Amateur Radio

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I have an issue involving Amateur/Ham Radio, but I wanted to ask if there were any operators here first that could better respond. Please, I do not mean to be rude by doing so or anything or break any rules.

I have an amateur radio license. What do you need to know?

Aside from my call sign, that is.

Thank you so much for your timely response. I have been an operator since I was in sixth grade, and I have always felt that there is some sort of...adversity on the air. Especially on 2 meter and 70 cm repeater operation. People are just...always so angry it seems. I remember when I first started reading about the hobby, I was allured by the promise of being able to freely able to experiment as I so wished with my own built equipment. However, I've actually kind of got my chops busted for this sort of behavior. I basically want to fall in love with the hobby again, but I cannot get around the way other people respond.

I also have a license. I'm kind of surprised at your experience. Around here the hams who have built their own equipment are the most admired. I have been to the local group's meeting just once, but they talk for hours about their own projects. Since I only use my simple handheld for CERT drills and race support, I really don't fit in there, but it would seem that you would be very welcome among that group. Perhaps you could elaborate...

You've experienced an on-going problem that many of us "For-the-love-of-the-hobby" types have had with the "More-Bigger-Better" types in amateur radio.

Here is a link --> "Attitudes Towards New Hams" <-- that addresses this issue.

On the same website, you may find discussion threads about the personal experiences that the "Happy Hobbyists" have had with the "Status Meanies" in the hobby.

I personally have been on the air looking for an elmer to advise me on certain equipment features, and have been told by repeater club presidents to "... just buy the *&^%$#@ equipment and read the *&^%$#@ manuals and shut the *&^%$#@ up about it, you whiny *&^%$#@!" Of course, this being said over their frequencies on their club's repeaters by officers of the repeater clubs means that the FCC won't even investigate them for profanity over the amateur airwaves.

So for the past few years, I've been sticking to 2m packet and an occassional foray into dx'ing cw on 80m and 40m. No more voice contacts for me.

In spite of this, I hope you'll stick with the hobby. Home-brew equipment and elmers of the old ways are becoming progressively more rare as time goes on. The hobby needs more people that are in it for the wonder and excitement of cobbling together a qrp rig and making the Century Club on 1 watt or less, and fewer of the arrogant, territorial, and money-proud jerks who can buy their way into winning any award they want on contest days.

73!

~Fnord~

Very interesting article. I have better experiences approaching the radio guys at my trail race aid station with questions. Maybe it is because I'm female or because they know me, but they do give me answers I can use, as opposed to long involved patronizing lectures or RTFM attitude. The problem is locating the nice guys. It must be frustrating when radio is a particular interest. For me it is just a tool.

Thank you so much for the response. I will check out the link. This is the right section for this, right, because I needed help? I really, like I said, hope I am not breaking any rules. Sorry to worry so. I know what you mean by the repeater club syndrome. I have stuck to a lot of CW myself. I remember before the Morse telegraphy testing requirement was dropped, I was operating CW on a home-brew 6 meter rig I had, since I did not have HF privileges until that requirement was dropped and they let us in on 80m, 40m etc. I knew the code, I just never took the examination for it. I was asking advice on a 2m repeater on how to set the keying 'weight' of a telegraph key, since at the time I was having trouble with the springs and ended up hurting my wrist with too 'strong' a 'weight.' Someone who responded to me said that I was essentially bootlegging and breaking the law by operating CW, despite the fact that I was within my frequency allocations, because it was a keyed CW transmission and I simply shouldn't be doing things like that. I was genuinely wondering if there is something that I might do to really be enraptured by the whole thing again. Do you think there is?

73!

I think there must be other "Happy Hobbyists" out there that are equally frustrated with the arrogant jerks running (ruining) the hobby.

When I run into them, I'll try to get a few of them organized enough to meet at the local Denny's, or something. Maybe we could form our own support groups outside of the formal clubs run by the repeater nazis.

73!

~Fnord~

I really do not know what to say to that. I suppose we live quite a ways away from one another

I have a ham license too, when I was very young I thought that bigger was better. But I soon discovered that bigger might make it more easy to make contacts but it makes it much less fun.

I just ignore that "my TX&ANT is bigger" and the "callsign snobs" becuase life is too short to be bothered with that.

I would love to home brew but I can not afford the time or money to do it, I have used some home made equipment to make QSOs. My expereince is that real hams respect and admire someone who either brews their own equipment or does something legal and constructive with radio gear which they have not thought of doing or been able to do.

Just remember that it is just a hobby, and you should do things which are legal and enjoyable for you. For example if you hate CW then do not force yourself to visit 30 m for a CW QSO.

I actually have always found homebrewing to be less expensive, which is why I got into it. You really do not think poorly of me for this? I thank you for what you were saying but...do you mind if I was to ask what a callsign snob is? Thank you.

that be true, I have the appropriate equipment to listen into a nearby repeater, which I do believe is perfectly legal to do, and have noticed the operators using it to be happy and not arrogant or whatever, need more people like that. I currently am a CB radio operator, though my rig is rarely connected at the moment and I find, compared to the amateur transmissions from the local repeater I listen to, that no one who uses CB radio ever sticks to the rules for it, makes me want to put in for the appropriate amateur radio exams to get an amateur license, but as it stands it's expensive so for now I'm just gonna have to stick to FM CB radio....

I do like to go for long distance contacts on my CB radio(hence my callsign of 26TM082) but I know a ham radio would do a better job

I live in southern California, where image is everything, and the prevailing hobbist philosophy is "More and Bigger is Better." Around here, there are many nice people in the hobby, but they're usually NOT the one's in charge of the repeater clubs. These "Repeater Nazis" are the self-appointed experts on everything, and see fit only to slam anyone with a lesser ticket for even the slightest infraction of some obscure set of rules that only they seem to have access to.

There's a certain island-based repeater in the area with a distinctly Jekyll-Hyde membership. The nice ones rarely ever rise in status to club leadership, leaving the most aggressive and arrogant members to fill the positions. Woe betide anyone who dares to suggest that the behavior of some is akin to the draconian policies of Stalinesque proportions, yet there it is for all to hear. The old "435" repeater was a Sunday picnic by comparison.

(The "435" repeater was, for a while, an essentially unregulated and unmoderated repeater that was used mostly by the loudmouthed jerks with licensing of questionable validity. The only reason it was left to run this way for so many years, it seems, is that the "lids" would spend almost all of their time on that site, and little or no time on the other, more genteel, sites. Sorta like allowing Skid Row to exist just to keep the bums there from wandering around in the nicer parts of town.)

I want to thank you guys for responding. I am begining to see what you mean about rules infractions. I remember getting slammed for using the term "Radio Check" because it was not within repeater operating protocol. At the time I had just assumed that I was behaving quite poorly, though I presume it could be what you were here mentioning. I remember that in Citizen's Band, which I actually acquired after my amateur radio, the REACT operators actually responded quite well and did not break regulations or laws in the way that it is so stereotyped that Citizen's Band operators do. That being said, I do not mean to suggest it was not the lawless intent that it is so often is seen as. However, I have heard about a lot of people complaining of freeband interference. I have actually had more problems with jammers and the sort on two meters however. That being said, with all of this, what I had hoped for was just that - hope. I wanted to really rediscover amateur radio and find the light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. Is there any advice to this respect? Thank you all again so much.