Any Ham/ shortwave radio enthusiasts here?

[CaptHowdy]

I’m currently studying for my first test, which will be my introduction to the world of amateur radio. I have a cheap little Baofeng, but will probably be upgrading soon.
I figured there might be some interest among users here, and I would like to know some more about what I’m getting into!

 

[jimbo1096]

I've heard friends that have been in it since I was in high school and we used to hang out, but I never got the hang of Morse code. I hear nowadays you don't have to know it. I used to have several receivers that I would listen to conversations from around the world and used to collect QSL cards. Best friend was John and call sign WA5IFG. All are gone now to the great network in the sky.
Wish you the best of luck, I always found it a fascinating hobby

 

[Laserbait]

I've been wanting to get into it since I was little. Morse code always befuddled me. I feel the hardware is more entertaining to me than the actual communications.

Maybe this winter is the time that I get serious about it. I already have a couple of Baofeng radios to play with to rekindle my interest!

 

[NC FNS]

Good luck, OP. I think you’ll enjoy it. Morse code wasn’t in my wheelhouse either, like others have said. I was a CB enthusiast for a while back in the 23 channel days, until everybody got one.

 

[Colonialgirl]

My Dad was an Amateur Radio Operator ( call sign: WA6DXJ ) and my spouse Ashley was also ( AI4P ) ; I'm not but I do go to a weekly breakfast of the local club.

 

[Threespears]

It’s on my todo list

 

[Jeepnik]

Interesting timing. A number of licensed operators complained that non licensed users were causing problems when they were trying to organize communications after Helene.

At one time the feds actually tracked down pirate radio operators. And there were penalties. Not so much anymore. So a bunch of scofflaws bought sets and don't follow both the laws and customs of amateur radio.

It's pretty darned easy to get a technician license as Morse isn't required. You are limited in bands and power but it's a good place to start.

 

[el caminero]

Dad had an electronics shop and loved his halliscratcher, among several others, but after his partner absconded with the stock, till, an everything else, he built one last one from other peoples' junk, but had to let it go tho he always wanted to get back on the beam. his time in the navy was as "sparks", radio and radar man, as well as "doing light work" l.e. changing the lat bubs aboard.

 

[contender]

A good friend of mine,, who's also a resident of Lake Lure is a Ham radio operator. he was able to keep up with a lot of stuff going on during the disaster. He's kept me posted about stuff as well.

 

[41Dude]

No. But in the 1960's a neighbor gave me an old Hallicrafters short wave. He had removed the sending part of the set but the receive part worked fine.
I grew up north of NYC. Spent a lot of nights listening to (after the tubes warmed up) voices from around the world and the ... --- sounds of morse code.

How many people remember having to wait for all of the vacuum tubes to warm up?

 

[gramps]

Yes, I have an Advanced license. WB4WBH. I have a couple of Baofengs on 2 meters/70 Cm. Couple of Yeasu on HF, only listening on HF due to lack of antenna.
gramps

 

[Kevin]

This topic came up here a few years ago. I don’t know much about it at all.

But there is a website you can take practice tests online.

They are very difficult to say the least. Especially if you don’t know the subject.

I agree with @Laserbait who said “I feel the hardware is more entertaining to me than the actual communications.”

 

[edm1]

Yes. I spend all my time on HF. I am actually on a flight right now and have at rig in my bag under my seat. My interest ebbs and flows but I’ve really enjoyed it over the years. I use CW 99% of the time and what I really enjoy is QRP. Low powers ops where I can run off a 9volt battery. I backpack and it is so easy to throw my gear in and take it. This was in 2022 on a mountain top in New Mexico.

 

[ole442]

I got my Technician license a couple years ago and they offered the next test at the time for free and I took it but did not pass. I have quite a few Baofeng Handi talkies and can talk with my best friend since grade school who lives two hours south in southern Ohio mountain top via a local repeater. I also picked up a Xiegu G90 and a decent antenna but have had less success with it although it does work and should get better comms than the Baofeng units. I have basically not touched it since earlier in 2023 due to prioritizing painting and re-assembling my 1972 Cutlass 442. Got it painted but am stuck on installing a new headliner. I was talking with my friend yesterday (Amateur Extra) and he talks all over the world. I plan on getting it out in a month or so and do a few changes and try to get comms a bit farther out. At 72, not enough motivation or time to do all the things I have "in progress"!

 

[weaselmeatgravy]

My dad was a ham and built his own tube-driven equipment and shortwave setup. It was pretty massive. He got my grandfather into it as well, but by then he was able to buy a solid-state rig pretty cheap. I never had the patience to learn Morse Code, which was a requirement for a license back in the day, so I never got into it and was happy with my CB in the late 70's.

Pop's vanity plates:

I was born in '60 so I never remembered these on the family car. He might have let the plate lapse due to the extra fee once he had 3 kids.

Granddaddy's plate:

 

[CaptHowdy]

Thank you all for the replies so far- I'm glad to see this was the right place to ask!
I'm looking forward to being able to talk to more and more people as I progress.
I am glad that Morse code is no longer needed for the license- that would have definitely kept me away

 

[weaselmeatgravy]

In 1980 when I bought my first used 1978 Scout, my dad walked across the street to take this pic of me in the process of moving my Warn winch from my 1969 Landcruiser to the Scout, which involved a bumper changeout (the original bumper is leaning up against the house). But all that is irrelevant. The point of posting this is the vertical pole to the left of center just behind the house. That was for my dad's ham antenna. I think the pole was 30 feet tall, anchored in concrete at the bottom and also strapped to the house in several spots on the way up. The antenna itself added a few more feet of height. He put it in that spot to minimize wire length going into the basement workshop where his radio equipment lived in a corner. My bedroom was directly above his workshop, so I would often hear him talking below my room via the forced air ductwork. Doubleyou-Zero-Thomas-Victor-Victor calling Cee-Cue.

 

[edm1]

I am absolutely horrible at learning foreign languages. When I got licensed in 2002 I had to pass 5wpm. I busted it to get there then promptly forgot it. Around 2012 I decided to relearn code. Did it for a few years then got off the radio for a few. Then in 2017 I think it was , I realized that that’s what I wanted to do so I jumped all in. At least 1 CW contact a day. Every day. I slowly got faster. I have been on voice MAYBE 10 times in the last 10 years. I just really enjoy it. A few years ago I talked to a guy in a nursing home on CW. He had been a radio operator on a ship in the navy in WW2. That was pretty awesome. There is just a mystique to code. And it’s much more effective at getting out than voice. Lots of people will slow down for you. We want people to be on. Don’t write it off without trying.

 

[Jeepnik]

I periods in junior high and passed the test. A few years later I figured it might come in handy in the service. By the 70's it seemed it was almost extinct in the USAF.

Then life and family got in the way and I never went back. Rules have changed, equipment has changed. I'm considering getting back into it.

But I'be heard that repeaters might be going away. Without those you are still pretty much line of sight unless you get a skip. Bouncing off the ionosphere while fun isn't repeatable with any reliability. Still...

 

[sharpblade7777]

Right out of high school I joined the army security agency for 4 years, 1966-1970. My mos was high speed morse intercept operator. I could copy 40 words a minute. After I got out, my brother and I both got our ham license. Me in N. C. And he in Georgia. We both advanced to general class so we could talk in voice. I had a Yaesu ft-101e transceiver. It put out around 120 watts but I had an amplifier that was rated at 2000 watts. We did that for around 5 years until I got tired if it but we did save on phone bills. I let my license expire but kinda regret it now. My callsign was WB4MZX.

 

[the_leper_colony]

It surprised me to learn years ago, that radio folks have their own "patron saint":

:)

 

[Acorn]

I used to listen in high school a good bit. Radio Nederland, Deutche Wella, Moscow, Havana and HCJB in Quito. For some reason my favorite to pick up was Radio South Africa.
I remember going to send for a QSL from Havana and my Dad freaked. Thought I was going to turn commie.
I have no idea what’s available now.
I bought a Baofeng UV5R due to it having a clean signal, but never tested.
One of these days.

 

[v35]

How many people remember having to wait for all of the vacuum tubes to warm up?

Yes, and now we just wait for digital systems to boot up.

The more things change...

 

[Kevin]

Where does a person go to learn all this?

 

[41Dude]

Yes, and now we just wait for digital systems to boot up.

The more things change...

We recently replaced our 6 year old laptop.
New one is almost instant on. The old one booted up so slowly I could go make coffee then return as it was ready.

Also sometimes at night I could pick up
(Skip signal?) RADIO FREE EUROPE on my receiver.
For you younger members when you get a minute look up RADIO FREE EUROPE.
Scary times back then with Russia flexing it's muscles.
That sounds familiar doesn't it.

 

[kshaw]

I have had my technician's license for a few years now. It is a very easy test and we had a number of high school students around 12 years old that passed the test. I have played around with D-Star which is a digital communications system that has a network of relay stations. Imagine being able to use a 5 watt handheld radio and communicating with others hundreds of miles away. I also played around with APPRS which was developed by a Naval Academy instructor. APPRS allows you to send email messages and text messages with a cheap radio and an android tablet without the internet.

 

[weaselmeatgravy]

In addition to waiting for the tubes to warm up, I remember the smell. I think it was from the tubes heating up the dust on them inside the chassis. And I always enjoyed that nice warm orange glow you could see through the ventilation holes in radios, even the AM clock radio.

My mom always liked to tell this story about my dad's radio hobby. He was the sole breadwinner and was making $35/week which had to cover everything. One evening he came home with a bag and she asked what was in it.

Dad: Oh, I bought a transistor (yup, ONE transistor).
Mom: How much did that cost?
Dad: Um... fifteen dollars...
Mom: WHAT??? @#%$&*^!!! That was our grocery money!!!

So pop was in the doghouse for a while over that one. He mounted that one transistor on a tube base so that he could plug and unplug it, moving it from one experimental circuit to the next.

I remember hearing Radio Free Europe as well. I also remember hearing some Slavic language and asked him where that was coming from, and he said it must be from behind the Iron Curtain. I had never heard that phrase before, so my mind created some funky imagery of a literal iron curtain.

 

[Kevin]

We recently replaced our 6 year old laptop.
New one is almost instant on. The old one booted up so slowly I could go make coffee then return as it was ready.

Also sometimes at night I could pick up
(Skip signal?) RADIO FREE EUROPE on my receiver.
For you younger members when you get a minute look up RADIO FREE EUROPE.
Scary times back then with Russia flexing it's muscles.
That sounds familiar doesn't it.

My wife is from Bulgaria. Her dad, my father in law, grew up in Burgas. It’s on the Black Sea. He’s told me at night he would tune the radio in to listen to Western Music like the Beatles. Of course that was not legal at all.

He was probably listening to Radio Free Europe.

 

[burner]

I still have my Tech License instead of General because I didn't have the ear for code, and where I was headed at the time I didn't need code. Mexico.. South of the boarder they don't have all the classes like here in the US. You are either a HAM or not. Just show up with your US Tech and get an XE license... And my marine radio on the boat was opened up to all freqs so I could talk to anyone. One do-all radio. I gotta admit I no longer even play with ham and only have a hh multi band with a dead battery.... somewhere??

 

[CaptHowdy]

Where does a person go to learn all this?

You can look up your ZIP code here to find local courses, as well as remote classes.

https://www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-class
The one I took was $15 for an 8 week course, just one night per week.