Subj : Re: Anybody here? To : All From : dotslash Date : Thu Mar 03 2022 12:27 pm Hello Mewcenary, On 02/03/2022 09:11, Mewcenary wrote: > Re: Re: Anybody here? > By: dotslash to Brian Murrey on Tue Mar 01 2022 11:08 pm > > do> Pretty much the same thing here, the weather here in the UK is still pretty > do> cold and wet. Not that I can use that as an excuse, but I don't have any > > Jumping in as I spotted you are based in the UK. > > Not a HAMmer here (Is that a correct term?) but interested in your views of the state of the hobby at the moment in the country. I've always looked with interest from afar.... So why are you looking in from afar? Jump in, the water is fine! :-D The term "HAM radio" is an American one, and strictly speaking over here in the UK the old guard prefers to be referred to as "Amateur Radio Operators". Having said that, I don't mind one bit to be called a HAMmer, it's pretty much universal over the world these days. But seriously, since the first pandemic lockdown the RSGB (Radio Society of Great Britain - like the ARRL in the US) has recorded a record number of new foundation licensees (with myself amongst that number). What has facilitated that to a great degree was that it is now possible to study and get your Amateur Radio (okay, HAM!) license entirely online, the only thing you need to do is to purchase the study book via Amazon or the RSGB's website (less than £8 I think), and pay the RSGB a further £30-40 or so for the exam. For me as a foundation license holder, I am limited to what I can do to some extent. These limitations are there to "protect the airwaves" and teach you to be sensible, rather than to exclude you from all the fun. The most "limiting" of these measures are that you are excluded from a few bands (e.g. the 60m band is only available to Full license holders) and limited to a maximum of 10 watts of transmit power. There are other limitations too, but they will all make sense when you read up on them - otherwise they won't keep you from contacting people. In fact, the 10-watt limit is also what a lot of operators refers to as "QRP" (low-signal), which makes things a tad more challenging but isn't seen as a true "limit". So, insofar the health of the hobby - it is in excellent shape. In fact, now is a *very* good time to get in, because we are moving into a period of solar maximum. This is where there is a high number of sun-spots, which helps greatly in propagating your HF signals across the globe. With a 5-watt or 10-watt radio you will be able to speak to people literally on the opposite end of the world. Well, you can do that right now even with low sun-spot counts, but in a year or two it will become a lot easier to do so. Another thing is that technology has moved on immensely, we now have access to a new generation of SDR-based radios to complement the more traditional designs. While they might not be as good as the classic rigs from Yaesu/Icom/Elekraft/Kenwood, most of them are good enough to get you on the air on an extremely tight budget. This is good news for when you start the hobby, things can get really expensive quickly even before you know whether you will be continuing with it or not. In terms of what people do on the airwaves, nowadays there are so many parts to this radio hobby it can be overwhelming to a newcomer. Not everybody has the "gift of the gab", so tend to be quite microphone-shy (I count myself in this group too). Luckily there are loads of other things you can do on the airwaves, like learn how to send in morse code (optional these days, you don't need it for your license like in the past), and you have loads of digital modes to choose from too. This allows you to connect your computer to your radio, and send digital data containing email, voice, files, whatever. You can even run a BBS like this, although it won't be an ANSI-rich one like a Mystic or Synchro board due to bandwidth constraints - I think that 9600 baud is the sensible upper-limit under ideal circumstances. Other people plays up in the Gigahertz arena where they build tiny little milliwatt rigs to act as point-to-point transceiver links - almost like WiFi and Lora but using HAM frequencies. As you can see, there is a lot to do. Go and get your Foundation license and let's play radio! :-) If you want to investigate what it will take to get your license, I think that the following two places are the best areas to explore: * Essex Ham has an excellent Foundation course that is free: https://www.essexham.co.uk/train/foundation-online/ * The "Online Amateur Radio Community" is an online club, and they have a huge number of resources including an extensive Discord channel. Their Foundation license resources can be found here: https://www.oarc.uk/foundation Like I said, it is easier than ever to get involved and find your own corner in this huge hobby. Equipment is not so much of a dark art anymore, which means that you will have plenty of time to have fun and learn new things. PS: I see you are in Godalming. I'm in Surrey too, albeit at the extreme opposite North-East end. Cheerio, Jan Henkins (M7HNK) --- Mystic BBS/NNTP v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64) * Origin: UnderZaNet BBS (21:2/152) .