How many Ham's are here?

[Mark-VA]

Licensed radio operators?

[ivconic]

YU1ASB ... was in the past. Last 20 years that wonderful activity simply died.
Today, purely out of nostalgia, I have several hand-held devices and a couple of SDR dongles...
Just the other night, I dug out an old Tristar TS-7000E (Kenpro KT-220 E) from the attic.
I have one new Baofeng tribander and one new Baofeng duobander.
I have had over 50 of them in the last couple of years, I resell them to hunters.
I have a large and very good 2m yagi in the attic that I took apart this summer to clean it of oxidation.
And somehow I never have time to put it back together and put it on the roof.
I'm in the mountains, but my location is in a "radio hole" between two mountains, so the reception is bad from all sides except the north side.
Only a good yagi helps reception from the north side.
In order to listen occasionally to R1 and R7 (I used to listen to R3 from home, but it has been broken for several years and there is no one to fix it),
I have to leave the house and walk 1 km above the house to a high point.
As for shortwave... I sold my last rig back in 2000. Since then, there just isn't enough money for a solid rig.
Ah yes, I dug up a CB in the attic that is in good condition. But nobody uses that today either.
In the beginning when cheap Baofeng devices appeared; the prejudice that they are not good, that they are "deaf" etc. spread very quickly among colleagues...
It is not true! I had 50 or more and tested them all. UV5R, 6, 9, 82... they are very good and work very well.
Basically it's one and the same machine inside, with more or less current in the battery... a different design on the outside.
But I'm sure it's the same machine. They all work very well. I have owned several Yaesu's and Icom's in the past and can compare.
...
Moodz got me thinking about reactivating the SDR that I neglected for a couple of years...
...

[ivconic]

Listen:

[Krzysztof]

SP9LCU
I've been off the air for over 40 years and just starting to get back into it.

[ivconic]

A few days ago, is it pure coincidence or does it have something to do with each other; strong solar magnetic storms occurred (and are still going on intermittently) and at the same time, on the same day, the electricity in the entire region disappeared for several hours!
This has not happened here for the last 25 years.
I have two smartphones with two sim cards. Suddenly there was no signal for several hours as well. We phased out classic corded phones a few years ago.
And suddenly I found myself totally isolated in the middle of the mountain. A stacked stove is the only choice for energy and heat.
And then I remembered that I had two new unboxed Baofeng somewhere in the closet.
I took the tribander and scanned all the bands... there was no communication and no signal whatsoever.
Everything lasted several hours. There was no official explanation. Unofficially, I later heard that two power lines had collapsed in the region.
In the good old days, radio amateurs would be activated immediately and information would circulate quickly and unhindered. Today... nobody anywhere on the channel.
That's why now, like Krzysztof, I'm thinking more seriously about equipping myself, setting up better antennas and looking for some used and affordable SW rig.
We live in crazy times, one never knows what the day brings and what the night brings...

[moodz]

VK3PGM . _ .. _ _ _ . _ ..

[IBGold]

VK3PGM . _ .. _ _ _ . _ ..

VK5KIB.

[ivconic]

450 miles between u2... CB with GP will do!
SW might be overkill.

Our categorization was done according to the system "A, B, C, D..."
"A" stands for "lunatic nerd" (by my terms) and pretty normal and straightforward people are usually "C" or "D"!
"B" is something in between.



https://www.radista.info/en_index.html

At the time of the great popularity of cordless phones, I found that with these devices:
https://www.radista.info/en_vhf_radio.html#RUP1B
I could perfectly tap all the phones in the place.
Considering I'm at an altitude of 100m above the place and have a clear space in front... it was crazy fun listening to various conversations at night!
Especially when it comes to various adulteries or gossip.
I think it was the forerunner of Jerry Springer...

[Wahyu]

YD1CLI

https://www.qrz.com/db/YD1CLI

[coinfarmer]

I have taken the practice test a few times and passed with honors, but it's hard to stay interested in the hobby. My local repeater is comprised by miserable old liberal gatekeeping boomers that either talk about their eavestrough or complain about something, in between humble-bragging about stuff they have.

The most interesting thing wasn't really HAM but the local police re-broadcast. You at least had a good idea of how trashy the town is getting, despite not being reported on by the local paid for liberal news. That went digital last fall so I sold my handheld Yaesu FT5.

I have a mild interest in DX listening, however I also sold my SDR duo when I needed the money. (Off work due to surgery). I still have a Grundig/Tecsun type radio, but honestly it really sucks, not only does it not pick up anything with a long wire outdoor antenna, it can't even receive a AM stations from Toronto, an hours drive away.
Conversely I recently built a little AM radio kit from Eleco that works very, very well in comparison, it even picks up American stations at night with it's tiny ferrite antenna.

DX and CW is cool due to the distance involved, but the rest is obsolete nonsense in the days of computers.

I reject the whole HAM concept in general. I have interests in radio building but decided not to let "HAM" dogma dictate my activities. HAM operators make me hate radio.

Self important douchebags talk about how important they would be in an emergency, however the majority won't even have the electricity to operate or charge their radios. Fantasy heros.

I'm not technically a "Pirate" because I've haven't broadcasted anything, however my beliefs are much more aligned to the Pirate style of radio hobbyist than it is with HAMs. HAM operators can go sit on their 2M antenna.

[sinclairuser]

hi all, 2e0 xxx been listening for years though only passed my test during covid the rsgb scrapped the practical test so with nothing left to do and nowhere to go i did it.
my setup is cheap mainly sdrs and baofeng uv5-r3 tribander, and a uv5-rm that has airband too, scrapping the test has brought an influx of new hams sadly the old boomer crowd dont like it which is why im hiding my last 3 initials, they seem to think taking away the test makes us less than them and will use your callsign to cause problems sad old twats.
they were the reason the hobby was dying, they would say our club is closed to new members so while they (clubs) controlled the test they could keep newcomers off air, now they dont have that power so its all a bit underground here in uk, they can shove the repeaters where the sun dont shine, and we will talk away where they cant find us modern radios are great.
and ivica is spot on nothing wrong with baofeng gear it works great dont listen to that old boomer nonsence.

[sinclairuser]

And yes i could have easily passed the practical, no club round here would let you in to do it.