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> I recently got my ham license for fun and boy is it fucking boring. It’s just a bunch of old dudes talking about where they are driving to and gate keeping t

> I recently got my ham license for fun and boy is it fucking boring. It’s just a bunch of old dudes talking about where they are driving to and gate keeping the spectrum through repeater systems that you need to pay to be a member of or else you might get a stern finger wagging. my experience, too. I did EW in the military and it was interesting-ish. decided to, a couple years back, get the license and play around, see if I could connect with some of the local Elmers -- and it was laaaaaaame. by comparison, other meetup groups like for drones, linux, or other nerdy-as-hell topics was still pretty lively. I went to some LUGs in Australia that were a straight-up blast, Linux trivia night in bars, etc. but ham was a snoozefest, and outside of doing some illegal-ass shit that the FCC would absolutely hammer me for, I can't think of anything cool to do with the license.

cloudripper 2y ago
In California, you can get a license plate with your call sign. That's kind of cool, right? Maybe moreso if you have a punny vanity call sign.
- dave78 2y ago
  I think this is true for many states, however I personally am not interested since callsigns are easily looked up online. I don't really want to be driving around with a giant sign on my car telling every random passer-by who I am. I do sometimes wonder if the privacy of amateur radio operator info should be reconsidered - having my name and home address plastered all over the internet just because I have an amateur radio license is rather annoying.
  - yabbs 2y ago
    I went with a PO box to add a layer, but yeah, ham does provide ample identity surface area.
vitaflo 2y ago
With all due respect, if you can't think of anything to do with a ham radio license then that shows some lack of imagination. Just because most of the users on voice are boring ass old fucks doesn't mean there aren't interesting things going on in the amateur radio world or that you yourself can't be a tinkerer and come up with your own experiments and contributions to the space. It's a bit like saying the internet is stupid because of all the social media and you can't think of anything else to do on the internet.
- krupan 2y ago
  I'm sorry but you are just wrong. Radio is about communicating, and if the only people to communicate with are boring, then what can you really do? And ham radio has way less reach than the Internet, and requires a license, so the pool of people is way, way smaller. You can't compare the two.
  - bityard 2y ago
    > if the only people to communicate with are boring I keep reading this refrain in this thread. Which, when you think about it, means it can't possibly be true. There seem to be more than enough people who think everyone else in ham radio is a bunch of grumpy old farts, so how come this evidently large-enough group people are never on the air to balance it? Or is it just more fashionable to complain than to actually get involved (with good faith) in the community?
    - Engineering-MD 2y ago
      Because they only briefly flirt with ham radio? When you account for time on air rather than total number of connectors, it’s probably still all boring people.
      - krupan 2y ago
        Correct, this is the problem. See my other comment here about the difficulty of just getting on a repeater. If you get past that initial obstacle and get on a repeater, just to find that it's not interesting, you don't stay long.
deleted 2y ago
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hasmanean 2y ago
They talk about so little because that’s what the fcc rules limit them to. Can’t blame people for behaving like Elmer the safety elephant all the time. What can you do with a license? Jam live music with other people over the air, in full duplex mode. Thats something only analog radio can do—because the latency is so low.

cloudripper 2y ago

In California, you can get a license plate with your call sign. That's kind of cool, right? Maybe moreso if you have a punny vanity call sign.

dave78 2y ago
I think this is true for many states, however I personally am not interested since callsigns are easily looked up online. I don't really want to be driving around with a giant sign on my car telling every random passer-by who I am. I do sometimes wonder if the privacy of amateur radio operator info should be reconsidered - having my name and home address plastered all over the internet just because I have an amateur radio license is rather annoying.
- yabbs 2y ago
  I went with a PO box to add a layer, but yeah, ham does provide ample identity surface area.

vitaflo 2y ago

With all due respect, if you can't think of anything to do with a ham radio license then that shows some lack of imagination. Just because most of the users on voice are boring ass old fucks doesn't mean there aren't interesting things going on in the amateur radio world or that you yourself can't be a tinkerer and come up with your own experiments and contributions to the space. It's a bit like saying the internet is stupid because of all the social media and you can't think of anything else to do on the internet.

krupan 2y ago
I'm sorry but you are just wrong. Radio is about communicating, and if the only people to communicate with are boring, then what can you really do? And ham radio has way less reach than the Internet, and requires a license, so the pool of people is way, way smaller. You can't compare the two.
- bityard 2y ago
  > if the only people to communicate with are boring I keep reading this refrain in this thread. Which, when you think about it, means it can't possibly be true. There seem to be more than enough people who think everyone else in ham radio is a bunch of grumpy old farts, so how come this evidently large-enough group people are never on the air to balance it? Or is it just more fashionable to complain than to actually get involved (with good faith) in the community?
  - Engineering-MD 2y ago
    Because they only briefly flirt with ham radio? When you account for time on air rather than total number of connectors, it’s probably still all boring people.
    - krupan 2y ago
      Correct, this is the problem. See my other comment here about the difficulty of just getting on a repeater. If you get past that initial obstacle and get on a repeater, just to find that it's not interesting, you don't stay long.

deleted 2y ago

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hasmanean 2y ago

They talk about so little because that’s what the fcc rules limit them to. Can’t blame people for behaving like Elmer the safety elephant all the time. What can you do with a license? Jam live music with other people over the air, in full duplex mode. Thats something only analog radio can do—because the latency is so low.