HAM Radio

Did it work, RL? Did she bite?

 

Are you kidding. Married for this long, she saw right through it.

 

My wife knows better too, lol! She actually surprised me with an antenna tuner this past spring. I'm not sure if I was more excited about getting the tuner or the fact that she bought it!

 

I hold an Advanced class license - something that doesn't exist any more.

I just use a cheap CB.

 

Buddy of mine has an Advanced as well. That's the only reason he keeps it as well.

 

Finally got close to home. Tired. Eating a taco.

Man, you cracked me up.

 

I remember when the code was dropped from testing. I think it was CQ magazine that had an article about hams who held the extra class license, and they were so upset about it, that they tried to pay the FCC to let them down grade to the Advanced class. I can’t remember if they were allowed to down grade or not.

 

Sorry to any old timer ham, but to the guys that whined about dropping CW from the testing requirement, kiss my butt. I got my tech in 2007, and at the time I didnt have any interest in CW, but after upgrading to General a year later, it started to grow on me. I wonder how many potential hams didnt get licensed before it was dropped just because they couldn't catch on. To me, CW is one of many modes that some people like, others never touch it. That's all that some people live for. If people should have learned CW to get their ticket, then they should have been required to learn how to use SSTV, data, etc. The FCC was just catching up with the times in my opinion.

73
DE KD0ATX

 

I agree. I remember guys complaining that if the code was dropped, it would invite people who weren’t as intelligent to become hams.
Of course it turned out to be the opposite. For example there would be people who were very intelligent in electronics, but they couldn’t learn code due to being tone deaf or some other problem.
So in a way the code was keeping a lot of people from getting their license. My oldest brother was one of them. I didn’t mind learning code, but I had a mental block at 18 words a minute, so I never got my extra. But code is still alive and well on the bands, so some people did all that worrying for nothing.

 

5wpm was still required to get past tech when I got my license in1998. Had to take it 3 times before I was successful, promptly forgot all of it. Some of my friends who came into the hobby after all code requirements were dropped love cw and use it frequently. Now digital and computer linking is normal. The hobby evolves, I doubt most would want to go back to spark gap transmitters.