I don’t know Michele, is that an owl pelt?
Let me guess. You experienced a sudden blackout around radio equipment. A radio transmission or attempted broadcast by yourself caused an instantaneous loss of vision enveloping you in total and scary darkness. What is worse than the phone call is that it also caused loss of your body’s motor control and skill.
How do you feel about your investment now?
Now you understand. You are not the only one using radio, but somebody is using it differently than you.
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If I was the only one using radio, it wouldn’t be very useful.
However it could be fun. Have you thought of purchasing a package of disposable adult diapers you could slip into before you turned on the radio equipment? As stressful and frightening as it could be, I’m certain it could also be just as lax and relaxing. Alone is good for you stinky.
I must admit, no, I have never thought of that.
Interesting new Icom all-in-one unit.
My ham radio club in Vancouver just asked us all to do 15 second videos promoting ham radio. I will do it but I doubt it will achieve anything. I don’t know any young people who care at all about ham radio. It really seems this hobby is, not dying, but for the nearly dying. From what I can see, people turn 50 and have a bit of time and money on their hands and amateur radio seems like a cool way to play with toys as an adult. You even get to pretend ham radio is crucial in emergencies (it’s not) and aggrandize your own importance to your friends (who likely won’t know you’re full of crap). This appeals mostly to middle aged to older men who are no longer particularly important, if they ever were, like me. Young people just aren’t the target market.
I think it saw most of its growth in my parents day. Radio was a wonder then and people built their own radios and antennas. More experimentation went on then. Today, when I see people into ham radio they are old as hell or holding handheld transceivers. I got into it because I had learned Morse in the Navy and enjoyed still being able to use it. As communications go it is mostly meaningless BS. It is not needed in emergencies. If I ever crank up my radio again it will be strictly CW.
It’s 5:30 am on a Saturday and I’m getting ready to go to a ham radio training course. Not for me this time but for the woman. She has decided she wants to get her ham license. She is unusual for a woman in that she likes boy gadgets. Her English isn’t strong and the test is hard. We’ll see if she passes in a few weeks.
There are good practice tests online now.
She’s doing practice tests every night. The time frame is problematic. We are flying back to Colombia in 3 weeks. I’m not sure she’ll be ready by then. If not, no big deal, she’ll do the test when we come back.
What happened to entomology?
She has a master’s degree in entomology, Mark. She doesn’t need a course in that.
But Flames, you sounded so firm in the woman getting her PhD.
Oh, yes, well, that hasn’t gone so well. lol. She tried to get into the University of Antioquía in Medellín but they had a big university strike last year so we decided it’d be better to try in Canada. That’ll have to wait until she gets her permanent residency which will take the better part of a year, and then it will take four years to do it. Given all that, I’d definitely treat it as a “possible goal” at this point.
You get 3 shots in one day. I had to pay $15 each. Made it on the second one. I suspect they get easier with each test. I don’t believe all these guys with walkies know that much theory.
Here the tests are free. We’re way more commie up here than you are down there. lol. The basic test (roughly equal to your Technicians license) is 100 questions out of a pool of 1000 and the government publishes the 1000 possible questions (with answers) online so there are no surprises. Passing grade is 70% but if you score 80% or higher you get HF privileges.
She’ll take the test when we come back to Canada. She’s not going to cram to make it before we leave. I believe she’ll do it, however, as she really likes the two radio clubs I belong to. Friendly people.
Oh she’ll do it. I spent my time on HF. 20 meters mostly. Furthest contact was Azarbaijan. Had a General before but let it lapse so I had to take the tech test to get it back. Haven’t used it since I got the ticket again. Radio for sale if you’re interested. In fact, my whole shack is for sale.
I thought you were going to give CW a try again, no? Or maybe that was just an idea not a plan.