Attn: Ham Operators - what's ham all about & what do you do?

[Weetabix]

Cyberludite has a thread going about how radio sounds in various modes. Randy and Bullspit checked in with some details, and it got me fascinated.

As a ham operator, what exactly do you do? I've always thought of it as a hobby thing where people play with cool equipment and in natural disasters become the backbone for news and communications. I imagine there's actually much more.

What are your main uses of ham?

What do you love about it?

What's coolest though maybe not very useful thing about it?

What's cool and very useful?

What's extremely useful to you, "officials", or society in general and when?

[Bullspit]

Cyberludite has a thread going about how radio sounds in various modes. Randy and Bullspit checked in with some details, and it got me fascinated.

As a ham operator, what exactly do you do? I've always thought of it as a hobby thing where people play with cool equipment and in natural disasters become the backbone for news and communications. I imagine there's actually much more.

What are your main uses of ham?

What do you love about it?

What's coolest though maybe not very useful thing about it?

What's cool and very useful?

What's extremely useful to you, "officials", or society in general and when?

I had two reasons for getting a General tag:

First was to be able to participate in my local communities emergency operations communications. We have a very active CERT and community preparedness group and they use 2 meter ham repeaters and simplex mode for communications. There is a weekly net and test meeting on the air.

Second, to communicate with relatives in the midwest and other people. I see this as a way to keep information flowing in an emergency and partly social.

The coolest thing for me about ham radio operation is talking to someone a thousand miles away with relatively low power (20 watts or so).

Cool but not useful is all of the idle chatter. Making contacts with other hams lets you test your equipment and establish relationships with people who could later help pass information along as needed. There are formal groups (message relay) that practice this weekly so that in a big earthquake etc. they could pass news and needed information via radio with great precision and reliability.

Future plans are to learn code well enough to communicate in that mode.

[randy]

Later, I'll put more detail in answering questions. In the mean time, take a look at some other discussions we've had here:

Wiki Article

http://theguncounter.com/forum/viewtopi ... 14&t=10593

http://theguncounter.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=176

http://theguncounter.com/forum/viewtopi ... 14&t=12418

http://theguncounter.com/forum/viewtopi ... 14&t=13438

http://theguncounter.com/forum/viewtopi ... 14&t=12131

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=10778

http://theguncounter.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5795

http://theguncounter.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4370

http://theguncounter.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2801

[randy]

What are your main uses of ham?

Emergency Communications, including SKYWARN (Weather spotting)
Public Service events (Which now are often time spent with my daughter)
Family communications (Wife and Daughter and In-laws are all licensed)
Relaxation and fun

What do you love about it?

Simple to get into and do the basics, but with enough variations to keep trying new things, and you can go as in depth as you want.

Running HF mobile is great when making long drives. Not only get to talk with lots of interesting people all over the place, but in areas with limited cell phone coverage, I can always get someone on the air to drop a dime to the local State Patrol, etc.

What's coolest though maybe not very useful thing about it?

Geek factor. All those neat toys!

What's cool and very useful?

APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System). Uses tones over the air (sort of like how dial up modems worked) to provide information such as position location, course and speed of vehicles, temp, wind speed, direction and rain fall reports from automated weather stations, texting between stations, and propagation information.

Family uses it to keep tabs on each other. I have it up in the shack to keep an eye on who's out there and weather information. We use it at our local EMA as a backup to get weather data if we lose our internet.

What's extremely useful to you, "officials", or society in general and when?

It is extremely flexible (HF, VHF or UHF frequencies using any mode of FM, AM, SSB, or data to get the message through). As the motto says "When All Else Fails". And, when the S has not HTF, it's a nice hobby to play with.

[Dinochrome]

My father was the first color-television technician in Southern California back in 1955. Before that he was an AT in the Navy. I learned Ohm's Law before I was in school and practically cut my teeth on vacuum tubes. Fiddled around with radios and took four years of high-school electronics before joining the Navy as an ET. Got my Novice call in 1975, upgraded to Tech in 1980, and finally got the General ticket in 2008.

I just enjoy playing around with the same equipment I worked on in the service; R-274B, R-388, R-390, and R-1051. Like the other hams who posted, I join in emergency comm drills with the local disaster-response committee.

I still collect vacuum tubes; they aren't making them anymore and vacuum-tube technology is somewhat immune to EMP effects.

[Jered]

I got high school credit for some of the classes, I think.

[Cybrludite]

I got into it due to the emergency comms aspect as well. The DIY gadget aspect also appeals to me. Things like the Rockmite HF radio, which fits in an Altoid tin, uses half a watt of power, and capible of trans-Alantic communication, are just too cool.

[Steamforger]

What are your main uses of ham?

Sammiches and steaks with scrambled egg.