Subj : Re: 2 meter license
To   : Spaceman Spiff
From : Angus Mcleod
Date : Mon Aug 02 2004 12:20 am

  Re: Re: 2 meter license
  By: Spaceman Spiff to Speed Demon on Sat Jul 31 2004 11:29:00

 >  > Why would anyone want to get on 2 meters? it's a flipping Glorified CB ba
 >  > Get your General and get on 40 or 75 meter or better yet 160, WHERE the R
 >  > hams hang out!
 > 
 > I disagree, 2 meters is a good band. 

It depends what you want.

I know that there are a LOT of hams who get their ticket and buy an HT and
that's it.  Or maybe a mobile 2M for the car as well.  I can't help but think
-what-a-waste-!

But then, what I wanted out of amateur radio couldn't be done with an HT.  

I wanted to spend an hour on the beach, under a coconut tree, sending CW to a
75-year-old grandmother, discussing the benefits of raising goats as opposed 
sheep.  I wanted to chat with a guy in the Australian outback, and hear his    
analysis of the qualities of Foster's Lager.  I hoped to find out about bass-
fishing from a guy who just bought a new bass-boat.  And so on.  

Not to mention doing weirdo stuff like sending RTTY at 45 baud through a
deep-space satellite at apogee, or downloading files off a Japanese BBS in
low-earth orbit, etc, etc.

The idea of using an HT to talk to the same old guys that you see druvung
around town every day would drive me to tears!  Even here, where all the hams
in the region meet up on an HF net, it drives me crazy, because all they ever
do is argue about whose transmitter is off frequency...

But to each his own.  Amateur radio is a whole lot of hobbies rolled into one. 
And we can't expect everyone to be interested in the same things we are!

---
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