RadioBanter - View Single Post

July 28th 03, 10:18 AM

(Vshah101) wrote in message ...
Amateur radio "outside the box"

Although there are many possible amateur-radio activities, Hams tend to focus
on a certain group of activities. Often, they are followed in the manner
accepted by tradition.

You mean like Olympic runens do the 200 meter? And how baseball
players strive for a pennant or the World Series? Or how footlball
players shoot for the Superbowl?

Your point?

The typical Ham activity is making short QSOs for contests and awards. Contests
are events where Hams try to make as many contacts on specified bands as
possible. Awards are often given by how many locations are contacted
("worked"). For example, there are Worked All States, Worked 100 countries,
etc. Notice that traditional Ham radio awards are given for the number of
contacts or for how many contacts in a given time period.

So far nothing we don't already know. That's what contesting is
ALL ABOUT!

This is a competitive activity. Hams compete to obtain the best contest score,
or to obtain award certificates. Hams seem to have this type of mode of
operation, and it seems to be the same at almost every club. I have nothing
against competition. Also, I have nothing against Hams doing what they enjoy
doing...(SNIP)

Sure you do. You've been railing against anything and everything
that YOU don't like doing for almost 2 years now.

But, I would like to point out that there are other types of competition
possible. And there are other types of activities and interests.

OK...were waiting with a'bated breath.

Because no such clubs exist right now that cater to these interests, there is
no avenue for one to pursue these interests.

Sure there is. Just go out and do it. Put an ad in a paper or
(WHERE have we heard THIS before???) on a USENET forum soliciting
like-minded persons to join in with you. Costs almost nothing.

Of course you've been doing that for almost years now and I don't
see anyone joining in with you.

Big paragraph of gobbledy-gook snipped.

Here are some other possibilities in amateur radio.

More radio direction finding challenges.
The gaming aspect of this activity is appealing to some. Also, it uses more
physical activity than sitting at a station making contacts.

Already being done. If there's not enough for you, step up to
the plate at the next club meeting and offer to organize it yourself.

If no one joins in, they are either NOT INTERESTED or they don't
like you, Vippy...I'll let YOU decide which.

Homebrewing challenges.
Lets have some homebrewing challenges. How about building small circuits, e.g.
using SMT? I don't see small batteries at Hamfests, so I know this isn't being
done. How about ATV using a homebrewed project?

Ever read QEX magazine, Vipul? Or Homebrew? Or CQ? Or 73?

Wanna spur some activity of your own? Pony up $50 for a cash
award or buy a gift certificate for dinner for two at a nice
restauraunt. If no one takes you up on it, it was either not worth
the $50, you chose a rotten restaurant, or they didn't like you,
Vipul. I'll let you decide which.

Often Hams will not show interest in a project, just because it doesn't hook up
to their radio. Just because a particular rf project may not involve a radio
(for example, radio controlled planes), shouldn't make it off limits. If its
rf, its still radio. How about radio controlled planes, Doppler radar, or
VHF/UHF amplifiers?

How about if they're not interested, they're NOT interested...?!?!

APRS.

Oh yeah...NO ONE interested in THAT mode, Vippy!
(guffaw..giggle..snicker)

Lets get more people using the capabilities of APRS. All I see at Hamfests is a
map with active locations showing. New interesting applications should be
tested. Perhaps tracking a radio in a car. How about having both cars move, and
one follows the other using APRS. Most Hams do not do this. This would be an
interesting group activity.

DANG...They're doing THAT too! Here in SE Tennessee we have
SEVERAL members who drive 18 wheelers, and we are constantly following
them! I KNOW that Tennesseeans are NOT the only ones to know how
this works!

Training.

Guess you've missed all those ARRL on-line courses lately, huh
Vipster?

Lets have dedicated training.

You mean like ARES or RACES? Gee...THERE'S a novel idea.

Either in the clubs, or as training seminars for
better amateur radio operation, emergency preparedness, etc. Clubs often just
have one lecture and then some club business. Better to have some demo setups
and have people use some radios. More training should be offered. However, I
don't know how many Hams would like that or would be willing to pay for
training. Topics could include: generator power, connector assembly, antenna
tuning and setup, troubleshooting. Perhaps some rf measurements training. Maybe
some circuit design topics.

OW! Even MORE stuff they are already doing! It's called FIELD
DAY. And those CONTESTERS you seem to disdain are ALWAYS looking to
increase station efficiency and score some more of those dreaded
points you seem to not like (or is it that you don't seem to posses
any of the requisite skills to accumulate any of your own?)

DXpeditions.
Enjoy a DXpedition. One thing I have noticed is that Hams often go to
DXpeditions and don't do anything other than operate radios. At one club
meeting I went to, one person gave a presentation about how he went to this
exotic location and all he did is setup antennas, and make contacts. He had
nothing to say about that location. At a Hamfest, I saw a film of another group
of Hams going to another country and all they did is setup antennas and make
contacts.

This statement here absolutely reinforces that YOU, Vipul Shah,
are absolutely CLUELESS about the PURPOSE of a DXpedition!

You've brought this up before and more persons than me have told
you this!

Would you go to a NASCAR race to sunbathe? Or the Superbowl to
play a chess game? Or do you go to a Chinese restaurant and order
spaghetti?

I went to a DXpedition - definitely a vacation spot- with a group of Hams. I
saw this tendency firsthand. They did exactly the same thing! I wanted to go to
the beach, take a drive, etc., but the Hams were only interested in making
radio contacts on various modes.

If the place you went to was inside the continental United States
or Canada, it was NOT a "DXpedition".

And it it WAS inside the US or Canada, chances are it was to some
rare (from a Ham Radio perspective) or historically interesting place
and was ACTIVATED for THAT purpose...NOT for SIGHTSEEING!

It's called an OPERATING EVENT, Ya GOOFBALL!

I don't see the point of the DXpedition.

That is one GROSS misunderstatement!

Were they doing a duty to that
location, making sure the location is activated and gets QSOs? Working the
location for a few hours qualifies as getting the benefits of working that
location. There is no need to work the location for 8+ hours. They made
contacts for hours throughout the day and through Saturday night.

If they kept calling CQ and people kept answering them, then YES,
there was a "need". Did they "NEED" to do it in order to keep thier
jobs or feed their families..??? NO..THEY DID IT FOR FUN!

It seems the only non-radio activity Hams participate is in eating.

That's because you're so danged clueless, and no one wants you
around when the go-go daners and the beer arrives! Ya shudda stayed
for the Wouff Hong!

(I did
manage to get a few road trips because I volunteered to pick up food. Most of
the Hams stayed at the shack.) They missed out on the scenic beach, the small
town atmosphere. What's the point of going to a vacation location if the
experience is the same as working QSOs at home? There needs to be some balance.

So how did they know about this place if they'd never been there
before, Vippy? Just throw a dart at a map and say "LET'S GO WASTE A
DAY OF OUR LIFE THERE!"..?!?!

They knew where to go because they'd already been there! And if
it's a REAL DXpedition, it's some coral atoll with nothing more than
gooney birds, crabs and LOT'S of bird droppings! Not a lot you can
see. Almost anywhere else has SOME sort of Ham Radio population
there, and is hardly the "target" of an expensive DXpedition to
"activate" it!

Yesterday, I went to that club's cookout. As usual, the club was mostly older
males. There were one woman. She asked what we did at the DXpedition. Perhaps
she might attend next year's event. One of the people that went there said all
they did is operate radios. The woman asked, "Is that all you did? You didn't
go to the beach or anything?"

Probably the same clueless bimbo who wonders why everyone is
watching all those noisy cars go around and around at Talledega,
Huh...?!?!

I imagine, going to a vacation spot and not doing
any vacation stuff is not appealing to women and young people. Also, the idea
of making repeated contacts at a radio is boring to some people. Ham radio has
a social component as well as a technical component. If you make the social
aspect intolerable, few will want to stay in the hobby. Ham radio probably
loses a lot of people this way.

Yeah...danged shame we lose all those "ham operators" who don't
want to operate radios, huh...?!?! Probably the same guys who wonder
why those girls are taking thier clothes off in a strip bar.

Meetings at different places.

I vote for the strip bar.

Hams have club meetings and other events. Often, these events are food related.
Barbecues, weekly Saturday breakfasts, etc.

Fools! Who wants to eat when we can get slovenly drunk in a
strip bar...?!?!

My suggestion is that instead of meeting weekly to eat, why not meet at a new
"fun" place each week. How about the park, a boat ride, etc. Make it a new
place every week. Cost is not the problem. Often these events cost less than
the overpriced breakfast buffet. It may take some work (mostly scheduling and
informing people), but not much. And it's well worth it.

Hmmm...the best local breakfast bar around here is under $10. It
costs $5.00 just to park at most amusement parks. You price tickets
at Sea World or a Six Flags Park, lately Vippy?

Meet a Ham.
And lets try to contact Hams, not just short QSOs to work bands or locations
for awards. This includes developing lasting contacts. And even the possibility
to meet your contact off the air.

Oh...You mean like I did in the Phillipines? Or Japan? Or when I
was transfered to Philadelphia or LA...?!?! Or maybe like I did today
when I had a 20 min QSO with a very new ham (a KI4xxx call...)

Lets overcome one's limitations, compete, and have fun. Feel free to add to
this list. Feel free to do amateur radio "outside the box".

The "one's" limitations that need to be overcome Vippy are YOURS.

Vippy, you need to find an E-S-C-O-R-T S-E-R-V-I-C-E. Someone
who can get you away from the desk you must hide behind and OUT INTO
THE DAYLIGHT.

You blasted us with yet another running diatribe on things you
insist aren't there, yet every edition of the ham mags proves you
wrong.

I am sorry you don't seem to posses the social skills to get
along in the local clubs, and I am even MORE sorry you don't seem to
grasp or comprehend what's going on around you, but that's not my
problem nor anyone else's but you.

You want to be a tour director? Then step up to the plate at the
next club meeting and VOLUNTEER to do it yourself. The folks who put
on the Dayton Hamvention do a great job of organizing "side trips" and
other non-radio related functions for the non-participating
spouses....YOU can do that for YOUR club.

Now...get along and try to digest some of this virtual spanking
you've taken AGAIN and OPEN YOUR DANGED EYES ! ! !

Steve, K4YZ