4 ms·

..DE K2KD.. I had a wall full of QSL cards when I was a kiddo. I still remember all those contacts with foreign hams that ended with “QSL via the bureau!” Whic

by nlh 4y ago

..DE K2KD.. I had a wall full of QSL cards when I was a kiddo. I still remember all those contacts with foreign hams that ended with “QSL via the bureau!” Which, as TFA mentions, was this magical (to me) extra-postal service routing system that somehow managed to get QSLs internationally at super low cost. So much fun. I haven’t really gotten back into ham stuff in ~30 years or so, but I sense the hobby is still alive, which is great. Every so often I’m tempted to buy a fancy SDR and see what the 2023 version of ham radio is like compared to the 1993 version…

themodelplumber 4y ago
Cool to hear about your wall :-) It's practically a labyrinth of hobbies within the ham world these days, from AREDN and mesh to QRP backpacking to Netflix & Chill & JS8...not to mention academia, space, etc. I was just chatting on the local repeater during a hike today and realized how many of those areas sound really interesting given the time...
- riceart 4y ago
  Ok I’ve been a ham for over 30 years - a bit out of the loop admittedly but this one: “Netflix & Chill” in the context of ham is one I’m not familiar with and couldn’t turn up on google.
  - themodelplumber 4y ago
    At the risk of being the guy who explains his own joke: It's just a reference to how laid back operations in digital modes (JS8 being one, but FT8 being more common maybe) seem, kind of set it and forget it. On social media you see some people saying things like "I woke up the next day to find that my laptop digital station made contacts in all these countries" First example I found: https://twitter.com/OH8STN/status/1611596504481038338?t=XuYcOOu5IKul12PT8nnodQ&s=19 https://twitter.com/OH8STN/status/1611596504481038338?t=XuYc... JS8 is interesting because it has a P2P aspect where it can relay messages through various stations/ continents to a destination.
skittlebrau 4y ago
I spent three summers sorting QSL cards at the outgoing bureau (between giving tours) at the ARRL. It perhaps wasn’t so much “magical” as tedious, but it was a pretty cool job as a high school-aged ham. I even got my own ARRL staff QSL cards which was pretty sweet. I probably still have some in a box somewhere. I too haven’t been active in a long time, but do think about getting back into it now and again as well.
nullc 4y ago
> Every so often I’m tempted to buy a fancy SDR and see what the 2023 version of ham radio is like compared to the 1993 version… Well, now we have digital modes that can community with SNR levels that CW wouldn't be usable across, allowing people reach most of the globe every day with nothing more than a radio and wire antenna lobbed into a tree. Though the most commonly used of these new modes, FT8, communicates only ~13 character messages and is mostly only used to exchange signal reports and grid squares. On the plus side, it means you can crank out contacts 24/7 -- there are always other people on the air that you can reach and the signal reports you get w/ it are genuine ones out of the modem not a constant "599". (And since it hardly supports having a conversation, you can make some contacts when you're not feeling up to getting dragged into a conversation) DX clusters have mostly been replaced by internet spotting (or internet connected DX clusters)-- it's pretty cool that you can call out CQ with CW or a computer-oriented digital mode and immediately get reports from all over the globe. But there are lot less QSL cards: people digitally sign their logs and submit them to LoTW for matching. I think out of my six thousand or so QSOs this year I've relieved only three cards, though I don't solicit them (and don't send any except when they're requested).

by nlh 4y ago

themodelplumber 4y ago

Cool to hear about your wall :-) It's practically a labyrinth of hobbies within the ham world these days, from AREDN and mesh to QRP backpacking to Netflix & Chill & JS8...not to mention academia, space, etc. I was just chatting on the local repeater during a hike today and realized how many of those areas sound really interesting given the time...

riceart 4y ago
Ok I’ve been a ham for over 30 years - a bit out of the loop admittedly but this one: “Netflix & Chill” in the context of ham is one I’m not familiar with and couldn’t turn up on google.
- themodelplumber 4y ago
  At the risk of being the guy who explains his own joke: It's just a reference to how laid back operations in digital modes (JS8 being one, but FT8 being more common maybe) seem, kind of set it and forget it. On social media you see some people saying things like "I woke up the next day to find that my laptop digital station made contacts in all these countries" First example I found: https://twitter.com/OH8STN/status/1611596504481038338?t=XuYcOOu5IKul12PT8nnodQ&s=19 https://twitter.com/OH8STN/status/1611596504481038338?t=XuYc... JS8 is interesting because it has a P2P aspect where it can relay messages through various stations/ continents to a destination.

skittlebrau 4y ago

I spent three summers sorting QSL cards at the outgoing bureau (between giving tours) at the ARRL. It perhaps wasn’t so much “magical” as tedious, but it was a pretty cool job as a high school-aged ham. I even got my own ARRL staff QSL cards which was pretty sweet. I probably still have some in a box somewhere. I too haven’t been active in a long time, but do think about getting back into it now and again as well.

nullc 4y ago

> Every so often I’m tempted to buy a fancy SDR and see what the 2023 version of ham radio is like compared to the 1993 version… Well, now we have digital modes that can community with SNR levels that CW wouldn't be usable across, allowing people reach most of the globe every day with nothing more than a radio and wire antenna lobbed into a tree. Though the most commonly used of these new modes, FT8, communicates only ~13 character messages and is mostly only used to exchange signal reports and grid squares. On the plus side, it means you can crank out contacts 24/7 -- there are always other people on the air that you can reach and the signal reports you get w/ it are genuine ones out of the modem not a constant "599". (And since it hardly supports having a conversation, you can make some contacts when you're not feeling up to getting dragged into a conversation) DX clusters have mostly been replaced by internet spotting (or internet connected DX clusters)-- it's pretty cool that you can call out CQ with CW or a computer-oriented digital mode and immediately get reports from all over the globe. But there are lot less QSL cards: people digitally sign their logs and submit them to LoTW for matching. I think out of my six thousand or so QSOs this year I've relieved only three cards, though I don't solicit them (and don't send any except when they're requested).