4 ms·

More like grumpy nerds or race-war-fearing survivalists?

by rv-de 8y ago

resters 8y ago
There are often old guys chatting on 75 meters in the evenings. Most of their contacts are a few dozen or a few hundred miles away at most. They typically park on the same frequency every night and shoot the breeze. This is a very small part of ham radio, but sometimes people who are new to it encounter those signals first because of how strong the signals are (3.5 MHz signals are often extremely strong after dark over a distance of a few hundred miles). If you are new to radio and you start tuning around the HF bands without much of antenna, these might be some of the only signals you are aware of, and because of this the uninitiated sometimes generalize that this is all that hams are/do. And because of the high average age of amateurs, the data point of 75 meters seems to be a case in point that all hams are old/crotchety and/or survivalist/conservative. But in reality, there are so many dimensions to the hobby that making the generalization about a few geezers is extremely off base. For some, the fun is in building the gear and then making a few contacts to test it out. For others it is radiosport contests or moonbounce, for others it's mountain tops or trail friendly setups, for others it's meteor scatter, restoring antique circuits, etc. So if it were a book and had a cover, the cover might be the 75 meter pig farmers, but there is a lot more going on that is worth exploring if one has some innate interest in the subject.
jimhefferon 8y ago
I don't want to give entirely the wrong impression. I'm active in the local club (have been the treasurer in the past and have dinner once a month with a bunch of the members), I've met a number of great people, and I like the tech stuff. But you often run across a lot of anger. Some of it is grumpiness-- I have other hobbies and in other hobbies it is not the case that the culture is that things are bad and sure to get worse-- but there is absolutely also an aspect of craziness. I have heard, for instance, a local ham with a UK accent being berated at length on a local repeater for being a foreigner. I don't get the anger. If you have the leisure to do something that you say you enjoy, why are you mad all the time? The most recent incident for me was that I was on voice during a Sunday morning making some calls and someone with max power starts talking over me. When I say the frequency is in use, I am told that everyone knows this is his frequency on Sundays, and then he goes back to spouting hateful stuff with what is, I presume, the same group he always spouts it with. That'll keep you off the radio for a while. One of the things I like about Morse is that I find that the people pride themselves on their manners. But there are other things also, including just that I always thought it was neat, since I was a kid.

More like grumpy nerds or race-war-fearing survivalists?

by rv-de 8y ago

More like grumpy nerds or race-war-fearing survivalists?

There are often old guys chatting on 75 meters in the evenings. Most of their contacts are a few dozen or a few hundred miles away at most. They typically park on the same frequency every night and shoot the breeze. This is a very small part of ham radio, but sometimes people who are new to it encounter those signals first because of how strong the signals are (3.5 MHz signals are often extremely strong after dark over a distance of a few hundred miles). If you are new to radio and you start tuning around the HF bands without much of antenna, these might be some of the only signals you are aware of, and because of this the uninitiated sometimes generalize that this is all that hams are/do. And because of the high average age of amateurs, the data point of 75 meters seems to be a case in point that all hams are old/crotchety and/or survivalist/conservative. But in reality, there are so many dimensions to the hobby that making the generalization about a few geezers is extremely off base. For some, the fun is in building the gear and then making a few contacts to test it out. For others it is radiosport contests or moonbounce, for others it's mountain tops or trail friendly setups, for others it's meteor scatter, restoring antique circuits, etc. So if it were a book and had a cover, the cover might be the 75 meter pig farmers, but there is a lot more going on that is worth exploring if one has some innate interest in the subject.

jimhefferon 8y ago

I don't want to give entirely the wrong impression. I'm active in the local club (have been the treasurer in the past and have dinner once a month with a bunch of the members), I've met a number of great people, and I like the tech stuff. But you often run across a lot of anger. Some of it is grumpiness-- I have other hobbies and in other hobbies it is not the case that the culture is that things are bad and sure to get worse-- but there is absolutely also an aspect of craziness. I have heard, for instance, a local ham with a UK accent being berated at length on a local repeater for being a foreigner. I don't get the anger. If you have the leisure to do something that you say you enjoy, why are you mad all the time? The most recent incident for me was that I was on voice during a Sunday morning making some calls and someone with max power starts talking over me. When I say the frequency is in use, I am told that everyone knows this is his frequency on Sundays, and then he goes back to spouting hateful stuff with what is, I presume, the same group he always spouts it with. That'll keep you off the radio for a while. One of the things I like about Morse is that I find that the people pride themselves on their manners. But there are other things also, including just that I always thought it was neat, since I was a kid.