The actual percentage of hobbyists who still build their own amateur radio sets is incredibly small. As technology and electronics as moved forward, it’s just not ingrained into the hobby anymore. The days of the DIY Heathkit amateur radio sets (I know, I used to have one) are long gone for nearly everyone, though I suppose folks still do it.
I don’t dispute the fact that engineering is a part of the hobby, but it goes beyond that. The hobby was a mix of all sorts of stuff and engaged in meritocracy that split into a million different ways.
CB is about chatting. Ham radio is advanced chatting.
— Alan
fire
5482
Hang on, let me get on this soapbox sitting right here next to my ham radio.
Houngan has it spot-on. The point of ham radio is to prove that you can make a contact with {someone really far away; a rarely-transmitting station; someone new; someone popular or well-known} using {a common mode of communication; a rare mode of communication; a new mode of communication; an antique mode of communication; something you like; something you want to practice; something easy}. It’s a game, and the point system is your log book and your set of QSL cards. It’s entirely incidental that you make friends, seek out people you know in other countries or around the block, listen to the police scanners, catch up with what setups other hams are using, and chew the rag. It’s even more incidental that you make friends.
Sure, most hams today buy their radios. Those that have stationary radios (rather than hand-held transceivers or mobile rigs in their car) have bought their own antennas. They couple the antennas to their radios. They run wires. This is still electronics. Even choosing the proper antenna for your car radio can get tricky if you start considering which band you transmit on, using how much power, and what fraction of a wave you want your antenna to be so that you can use it on any or all of the bands. In getting licensed and setting up your station, you learn about the engineering behind what you’re doing, and, perhaps equally importantly, you learn etiquette. You learn to announce your identifier, to listen before transmitting, and to yield to, if not relay, emergency traffic. You learn how to use the minimal wattage to transmit to your desired destination. Even hams that do nothing but chat with people have a minimal knowledge of all of these things, and at one time were interested in something more.
CB radio is one band, with a certain frequency range. You get a radio; you get an antenna. You don’t need a license, you don’t need any prior knowledge, and, as you’ll quickly find, you also don’t need any etiquette.
Putting amateur radio in the same bucket as CB radio is like putting Gruyère in the same bucket with American. Sure, Gruyère and American are both cheese (and arguably both edible), but that’s not the full picture. There’s so much more to amateur radio than chatting, though ragchewing is certainly a by-product.
Pogo
5483
Well, thanks for clearing that up. He’s most certainly not that asshole whose place I was at putting his scanner on display for all of us bored ass stoners to listen to.
ZekeDMS
5484
Maybe you misunderstand the guy’s intentions Pogo. Maybe he had the scanner out so if the cops were coming, everyone would have time to flee!
fire
5485
Do you ever have your guests watch you play video games? Sometimes the best intentions don’t work for everyone. You can always say, “I don’t want to listen to the police frequency; let’s do <X> instead.”
Edit: Perhaps I should specify that coming over to someone’s house and then watching them play video games is boring.
Shit, that was my favorite first-date plan! :P
You can always suggest that something more interesting happen at a party, but it still seems weird when the host wants to do something insanely boring.
On an internet-dating related note, the following came up in a discussion with a roommate yesterday:
She’s back on match after a break-up and some guy winked at her, so she winked back. He then never emailed, so she was wondering what the point of his wink was in the first place. It’s an isolated instance so any number of explanations apply, but it brought up the further question about all the girls who are like, “Don’t bother winking at me, I won’t respond” - why shouldn’t they just wink back if they are potentially interested, so that way you know there’s some point to sending a meaningful email?
Pogo
5487
I don’t play video games with guests, unless the guests want to play a game that everyone can enjoy and pass off the controller or play co-op or competitively.
The other guys didn’t seem to mind, but having heard the scanner already and finding it annoying as shit, I thought I’d be the odd guy out if I had brought up how stupid it was to listen to the scanner.
Well, that was my other friend’s reason for using a scanner :)
Radio guy has accepted my offer to meet up. He also confirmed that it’s ham radio equipment in the picture and ended his message with what I assume is some ham radio lingo (“let’s rally some comments”, which might mean “let’s get together and chat”, although I half-expect fire to swing by and warn me this is secret ham code that means KEEP AWAY, KEEP AWAY AT ALL COSTS).
Anyway, we should be meeting this week.
Especially if the game is WoW.
It would be cool if ham radios were actually made of ham.
And the corollary to that is that talking about WoW with non players is even worse.
I love this thread. LOVE it.
On a general dating note; I just went on a date that was fine, but it wasn’t very exciting. There wasn’t any real connection. She’s pretty and obviously a decent person, she just doesn’t really seem like MY kind of person.
So how do you all go about the “no thank you” chat? I’m thinking something fairly straightforward, a phone call that ends with, ‘so I had a good time but wasn’t feeling much of a connection, take care and best wishes’.
I’ve found the honest, direct approach works best. “Hey, I have to be honest, but I’m not really feeling a spark here.” And take it from there. Girls, I’ve been told, would rather be told that up front than either string along or never told at all.
Guys, too - I prefer that “I don’t feel the spark” approach to some lamer ego-soothing thing like the “I just don’t really have much time between working and taking classes” line I got the other day.
Fair enough, ravenight. I hadn’t heard it from the guy’s perspective.
Had that happen to me yesterday basically; always better to hear than not to hear at an early juncture, IMO.
— Alan
Pogo
5497
Totally agreed. The cool thing is, that if someone is so sackless to use that line, they’re not someone I want to bother dating.
Ouchie, sorry mate, but at least you were told. :)
Raife
5499
I don’t feel the spark with you either, Alan.
