CQ CQ CQ - Who's out there?

La5nna here, from jo38ma , qrv from 160m-23cm… but curently my antennas are down :frowning: to mutch weather at the cost in the winter time.

73
Eivind

I’m a “Boil in the Bag” M6 M6ICY

Inactive, due to the feeling that Ham is a bit dead. Loved my 10w, even getting from SE England to Montenegro! on HF, but sold my gear, my PC/“Toy” room has no outside wall so cabling has always been a problem in this house too :frowning:

Ham radio is far from dead. There are many new hams coming on the air all the time. There are new modes of operation like D-STAR which allows you to talk around the world on a HT or if there are no D-Star repeaters in your area, you can get a DV-Dongle or DVAP which can connect across the internet to other repeaters or Reflectors.

There is a live D-STAR broadcast on the internet right now at http://w5kub.com which is explaining all the different features of D-Star operations.

There are digital modes like JT65, or JT9 which allow you to make contacts around the world with 1 watt or even less depending on band conditions. There are other digital modes like PSK, RTTY, and many others. Computers can also play a big part in ham radio with Software Developed Radios (SDR) which control the actual radio hardware on systems like the Flex radios. Computers can do your logging, DX spotting, and more. The ham radio hobby is alive and growing, the reports of ham radios death are greatly exaggerated.

It’s not dead yet!

It sure isn’t as thriving as it once used to be, but there’s still quite a few of us around.

There’s plenty to choose from, as there’s more than just HF to play with, but VHF/UHF and microwave, and even as just mentioned D-Star.

For a bit of fun, I’ve just set up my own irlp node (6857) just yesterday.

Amateur Radio is and probably always will be very big in the States, probably in Aus too.

But here in the UK, specifically Kent, it really is very quiet. 20m & 40m were quite busy just over on the continent, but 2m and 70cm are as dead as DoDo’s. And those you do hear on 2m seem matey and it feels very Cliquey.

It’s not the fault of Ham or the Operators, more of probably my choices of places to live !

Just my opinion of how things feel here in SE England. Not a statement of fact.

Boil in the bag?

_ . _

It’s a term we use for Train Drivers that come off the street and pass out in about a year, rather than the 7 or so it used to take.
I refer to my Ham Licence as a “boil in the bag” because you pass it so very quickly. Sometimes a few weeks, sometimes in a weekend!
M6 is a Foundation Licence, 10 watts etc.
Loved Radio for years, just a shame it went quiet around here.

Might have another delve another time :slight_smile:

Thanks, I was only familiar with the term relating to kippers :smiley:

Here we have the ham cram, a class/exam combination designed to get anyone, regardless of knowledge, a ham license in one day. It’s based on memorization rather than learning.

De KA0WWT.

I have been licensed since 1986…dang that has been a while. I have been radio-inactive for the past few years as I got burned out on contesting and then life got in the way. All my antennas are now down and I have taken up metal detecting as a hobby. That tends to be somewhat funner to me now. My radio bug has been silenced and may rise again some day. But not in the near future.

Metal detecting is a fun hobby, you find a good deal of trash but you find some cool treasure too!!

Oooh what have you found, always fancied a bit of metal detecting.

Mostly newer coins as my wife (KB0LNA) and I coinshoot primarily. We both have found our share of gold and silver rings and we have made trips to Virginia looking for Civil War relics. I have found a good number of bullets and buttons on those trips but nothing of more significance.

We both would love to detect the U.K. some day. We may as there are folks that sell trips just for detecting.

K5SOI here, got my license back in 1958 when code was sent on a tape machine and the test was hand written, no multi choice and in front of a fcc examiner. Still active on 440 and hf.

Hello,

Call here is K4BS and I have been a Ham since 1992. I chase DX and some casual contests. Lately, I have been working DSTAR and HF portable.

73,

Kevin

G6IMT here! Licenced back in 1982 (as a “B”) but put the hobby to one side once I met my wife to be, got married had kids etc. Got back into the hobby 26 years later after being made redundant and suddenly having some spare time on my hands! Now a semi-retired IT Consultant (which sounds grander than it is!) and playing with radio, weather, photography & my telecaster guitar (badly!). The wife says I have too many expensive hobbies and she’s probably right :). Do I buy some Davis kit, a new SLR or a new HF rig…easy decision as I can’t afford any of them at the moment :lol:

Howdy,
I have been licensed since 1959 as a teenager as K3PRF, then W6MQZ, and now K6IH. I mostly operate QRP HF with an Elecraft KX3 or a Yaesu FT-817ND from San Antonio, Tx most of the year, and in San Diego, Ca in the summer. I have a couple of Davis Vantage View wx stations.

73,
–Bill - K6IH -

ZL3GP here. I am at the moment inactive because our house got badly damaged in the earthquakes here in Christchurch. Hopefully we will have a house in the next six months or so.
When active I normally use the digital modes.
Cheers
Philip - ZL3GP
Christchurch

Would be nice to work you on JT65 or the new JT9. I’ve been trying to get New Zealand for a couple months now…

N8MNI here in London, Ohio

http://n8mni.com

Hi All, Don’t check in here that often as the software just seems to run and run!
Not very active just at the present, more likely to find me mobile in the Campervan (come the better weather :wink: ) or watching for High Altitude Balloons (HAB on http://spacenear.us/tracker/ )
Main weather displays is at http://weather.g8dhe.net/wdl/

Geoff - Worthing, West Sussex, England.

Hello all,
It’s been a few years since I checked in here, thought I’d say Hi. N9UKEs been the call for twenty years now and have enjoyed every minute. Just resetting up my weather station so I can help my fellow Sky Warn, CERT and ARES/RACES members have and bit more real time info to work with.

73 Kris