Who else thinks ham radio is annoying

I don't get it. It is staticy, you can barely hear each other, you need to get a license, and then all you do is try to make contact and then you write that in a book.

You see these guys, fanatics in youtube, with like a silver embossed case, carefully opening it on his driveway, his precious gear, then he sits down after setting it all up, pulls out the last piece, a little morse code thingy, and starts dot dot dot dash dash dash, waiting for a reply, gets one, and thats it. (translation, are yo there Bill, yeah I'm hear Frank. Isn't this great Bill?, yeah this rocks Frank. See ya)"

Here is a classic I just watched today because I was thinking I would get a little hand held because the things look cool. Its a short video, he buys a Wouxun from China, shipped from Hong King, one of the best radios for the price these days and loaded with extras.

So he carefully opens the box, assembles it, and then can't get anything on the radio, except a few beeps, some chatter from some construction site somewhere and some FM radio which he plays so loud your ears will hurt.

And thats it.

And he is in 7th heaven over this thing.

I just don't get it.

reply to post by Rocketman7


My dad was into ham radio when he was alive.
I remember him trying to get his license here in the states and getting pissed off that he had to take the test. And the stupid test had all these ludicrous questions on it. Why would you need to know how to practically build a radio if you can just buy one? I don't know.

In any case he ended up getting his license back in Costa Rica. TI2 ALL. I can almost hear him speaking with his buddy and other brother who live in Costa Rica while we were here in Miami, FL. Tango India 2 Alpha Lima Lima.

We used to go to all the ham radio conventions. I remember hearing the stupid woodpecker. Playing around with 2 meter radios.
Back before cell phones were an option Ham Radio was it.
It was an interesting hobby to say the least.

reply to post by Rocketman7


Ah, but when the zombies come....

You'll be thankful for them.....

Originally posted by grey580
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

My dad was into ham radio when he was alive.
I remember him trying to get his license here in the states and getting pissed off that he had to take the test. And the stupid test had all these ludicrous questions on it. Why would you need to know how to practically build a radio if you can just buy one? I don't know.

In any case he ended up getting his license back in Costa Rica. TI2 ALL. I can almost hear him speaking with his buddy and other brother who live in Costa Rica while we were here in Miami, FL. Tango India 2 Alpha Lima Lima.

We used to go to all the ham radio conventions. I remember hearing the stupid woodpecker. Playing around with 2 meter radios.
Back before cell phones were an option Ham Radio was it.
It was an interesting hobby to say the least.

edit on 14-10-2011 by grey580 because: (no reason given)

Yeah I guess back before we had the Internet it must have been really cool to just talk to people from all over the world. Just imagine we were on Ham radio right now. There would be this loud irritating hissing noise and I would have to ask you to repeat what you said, and then I would write your call sign in my book.
To show my friends at work.

It's the kind of thing you don't get unless you need it. You no longer have to build computers from parts either. You just buy it from Dell and turn it on. It's now an appliance, but as a result, you are totally ignorant about how it is put together. You could not replicate it, troubleshoot it, or fix it if it had problems. Same thing with cars. When I was a kid I could get an engine out of a Volkswagen in 15 minutes flat. Today it would take me that long to find the distributor cap. Oh, wait....it doesn't have one.

But of the SHTF and all you have is an "emergency" hand crank radio, all you can do is listen. Don't expect the cell phones to work. But my collection of HAM radios can reach around the world. Yeah, the tests are difficult. You actually have to know something about how radios work. Imagine that. Nobody's forcing you. You must be easily annoyed.

KZ7B - Extra Class.

Originally posted by Gazrok
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

Ah, but when the zombies come....

You'll be thankful for them.....

They will be attracted to the hissing noises and the shouting "WHAT? I CAN"T...DO YOU COPY???/ WHAT??? HISSSSSSS WHAT???? THIS IS ALPHA TANGO BRAVO DELTA SIX NINER DO YOU COPY???

Originally posted by schuyler
It's the kind of thing you don't get unless you need it. You no longer have to build computers from parts either. You just buy it from Dell and turn it on. It's now an appliance, but as a result, you are totally ignorant about how it is put together. You could not replicate it, troubleshoot it, or fix it if it had problems. Same thing with caqrs. When I was a kid I could get an engine out of a Volkswagen in 15 minutes flat. Today it would take me that long to find the distributor cap. Oh, wait....it doesn't have one.

But of the SHTF and all you have is an "emergency" hand crank radio, all you can do is listen. Don't expect the cell phones to work. But my collection of HAM radios can reach around the world. Yeah, the tests are difficult. You actually have to know something about how radios work. Imagine that. Nobody's forcing you. You must be easily annoyed.

KZ7B - Extra Class.

edit on 10/14/2011 by schuyler because: (no reason given)

But they have static and are loud, why have you guys not just set it up to connect to your lap top?

For instance, if I take 2 acoustic couplers, you know acoustic modems, that you can strap to a pay phone handset, like that, and 4 mobile radios, that I could buy you know the family band GPRS type, so ok, I put one on the listen end of the coupler and one on the talk end of the coupler, and do the same for the other coupler, and give that to someone else who has a lap top.

Then, using those radios, we can communicate using our lap tops, and chat in private without attracting the cannibal hordes.

So why don't Ham radios just connect to lap tops so you don't have to listen to static? I mean you could switch to voice through your lap top, with software if you wanted to hear a voice, but isn't it better to just use this kind of communication?

So the Internet goes down and TSHTF why won't you guys just make your own using ham radio?

OR why aren't people communicating that way instead?

reply to post by Rocketman7


When cellphones fail, ham radio will still work. It also offers the ability to talk to people around the world for free, without wires. But I guess since ham radios don't have a iphone surveillance cam, email, or tweeting ability not many are interested.

Originally posted by Freezer
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

When cellphones fail, ham radio will still work. It also offers the ability to talk to people around the world for free, without wires. But I guess since ham radios don't have a iphone surveillance cam, email, or tweeting ability not many are interested.

Well why don't they? Why don't they have recorders on them too like scanners?

Why can't you make a digital duplex connection between two lap tops? Too old fashioned?

I always wanted to get into Ham ... the most delicious of all the smoke meats ... seriously though, it seems like a fun hobby and despite its antique status, ham radio is a growing hobby.

Originally posted by Rocketman7

Originally posted by Freezer
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

When cellphones fail, ham radio will still work. It also offers the ability to talk to people around the world for free, without wires. But I guess since ham radios don't have a iphone surveillance cam, email, or tweeting ability not many are interested.

Well why don't they? Why don't they have recorders on them too like scanners?

Why can't you make a digital duplex connection between two lap tops? Too old fashioned?

I t takes far less power and bandwidth to send "cw" dits and dahs... Only 5 watts can "work" the world under favorable atmospheric conditions.
True you have to have an interest(curiosity) in technical stuff to dig into it: If you don't get it... you won't get it.

I can't figure out "gamers" who act like they've accomplished something in real life by "playing"..

Besides You don't need acoustic couplers: "packet radio" was getting big before the emergence of the internet. using digital modulation and computers to send packets just like the' net over hf bands.
start here:
www.arrl.org...

reply to post by Freezer


I've also heard about data/mail/chat servers only available via ham. Thats seems pretty neat,

Originally posted by 46ACE

Originally posted by Rocketman7

Originally posted by Freezer
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

When cellphones fail, ham radio will still work. It also offers the ability to talk to people around the world for free, without wires. But I guess since ham radios don't have a iphone surveillance cam, email, or tweeting ability not many are interested.

Well why don't they? Why don't they have recorders on them too like scanners?

Why can't you make a digital duplex connection between two lap tops? Too old fashioned?

I t takes far less power and bandwidth to send "cw" dits and dahs... Only 5 watts can "work" the world under favorable atmospheric conditions.
True you have to have an interest(curiosity) in technical stuff to dig into it: If you don't get it... you won't get it.

I can't figure out "gamers" who act like they've accomplished something in real life by "playing"..

Dits and dahs is all you need to communicate through your lap top isn't it? Isn't that how a modem works?

Why voice? Why not ham radios you connect to your lap top?

Originally posted by SirMike
I always wanted to get into Ham ... the most delicious of all the smoke meats ... seriously though, it seems like a fun hobby and despite its antique status, ham radio is a growing hobby.

Yes haaaaam, mmmmm, I too am living high off the hog. Only I live around the pork loin. That is where the pork chops are.

Well who doesn't love cool looking electronic equipment with a ton of buttons? I am salivating for one because I have everything else ever made that is electronic and has lots of buttons on it. I want another one and those look cool.

But what the heck can you do with it except ask someone in Brazil what the weather is like there when you can just look that up on the Internet in 2 seconds?

Originally posted by Rocketman7

Originally posted by Freezer
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

When cellphones fail, ham radio will still work. It also offers the ability to talk to people around the world for free, without wires. But I guess since ham radios don't have a iphone surveillance cam, email, or tweeting ability not many are interested.

Well why don't they? Why don't they have recorders on them too like scanners?

Why can't you make a digital duplex connection between two lap tops? Too old fashioned?

You probably could, but I don't see how it could be private. I always wanted to have a video and audio transmitter. Would be cool if they had some type of small compact tablet transmitter with video.

Originally posted by SirMike
reply to post by Freezer

 

I've also heard about data/mail/chat servers only available via ham. Thats seems pretty neat,

I think they are starting to get into packet radio. I have heard something about it but no one wants to talk about it because that is where the good porn is probably.

You know, pictures of Dolly Parton during the war and all that.

But I think someone has to say, ok, I will be up and running like a BBS at such and such a time, and people can call in and log on. Then its up for a little while then down again. Or something like that.

But I think you have to be a 5 star ham radio operator with your golden ears designation and your multiplexer badge to know how to do it.

Originally posted by Freezer

Originally posted by Rocketman7

Originally posted by Freezer
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

When cellphones fail, ham radio will still work. It also offers the ability to talk to people around the world for free, without wires. But I guess since ham radios don't have a iphone surveillance cam, email, or tweeting ability not many are interested.

Well why don't they? Why don't they have recorders on them too like scanners?

Why can't you make a digital duplex connection between two lap tops? Too old fashioned?

You probably could, but I don't see how it could be private. I always wanted to have a video and audio transmitter. Would be cool if they had some type of small compact tablet transmitter with video.

The ghost of Steve Jobs!

You might be on to something.

I think ham radio has a lot of potential but it is still stuck in the past, and not keeping up with the times.
They should have it already set up, that if the Internet goes down, they have their up and running in a couple days. The technology is there.

Look at that video I posted. Here you have a guy who just bought a new radio, and he wants to communicate with people, and there is no one on the radio, meanwhile lots more people will watch his video than he will ever communicate with using the radio.

As for privacy between two lap tops you just use encryption protocols like wireless communication does.

Originally posted by Rocketman7

But they have static and are loud, why have you guys not just set it up to connect to your lap top?

They CAN have static, but that isn't a given. They aren't loud unless you turn the volume up, and, for the record, HAM radio has been using computers for decades. Echolink has been around for a long time. If the Internet is up, HAM radio can use it. I don't know a HAM radio operator who does not have a computer and use it in some way with his hobby.

HAM radio doesn't need anything but you and some form of power. It isn't dependent on the Internet, on cell phones, or on any other source but itself. It is a worldwide standard that everyone follows. When all your standard communications methods go T.U., when you are completely cut off from the world, HAM radio still works. When your laptop is a useless hunk of plastic and metal that won't connect you anywhere, when you cell phone shows zero bars, that HAM radio can still communicate across town, or across the country.

Insofar as its capabilities are interesting to you, great--or not. Different strokes for different folks and all, but so far your objections aren't really substantial or substantiated at all.

--KZ7B

Originally posted by schuyler

Originally posted by Rocketman7

But they have static and are loud, why have you guys not just set it up to connect to your lap top?

They CAN have static, but that isn't a given. They aren't loud unless you turn the volume up, and, for the record, HAM radio has been using computers for decades. Echolink has been around for a long time. If the Internet is up, HAM radio can use it. I don't know a HAM radio operator who does not have a computer and use it in some way with his hobby.

HAM radio doesn't need anything but you and some form of power. It isn't dependent on the Internet, on cell phones, or on any other source but itself. It is a worldwide standard that everyone follows. When all your standard communications methods go T.U., when you are completely cut off from the world, HAM radio still works. When your laptop is a useless hunk of plastic and metal that won't connect you anywhere, when you cell phone shows zero bars, that HAM radio can still communicate across town, or across the country.

Insofar as its capabilities are interesting to you, great--or not. Different strokes for different folks and all, but so far your objections aren't really substantial or substantiated at all.

--KZ7B

You missed my point.

I know you use computers with the hobby, so why not use ham radio as a modem too?