On Apr 8, 12:24 am, N2EY wrote:
On Apr 7, 9:27 pm, "Michael J. Coslo" wrote:

The issue I've always had with comparing Ham
radio to the internet is that it's a real apples/oranges thing.

It all depends on one's motivation.

For
some strange reason, the internet is/was thought
of as some sort of high tech wonderland.


With the internet, cell phones, PCs, etc., what's interesting is the
content more than how it gets to you. Most people *expect* it all to
work perfectly 100% of the time on the first try, automatically. It's
the email/phone call/message/website that's the important part; the
technology is just how you get to it.

No argument there. I do think that as the internet has matured a lot
of the more tech minded among us have done a sort of "Okay, time to
move on".

Interestingly, the net and computers have helped fuel this. In my own
case, I got into Ham radio as a sort of way to get away from the
computers. I'd seen them used at my first field day as logging
machines, but that was it. Then after getting my license, I found out
about the sound card modes, the DX spotting nets, and all the other
great stuff available to us as Hams. So in trying to get a hobby away
from the computers led me to using them even more. That's okay though,
as noted in another thread, I think there are so many different things
to experiment with that it's all good.

Now back to the internet, Ham radio has a pretty big presence there,
and a lot of it is not commercial, it's some person who made say a
loop antenna, is proud of it, and want's to tell the world about it.
Maybe it's a person who built their own little QRP rig and a key that
fits in an Altoids tin. So they put up a web page. Well, along comes
someone else, maybe just browsing around, and hits his site. The
curious and technical minded person might just get hooked around that
time. Then they read about digital modes, soon the are hooked.

The interesting thing for me is that I have heard many people lament
how the Internet was going to kill Amateur Radio. I firmly believe the
exact opposite is true. The internet will be one of the best things to
happen to Ham radio when all is said and done.

But ham radio is about "radio for its own sake" and is all about the
journey rather than the destination.

Oh yeah, I Enjoy the ride as much or more that the destination. I had
some tree work done this week. Gave me an excuse to take down my
vertical antenna. But Now I'm having fun reinstalling it. I'm making
it more professional looking install, and putting in more radials,
which has been an ongoing project. I put them in until the knees and
back start barking at me, then tune and use it. Then do it again some
time later.

Point is, Doing the install, tuning and all are as much fun to me as
getting on the air and using it. I'm up to around 20 radials now. I've
also found that the number of radials does indeed make a difference.
Learned something and had fun doing it. Gunny says "Booyeah!

Some people don't get this - in fact, most people don't get it. When
someone's first question about ham radio is "what do you talk about?",

I had to smile here. Once someone asked me what Hams talked about on
the air. I said "Nothing". "What do you mean?", they asked. I said we
talk about very general stuff, but mostly it's talk about nothing.
"You mean like That show with Jerry Seinfeld?"
I figured I needed to change my approach.

- 73 de Mike N3LI -