HAM Radio FUNgus

[Josh]

What is your fav thing in HAM radio?

For a long time I did jt65 solely and it was ossum because my antenna as well as output power limitations have always been poor at best, it was a miracle of radio to see dx respond to my cq. Great fun! That being said, I did work Bear Island once, an island few km north of Finland, on 15m with 100w ssb, as well as some island in the Pacific. Oddly, 10m hasn't been as effective or as "fun" as 15m, making 15 my fav band.

In other cases I liked listening to dx stations work other dx stations...... until the inevitable Euro or US HAM came along and ruined the fungus.

Also a bit of easypal sstv with the gang on 7173.

What modes do you enjoy?

[Matt285]

Of course as mentioned previously CW is my favorite mode. Some of my greatest memories though are working 10M SSB mobile in the 90's. Propagation was so good. I couldn't wait to get off work and turn on my HR2510 in my truck. I ran it with a Texas star 250 and a trimmed 102 whip. Can't get much better than that! One more memory that stands out is setting up my FT-817 on my back porch and working 6M with a Moxon beam I had built. All the while being able to watch the wildlife in my yard and just enjoy being outdoors.

[Matt285]

Although this isn't directly related to ham radio. The memories of getting my first SW receiver. which I did monitor HF with. It was so amazing listening to all the broadcast. Radio Moscow, BBC, CRI. What added to the magic was that I didn't know about relay stations, so I assumed that everything came directly from the country represented. I wouldn't trade that lack of knowledge for anything. In the pre internet days you would know about global events before they hit mainstream media. I miss those days.

[Josh]

Although this isn't directly related to ham radio. The memories of getting my first SW receiver. which I did monitor HF with. It was so amazing listening to all the broadcast. Radio Moscow, BBC, CRI. What added to the magic was that I didn't know about relay stations, so I assumed that everything came directly from the country represented. I wouldn't trade that lack of knowledge for anything. In the pre internet days you would know about global events before they hit mainstream media. I miss those days.

No such thing as a thread hijack in my threads. Anyway yeah you're right, back in the day most countries transmitted from within their borders, something almost unheard of today due to lack of target audience as well as funds. Much cheaper to use innernets or to pay someone in another country to bcast your spiel. Today you have two listeners to shortwave, one are the dirt farmers riding their waterbuffaloe to their rice paddies who can't afford the batteries to the portable sw set they can't afford, and us nerds.

[Matt285]

Very true. Sometimes I wish things were that simple for me. Although I would miss my podcast and History/Wildlife documentaries

[Josh]

There's also other fun things one can do on the HAM bands!

One I get to do often is a local on one of the 2m repeaters says "huh huhhuhhuh" after just about any transmission he makes. I count them to see how many he's going to emit and then do statistics on him to see how many huhs per qso are on average, peak, etc.

Then there's the guy on 40m who says ok.
A lot.
"Yew gotcher diepoe legs ok, an yew gotcher diepoe insolatah an feedline ok, you connec em an insulate em wif lectricl tape ok" It's fun to count how many "ok" are present in any given key up. Think I counted 25 once.

[Matt285]

This could be a drinking game.

[i_hear_you]

do statistics on him to see how many huhs per qso are on average, peak, etc.

 :')

Please put a graph up. 

It didn't take long for my wife to start saying things like "today I got muh tires replaced, and I spent some time watching the paint dry, but first I sat down and looked at muh lawnmower blades, before getting some gas for muh automobile" when she sees me scanning.  I have to counter with "if you listen long enough some of these guys discuss engineering stuff."  To which she rebuts "you've told me how depressing it is when you hear the old timers discussing their lives."

I wouldn't say it's my favorite aspect of the hobby, but I do enjoy listening to technical conversations between the more engineering-minded. However, I've heard far too many conversations between extremely old men recounting their long lives, discussing how they were radiomen during WW2 or Korea, how they met (and when they lost) their wives, what they did for a living in their long-ago retired profession.  It depresses me on a deep level, especially as it comes disembodied from the ether late at night, like whispers from a couple of ghosts.

[Josh]

I have to admit to mixed feelings for any girl who shows an interest in radio. One feeling is happiness, the other, apprehension leaning towards fear.

[i_hear_you]

I'm exposing my little ones to shortwave listening in the hopes of at least instilling some appreciation for the science behind it.  And while they are thankfully rare here, during power outages they enjoy listening to the scanner with me while I monitor emergency and utility services.  They need their "Sarah Connor" training before they are too cool for dad 

[Rizla]

You hear the coolest things on HF, on repeaters too. Signal/noise ratio not great, but gold is struck in eureka moments.

I once heard a pilot from Alaska talking to a 90 year old guy about the time he landed his plane in the middle of nowhere in Denali park, going to do a little hunting, natch... He was seperated from his party. A grizzly bear was down by the plane, started running towards him, and as he said, "I aimed my gun, and realized that if I miss this shot, my daughters would never see me again." The old guy said something like, "it seems you've had an interesting life."

Then there are the guys and gals on the local repeater (interestingly, a lot of women have tech licenses these days) who I don't know from Adam, and when they're in the hospital or whatever, I worry about them.

I suppose there might be better ways to waste my time. Or, as Bon Scott would say, maybe "doin' nothin' means a lot to me."

[Josh]

Agreed, also some of the 80m conversations late in the evenings can be hilarious.