Surely you realize that there are people that listen to things on radio.
Shortwave, VHF, UHF. Military comms, utilities, ect. You do actually
participate in the radio hobby, don't you?

No. I do not consider 'radio' a hobby. I appreciate the fact that others do.

Amateur radio is a service, for example.

I clearly do not understand that eavesdropping on the marine band with a
unidirectional antenna is a hobby. I invite Richard to expound its virtues;
tell us who does it; tell us how such hobbyists meet; discuss their fun info;
and so on.

This is a new one, relatively, to me.

BTW, I have been a ham since 1966; have won various contests; have DXCC honor
Rolls; 8BDXCC (equivalent); #1 DXCC Honor Roll; and so on.

I have also done various public service stuff as a ham, BTW.

I've been around the pike, so to speak.

73
Chip N1IR



Before cell phones were widely available, the phone company around here
(Belmont, CA)
had a phone patch service for marine vhf. I met at least one guy who had a hand
held
marine vhf radio which he used to carry around so he could make phone
calls without having to find a pay phone. I expect monitoring the marine band
could get pretty boring, and might get you a charter membership in the
dull men's club, but little else. Of course, if you own a boat that's another
story.
73,
Tom Donaly, KA6RUH