minutes if you're lucky.
"But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain--that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist." --Lysander Spooner, 1867
I'm not a General or an Extra class. Does Advanced count? Haven't been on the air in a while. Bad hearing doesn't help. Richard KD3EU
When you can get the last word with an echo, you may have the last word with your wife. - Chief Joseph, Nez Perce If goose was the only meat, there would be a lot more vegetarians. - Lloyd Adams, waterfowl hunter
Solar Cycle 25 is already beginning to show its influence on long distance radio propagation...and ARRL members get a front row seat! Enjoy exclusive ARRL Cycle 25 content and resources throughout the pages of our membership magazines, website, and opportunities to discover and learn. Let ARRL help you get ready and on the air. Cycle 25 is here!
Cycle 24 was kind of a bummer. We have antennas set up for 6 through 160 Meters on HF and can generally find interesting people to talk to. People in the local Ham club that have been on the air for 50 plus years still talk about the great cycles of the past.... "Could work the World with 10 watts and a wet noodle for an antenna....".
Options on how much better cycle 25 is going to be are not all as glowing as ARRL is suggesting but I have seen improvement over the past 6 Months or so... fingers crossed.
I hear people talk about how Cycle 25 is shaping up nicely, but I still have never, ever, ever heard anybody on 10m or 6m. Maybe my multiband antennas are just too directional on the high bands; but I get nothing but noise.
Mostly I operate on 80m, 40m, and 20m. I have enough antennas that I can transmit on all the amateur bands from 80m up to 70cm excepting the 60m and 12m WARC bands. That includes the 125cm band, but the only radio I have that can transmit there is a little Yaesu HT.
But I have my eye on participating in ARES, and so at some point I'll probably get a VHF/UHF mobile for my truck, and I'll probably want 125cm on that.
"But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain--that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist." --Lysander Spooner, 1867
I'm not a General or an Extra class. Does Advanced count? Haven't been on the air in a while. Bad hearing doesn't help. Richard KD3EU
Sure: I was interested in folks who operate on the HF bands, since the Campfire is distributed enough that Technicians restricted to VHF and up probably won't have enough range to contact many people.
"But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain--that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist." --Lysander Spooner, 1867
Wife and I are both extra class Hams. Just made a contact with Pat85 last week. He up graded to Extra last weekend. Congratulations. A campfire round table would be fun. Conditions seem to be improving too.
I agree.
Wow--you and the wife both Extras? I know a couple of General or Extra-class guys who have convinced their wives to go Technician, but that's it. Good for you and your wife!
I'm a guy that back in the day never really figured out how to program my VCR. anything technical does not come easy for me. I had to retire early due to some health stuff.
I had always wanted to travel but had taken good health for granted and never even applied for a passport. When I suddenly had lots of time on my hands I figured "arm chair travel". I did have the good sense to marry a really smart woman with a kind heart though so when I asked her to be a study buddy she agreed.
I can't say enough about local Ham clubs. Jayne is basically an introvert but she met people at the Ham club meeting she really liked. We took the Tech and General at the same time and passed both. I had looked at the Extra class study guide and figured I'd stand a better chance of parting the Red Sea than that exam.
Jayne was like, "No we can do this, we have the study guide and this question pool will expire soon". So she studied had for 2 weeks and I sort of went through the motions. She passed with flying colors and I missed it by one....
It took another year before my male ego HAD to catch up and I really put some effort in... The best contacts are for the most part in the Extra portions of the bands. I had been listening to a group that was speaking with a woman circumnavigating the World solo on her sail boat. Her husband and she had sailed together for years then he got cancer and passed. He wanted her to keep going and she did. The first time I heard her she was in the Indian Ocean only running 100 watts but sea water make a great ground plane...
We have both made friends on air and met many in person.... great hobby.
KB7LOQ here. General class. Moved to St George from Phoenix a little over four years ago. Love to use and restore the old tube rigs. Get on 3855am on the morning weekends. Would be neat to have a.campfire group on 40 or 80m. Art
I altered a cop surplus 2 meter amp, put it in my car and soldered together a detector for a co-ax relay to run my handheld through the big amp when transmitting. I had mag base antenna on my roof.
My wife designed a synthesizer for Motorola Florida to develop cell phones in 1980, but I did not get a cell phone until 2000. I started designing power supplies for cell towers in China. I gave up on my ham gear and focused on the cell phones.
Now my ham friends have incredible radios. A lot has changed in 20 years.
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. -Ernest Hemingway The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.-- Edward John Phelps
