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Stardate: 20190922.1633
Location: Home office, zero-gravity lawn chair.
Input Device: Cybah rig + Cybah cheez keyboard
Audio: Portable A/C unit, child process playing Minecraft
Visual: Olympus Face-Mounted Display
Energy: 80%
Mental: 80%
Emotional: Chill, introspective.
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Since I've been seeing some cyberdecks in my
mastodon feed, I thought it would be appropriate to
post with the Cybah Rig. It has been awhile and
I have some time for geeking out since I took
vacation time for Monday and Tuesday.
I have read a couple posts in the gophersphere
regarding an inexpensive ham radio that will no
longer be available at the end of this month due to
some new changes made by the FCC. I think it was
tfurrows and mhj that wrote about this. Well, this
new change has got me thinking again about ham
radio.
I have had a facination with radio going way back,
not just AM/FM, but also with citizen band (CB) and
police scanners. I loved going to Radio Shack! My
folk's Cadillac Eldorado that I grew up with even
had an OEM CB radio built into the AM/FM stereo
with 8-track player(!) Yeah, I'm old.
In college, I had an FCC license for my college
radio show (back when students needed a license)
and dabbled with all kinds of consumer radios
(world band, weather radios, crystal radio kits,
etc.) I was aware of ham radio, but it seemed a
bit out of reach for me. I had some friends that
did have licenses, and would tell me tales of
who they talked to or what they heard...I found
these stories facinating. One guy would even
talk and listen on the radio to find out when
trains would pull into town just so he could
snap a photograph of the engine. And this was with
analog film!
I never got around to studying for a license since
I think back then you needed to learn morse code.
Plus BBS's and eventually the advent of the
World Wide Web consumed my time. I did have a CB
in my car and a police scanner, which seem to
satisfy my radio curiosities at that time.
Fast forward a bit to when I moved out west, I
started getting exposed again to ham radio. This
exposure was from a local wireless user group that
was formed by ham radio operators to discuss the
new 802.11a/b standard and the equipment that uses
it. Along with these discussions, the
conversations would usually include ham radio. I
got interested again and loved hearing about the
stories, but again, did not persue a license, even
though they changed the licensing to include a no
code license. Spawning child processes seem to put
a damper on resource allocation for leisure
activities.
So fast forward to the gopherspace of now...with
the recent phlog phosts and FCC rules, I decided to
gift myself with a cheap radio. It is here and I
have been exploring the features, but have only
been receiving. No transmissions up in here. I am
unauthorized. So I listen.
I probably have much to learn about the current
state of the art of ham radio and licensing. I
still have an older ARRL manual (2nd edition), but
unsure how far I want to proceed with this hobby.
The child processes are evolving and have become
more autonomous which has freed up some resources
to be reallocated to other pursuits. Perhaps it
might be this one. But for now, I just research
and listen.
Are there other ham radio operators out there in
gopherspace actively involved with this hobby? I
know that people are doing stuff besides chatter on
the radio. What are you doing with your license
these days? Is it worth pursuing a license? Any
feedback would be greatly appreciated.
And it is now time for International Wasabi Mix
by snowdusk on aNONradio...gotta jack in.
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