Ham

[woodchip]

So I went to take the Ham Radio license test on Saturday, passed and now am awaiting the Feds to process so I can pay the fee and get my number. Looks to be an interesting hobby.

[Darth Wang]

So I went to take the Ham Radio license test on Saturday, passed and now am awaiting the Feds to process so I can pay the fee and get my number. Looks to be an interesting hobby.

Make sure to try some EME signals and time them to show to our buddy Neo.

Of course he'll then probably accuse you of being in on the whole Round Earth conspiracy.

Which means it must be a pretty implausible conspiracy, if people from complete opposite sides of the political spectrum are all in on it.

[Tunnelcat]

Krom, can we move this over to the PTMC before it devolves into something other than a discussion about ham radios, which woody wants to have?

[Isaac]

Krom, can we move this over to the PTMC before it devolves into something other than a discussion about ham radios, which woody wants to have?

It's not a terrible topic for E&C, though woody should have proposed an issue with modern communication. Like our reliance on the modern smartphone is putting all of our eggs in one basket and so on...

I'm just saying it's got potential and might be a nice change of topic, not that I'm tired of "Trump Bad Biden Bad Flat Earth Abortion Republican Democrat War on Trans LGBT Gun rights" topic we keep circling back to.

[TigerRaptor]

Woody and Neo can have a father and son moment.

[Isaac]

This is why we can't have have anything nice.

[Tunnelcat]

I'd like to ask woody where he plans on putting up an antenna if he gets serious? They're quite large if you want to pick up far away signals. I lived in a neighborhood decades ago where a ham operator neighbor had a huge antenna setup. In fact, he still lives there nearly 40 years later because the antenna is still there. He was serious about the hobby and had a decent sized house, so it wasn't a problem for him, but an apartment might not be a good place to set one up.

My father in law was a radio operator in the Navy and also had his ham license. He never set up at home after the war though. And yeah, Isaac makes a good point about relying on cell phones for communication. It's a one off dependency made worse with lousy maintenance by the landline telecoms. CenturyLink in my area is no longer keeping their neighborhood equipment maintained and the line became so noisy I had to finally dump my landline for a cell phone. But if EMF bombs are ever set off over this country, everything that has a CMOS based chip in it will be fried and inoperable, including most modern cars, communications, water supplies and our power grid. I'm also betting a modern ham radio set also is susceptible, so you'd really need an older tube style radio and your own generator to talk to an electronically dead world.

[Isaac]

Just put it in rice overnight, no?

[woodchip]

So I went to take the Ham Radio license test on Saturday, passed and now am awaiting the Feds to process so I can pay the fee and get my number. Looks to be an interesting hobby.

Make sure to try some EME signals and time them to show to our buddy Neo.

Actually what I'd like to try is communicate with the ISS. Might be hard as that is a popular thing to do with Hams, and they're lined up to be able to talk

[woodchip]

I'd like to ask woody where he plans on putting up an antenna if he gets serious? They're quite large if you want to pick up far away signals. I lived in a neighborhood decades ago where a ham operator neighbor had a huge antenna setup. In fact, he still lives there nearly 40 years later because the antenna is still there. He was serious about the hobby and had a decent sized house, so it wasn't a problem for him, but an apartment might not be a good place to set one up.

My father in law was a radio operator in the Navy and also had his ham license. He never set up at home after the war though. And yeah, Isaac makes a good point about relying on cell phones for communication. It's a one off dependency made worse with lousy maintenance by the landline telecoms. CenturyLink in my area is no longer keeping their neighborhood equipment maintained and the line became so noisy I had to finally dump my landline for a cell phone. But if EMF bombs are ever set off over this country, everything that has a CMOS based chip in it will be fried and inoperable, including most modern cars, communications, water supplies and our power grid. I'm also betting a modern ham radio set also is susceptible, so you'd really need an older tube style radio and your own generator to talk to an electronically dead world.

Actually TC I'll be putting up a Horz. Dipole antenna and not a tower. My neighbor dropped of a big thick book on antenna design and amazing on how many styles there are other than towers.

[Isaac]

What's your handle? Or is that private info you don't want us to know.

[Tunnelcat]

Actually TC I'll be putting up a Horz. Dipole antenna and not a tower. My neighbor dropped of a big thick book on antenna design and amazing on how many styles there are other than towers.

There's still a large hit with the horizontal dipole antenna, especially if you have buildings around you, but at least you can fit it into your space. But you'll get a lot more range and better/clearer reception with a vertical antenna. Being in a city limits your choice however.

https://www.onallbands.com/dipole-vs-ve ... is-better/

https://forums.radioreference.com/threa ... na.425029/

[TheWhat]

I'm just saying it's got potential and might be a nice change of topic, not that I'm tired of "Trump Bad Biden Bad Flat Earth Abortion Republican Democrat War on Trans LGBT Gun rights" topic we keep circling back to.

I think it’s important that we talk about my genitals 80% of the time and if you get bored of the topic you are a genocidal bigot.

*edit
Now that I think about it don't you kinda have to be a bigot to be genocidal? It's kind of redundant.

[Isaac]

I'm just saying it's got potential and might be a nice change of topic, not that I'm tired of "Trump Bad Biden Bad Flat Earth Abortion Republican Democrat War on Trans LGBT Gun rights" topic we keep circling back to.

I think it’s important that we talk about my genitals 80% of the time and if you get bored of the topic you are a genocidal bigot.

*edit
Now that I think about it don't you kinda have to be a bigot to be genocidal? It's kind of redundant.

I've been patiently waiting for you here:

https://descentbb.net/viewtopic.php?p=396652#p396652

I don't know why you treat people badly who are nice to you.

[woodchip]

Got a Dipole antenna up and was listening to a guy out in Washington state (I'm in Michigan). Also listened to some guys down in Georgia and Tennessee. Still got some tuning to do. Big difference from this board as all the ham's I listened to are very polite and helpful

[Darth Wang]

Got a Dipole antenna up and was listening to a guy out in Washington state (I'm in Michigan). Also listened to some guys down in Georgia and Tennessee. Still got some tuning to do. Big difference from this board as all the ham's I listened to are very polite and helpful

That's probably because you haven't yet shared your political opinions with them.

[Tunnelcat]

Got a Dipole antenna up and was listening to a guy out in Washington state (I'm in Michigan). Also listened to some guys down in Georgia and Tennessee. Still got some tuning to do. Big difference from this board as all the ham's I listened to are very polite and helpful

Probably because they don't talk about politics. But I'm betting you're talking to a few liberals out there and don't even realize it.

[woodchip]

Got a Dipole antenna up and was listening to a guy out in Washington state (I'm in Michigan). Also listened to some guys down in Georgia and Tennessee. Still got some tuning to do. Big difference from this board as all the ham's I listened to are very polite and helpful

Probably because they don't talk about politics. But I'm betting you're talking to a few liberals out there and don't even realize it.

Not talking to anyone as the test admins haven't filed the paperwork yet so I can't pay the license fee and be assigned a call sign...without which I cannot transmit.

[Darth Wang]

I can guarantee you won't find any flat earthers operating the radios, though, as it's simple to use them to disprove their worldview.

[Isaac]

Got a Dipole antenna up and was listening to a guy out in Washington state (I'm in Michigan). Also listened to some guys down in Georgia and Tennessee. Still got some tuning to do. Big difference from this board as all the ham's I listened to are very polite and helpful

Probably because they don't talk about politics. But I'm betting you're talking to a few liberals out there and don't even realize it.

Not talking to anyone as the test admins haven't filed the paperwork yet so I can't pay the license fee and be assigned a call sign...without which I cannot transmit.

I thought you made-up handles. They're assigned?

[woodchip]

Got a Dipole antenna up and was listening to a guy out in Washington state (I'm in Michigan). Also listened to some guys down in Georgia and Tennessee. Still got some tuning to do. Big difference from this board as all the ham's I listened to are very polite and helpful

Probably because they don't talk about politics. But I'm betting you're talking to a few liberals out there and don't even realize it.

Not talking to anyone as the test admins haven't filed the paperwork yet so I can't pay the license fee and be assigned a call sign...without which I cannot transmit.

I thought you made-up handles. They're assigned?

Nope, you are assigned a call sign by the FCC. Finally got the paper work in and the fee paid. Awaiting the FCC to assign me a series of letter for my call sign. As a newbie I'll have to use a 6 letter call sign whenever I'm on the air both to announce my presence and when I finish a conversation. Most Hams won't answer you without a call sign.