What do hams do besides yak on repeaters?

Tom in D.C. · Post by **Tom in D.C.** » Fri Jan 03, 2003 2:28 pm

Someone recently stated here that all hams do is yak on repeaters. The item below appeared in the ARRL Weekly Bulletin which was published today, January 3.

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HAMS HELP OUT DURING OKLAHOMA TELEPHONE EMERGENCY

Hams responded to fill a communication gap December 23 after the town of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, experienced a city-wide telephone outage that left telephone customers unable to call outside their local exchange. Broken Arrow implemented its Telecommunications Failure Plan as a result. A request went out for amateurs to assist at the local emergency operations center (EOC) and at three area hospitals.

Several hams in and around the town of 75,000 residents responded to the call. Four Broken Arrow Amateur Radio Club members staffed positions at the Broken Arrow EOC and at three hospital emergency rooms. Tulsa Amateur Radio Emergency Service member Joe Iverson, KD5KKZ, reported to the City of Tulsa EOC.

"All in all, things went smoothly," said Broken Arrow ARC president Steve Bradley, KB5ZSD. "The city officials were again very impressed and appreciative with the amateur community's commitment to service and response to the emergency. It is times like these that such partnerships between local government and the local hams become invaluable."

The operation lasted about five hours. In addition to passing traffic
between the EOC and the hospitals, lines of communication also were opened with the Oklahoma State Department of Civil Emergency Management in Oklahoma City via the EOC's HF amateur station.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tom, W2NJS
...in D.C.

Astro_Saber · Post by **Astro_Saber** » Fri Jan 03, 2003 2:36 pm

1 time out of alot.

everyonce in a while I will switch over to the hams but nothings going on

Tom in D.C. · Post by **Tom in D.C.** » Fri Jan 03, 2003 4:32 pm

I give up.

Tom, W2NJS
...in D.C.

wa2zdy · Post by **wa2zdy** » Fri Jan 03, 2003 5:17 pm

Well, hams yak - that's what being a ham is all about. Yes, too many hams have boring as heck conversations. But if you want to liven it up, you'll find someone to chat with. The problem with livening things up on a repeater is like livening things up on batlabs, or qrz.com. Someone owns the repeater, and if you're not he/she, you have to maintain whatever level of decorum the repeater owner desires.

Get off the repeaters onto simplex, or HF if you have that priveledge, and the world is open to you - within the law. My brother has been deep into experimenting with sending full colour photos by digital modes on HF. That's fun. I did a lot of things over my 28 years as a ham. Yakking on the repeaters is only one of the things I've done.

Now here's a question for some folks here on Batlabs. Those of you who are not hams, not GMRS licensees, and do not use your radios as part of your jobs (cops, emt, firefighter, etc), what do YOU do with YOUR radios? They make great dust collectors; I know, I have a few. But I'm serious. What do you do with them?

Thanks,

W4WTF · Post by **W4WTF** » Fri Jan 03, 2003 5:43 pm

If you don't like what the local chatter on the ham bands is, do what I did and get the people you hang out with on the air..... now instead of a bunch of old farts talking every now and then, we burn up the repeaters with talk of radios, guns, firefighting, and all kinds of fun stuff.

We are starting a class to help more get licensed, and so far about 75% of those signed up are firefighters, EMS, dispatchers, or cops.

Not to metion, ham radio is a whole lot more than just repeaters! VHF is, fun, but HF is so much more..... untill you have worked Europe on 5 watts mobile or Antartica on 100, you havent truley expereinced amatuer rdaio!

Nand · Post by **Nand** » Fri Jan 03, 2003 7:23 pm

Will · Post by **Will** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 12:40 am

I and many other ham radio ops provided critical communications for the Rose Parade and Post Parade Viewing in Pasadena this New Years Day and on the 2nd. We worked all sorts of posts right along with the white suiters. 7 VHF repeaters, one simplex and a UHF repeater, APERS and ATV.

N9LLO · Post by **N9LLO** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 4:48 am

I got my ham license because it gives me a lot of room to experiment and
such. I love to repair things and have a very well equipped repair bench at home. I get calls from the local two way shop when they have a tough problem to troubleshoot. I have had a hand in maintaining most of the ham repeaters in this part of the state at one time. I operate several repeaters and had the first 900 ham repeater in the state. The great thing about it is there is room for everyone to do thier radio thing. If you dont want to be a weatherman or cop you can do ATV or APRS or you can spend time fixing old (and not so old) two way stuff (anybody got a control head for a RCA TAC 200?) if you want. You dont have to talk to the old farts on 2m about thier aches and pains untill you become one!

Ham radio is what you make it for yourself so quit complaining about what you hear on the bands and talk to your buddys on some other freq or turn it off but dont whine like an old Motrac with a shorted diode in the alternator.

Chris N9LLO

RadioSouth · Post by **RadioSouth** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 4:56 am

Well, there are lots of boring conversations going on in the Ham bands. But, if you happen to be in Palm Beach, Broward County, or South Martin County FL tune into
147.225 (Motorola Boynton Beach repeater) definetely the liveliest and most entertaining
bunch of Ham's I've ever heard.
Hams are long established in emergency communications and play an important role.
Years back I was very active with the Red Cross and we relied on the Hams several
times. We had mass power outages from ice which also took out the phone lines.
Many shelters were opened in schools and other public buildings that had backup power sources but no phone service. We had Hams stationed at 8 shelters and were
able to help out in a big way with communication necessary to maintaining the shelter operations as well as being a link to 911 for several folks that had medical problems.
Then there was the year where the Red Cross was asked to provide first aid stations
for the March of Dimes Walkathon. (about 20,000 participants) we asked for the Hams to help us out and there they were, we now had comm's. for each 1st aid station, the roving mobile units, and another at the EOC so police/fire could talk to us and vice/versa.
The police/fire organizations were very impressed with the Ham's operation they then
proceedeed to iron out a backup communications contingency plan where Ham's would be used in the event of their comm. system failing. Probably never will be needed but if
it was the value of the service would be un-measurable. Not a resource that should be
discounted !

nmfire10 · Post by **nmfire10** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 6:01 am

For the folks that say it is boring, I will say this. You get out of it what you put into it. The conversations will not be any more interesting than you make them.

There are some guys around here that are slow and not so interesting. I usually don't chat with them very long. But there are other people that I can chat with for my entire commute home. Last time that happened, I was so engrossed in my conversation, I failed to notice I had passed my exit on the highway. Three towns later, I realized what I had done.

N9LLO · Post by **N9LLO** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 7:03 am

>That is why I moved to trunking instead, where I don't have to worry >about some retard breaking in to my conversation

What type if repeaters did you use for your trunking system? Is it Smartnet , LTR, GEmarc, EDACS ? Give the info on the system. Sounds intresting but expensive. Who do you talk to? Seems it would be cheaper
for all to get their ham license and talk there.

>It takes 2 people with brains to hold an intelligent conversation. Most of >the guys I've listened to (I've been licensed for 9 years) have the IQ of >a house plant! I don't want to stereotype the entire ham community like >this, but it is true in a lot of areas.

Sounds like you could do a good job of alienating yourself on the local freqs. You trunking system you put together for you and your buddies to hang out on seems to be perfect for you.

Chris N9LLO

RadioSouth · Post by **RadioSouth** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 7:16 am

Wow- First several showed strong animosity for law enforcement, now the hams are
being hammered. If you combine these two groups you'll probably find that they're responsible for the vast majority of the 'help' offered to others on this site (and as Nand mentioned absolutely free of charge). Talk about 'Biting' the hand that feeds you.

Keygun · Post by **Keygun** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 8:53 am

N9LLO wrote:I got my ham license because it gives me a lot of room to experiment and
such. I love to repair things and have a very well equipped repair bench at home. I get calls from the local two way shop when they have a tough problem to troubleshoot. I have had a hand in maintaining most of the ham repeaters in this part of the state at one time. I operate several repeaters and had the first 900 ham repeater in the state. The great thing about it is there is room for everyone to do thier radio thing. If you dont want to be a weatherman or cop you can do ATV or APRS or you can spend time fixing old (and not so old) two way stuff (anybody got a control head for a RCA TAC 200?) if you want. You dont have to talk to the old farts on 2m about thier aches and pains untill you become one!

Ham radio is what you make it for yourself so quit complaining about what you hear on the bands and talk to your buddys on some other freq or turn it off but dont whine like an old Motrac with a shorted diode in the alternator.

Chris N9LLO

Well said.

Keygun

nmfire10 · Post by **nmfire10** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 9:25 am

Well it sucks for you in your area then. The local 440 repeater here that use often works better than many public safety systems I know. I covers almost all of the state with the main site and 2 remote recievers. The multitude of 144 repeaters also work seamlessly. And the people are not like that here either.

nmfire10 · Post by **nmfire10** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 10:07 am

r0f wrote:We had a VHF repeater on a 1000 ft TV tower, but they took it down. It also only ran 0.5W. You'd figure it would still get out good, but nope.

.5 watts? Would that even make it down to ground level on a 1,000 foor tower?

Astro_Saber · Post by **Astro_Saber** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 11:01 am

I think i would rather listen to the 2 lovers trying to rendevous with each other so their spouses dont find out

KG6EAQ · Post by **KG6EAQ** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 11:05 am

Then get out a scanner and start listening Astro_Saber... you don't need an AS3 for that

doi · Post by **doi** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 12:42 pm

r0f wrote:
Maybe I should move?

Shaun

DEFINITELY YES

N9LLO · Post by **N9LLO** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 1:24 pm

rof
Mabey you should put up a ham repeater for you and your friends to use.
I guess since your a ham too you couldnt get it to work right though so why bother?

Just be another whining appliance operator. Only difference is your paying monthly airtime charges to to do your whining on the air.
Chris
N9LLO

N9CZV · Post by **N9CZV** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 3:56 pm

Shaun:

I have been a Ham since 1977. I am active in the community and rather enjoy my hobby. Does this mean I fall under your description also?

David Epley, N9CZV
Show Low, AZ USA

supernova87a · Post by **supernova87a** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 4:24 pm

Hi Tom in DC, and thanks a lot for the topic, I guess in response to my previous topic, "Summary of every ham conversation: how do I sound?"

I took the ham radio license exam today actually, and passed two written parts (technician&general, missed extra rating by 5 questions), but opted not to take the morse code test because I only studied basically one day. Maybe some time in the future I'll do it.

I've been reading about all the different sorts of things ham operators do, and I now see that they are as varied as any other large group of people. Some are quite obsessive and frankly, seem kind of silly to me, like sinking thousands of dollars into equipment so you can get the "100 countries talked" certificate or "all counties talked" certificate. On the other hand, you can meet people who use ham radio to supplement important work like their public safety jobs everyday.

As I took the exam, I guess I met my first ham radio crowd, and it was apparent there were lots of different kinds of people here too. From people posturing to seem all important with all their equipment and licenses (and coming off as true dorks), to very friendly people taking advantage of the social and friendly community, to firefighters and police there to become more experienced.

So I guess it is not productive to label a whole group of 500,000 people since you may close yourself off to meeting genuinely interesting ones from anywhere. And I was mislead by my first impression, listening to hams yammer on the local repeater. Of course, you will be guaranteed to meet your share of tech geeks and socially-maladjusted people in this field, but it comes with the territory I guess.

As for me, I'm not even sure what I'll do with the license. I guess it's just useful to have as an option right now. I can't see myself going out and sinking $1000s into equipment since I'm a poor student. I suppose I just wanted to learn more about the bands, and be able to use some of the affordable ht equipment with my friends at least semi-legally (maybe jumping onto murs/gmrs/dotstar freqs once in a while when we go on trips, but that opens up a whole other debate, right?). I doubt I'll even be a 2M repeater user, I can find other ways to do the things people do on those. I do however think the HF stuff is neat, ie. being able to talk with someone very far away, but again, the equipment cost and needing a fixed home will probably prevent me for a while.

I do like the public safety aspect of it, and I'm thinking of taking some EMT training this semester to see what it's like.

Anyway, thanks for the information, hope to learn more from all of you!

N9CZV · Post by **N9CZV** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 5:53 pm

Well thats good to hear. one should never paint a group with a wide brush.

I will have to differ with you on hams not having good equipment. I have 19 Amateur repeaters most are linked and coverage is from western New Mexico to Las Vegas Nevada. I maintain ALL these machines by myself. I have few problems and this system has been in service since 1996. This summer this system was used during Arizona's largest wildfire (Rodeo-Chediski Fire). This lasted for over 3 weeks. The local hams here did an outstanding job. Check out the November QST magazine. All the linked repeaters are capable of IRLP (Internet Radio Linking Project) http://www.irlp.net This gives me the capability to link to many repeaters all over the world. Will your smartnet system do this? I designed and built this repeater system. I have many new projects that will be included soon. The hobby is what you make of it. Check out my web page. It does need updating though.

I have been in two way radio since the mid 70's I owned my own Radio Shop for over 10 years. Believe me most radios users have no Idea how a radio works. At least hams try. I will give them that for trying. With all the experience that I have in radio I too am frustrated at what I hear on the radio. Instead of looking down my nose at fellow hams I have decieded to help and try to educate those who dont have the experience. It will never be perfect but nothing is.

53.410 Mhz Greens Peak Az Linked
53.190 Mhz Las Vegas Nv Linked
145.310 Mhz Greens Peak Az Linked
145.190 Mhz Porter Mtn Az
147.100 Mhz Well 5 Show Low Az
145.270 Mhz Alpine Az Linked
146.700 Mhz Portible Repeater
223.940 Mhz Greens Peak Az Linked
447.750 Mhz Porter Mtn Az linked
448.200 Mhz Greens Peak Az Linked
448.375 Mhz Alpine Az Linked
449.750 Mhz White River Az Linked
448.375 Mhz Heber Az Linked
449.750 Williams Az Linked
447.475 Las Vegas Nv Linked
927.3375 Mhz Porter Mtn Linked
927.2875 Mhz Greens Peak Linked
927.4625 Mhz Williams Az Linked
927.3375 Mhz Las Vegas Nv Linked (First 900mhz repeater in Vegas)

Besides the Ham side I have 6 commercial repeaters That I own and maintain and 1 900Mhz LTR trunked system.

Sometimes I even get on the repeater and yak.
Verizon even has to get on their system at times and say " CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW"

David Epley, N9CZV
http://www.n9czv.com

Nand · Post by **Nand** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 6:24 pm

RadioSouth · Post by **RadioSouth** » Sun Jan 05, 2003 6:40 am

It's a tough situation. Licensing requirements had to be relaxed to keep enough people in the hobby to keep it going. One had to make a major commitment years back to obtain a
ticket and obviously these folks had a larged vested interest in this hobby. Many electronic jobs were often offered 1st to Hams, their commitment and dedication was
recognized. Now we're faced with what I've heard called several times 'crackerjack
hams'. The new testing is VERY easy and the pool of Q/A's to the test are widely available. Not much of a challenge. The Ham's we're getting today in some numbers
are of the same knowledge of the Ham's tested under the old system but SOME are just
a horror show and have no technical expertise at all and fall into the category that Nand
mentions. Seems to me the 'problem' Hams fall into this latter category and become easily bored in the hobby as they have no understanding of how these things work and
focus on the superficial. (Just my observations after spending 24 years in the hobby).

ExKa|iBuR · Post by **ExKa|iBuR** » Sun Jan 05, 2003 7:24 am

Well, I became a ham at 14..I'm 21 now, so I have 7 years under my belt (my god that's a long time...)

When I decided to become a ham, it was because I was very interested in radio. Not the "pick up the radio and talk" kind of interest, but the "how and why" kind of interest.

I'm really not sure what gave me the radio "bug" - I think having 2 hams as teachers in elementary school helped some, one of them was an "elmer" to me. As well, one of my Scout Leaders worked for GE Comminications back in the day, he'd always drive me to meetings in his service van which I remember always being filled with goodies and such.

In my 7 years, I've been part of a few "groups". The one that I think was the best and most memorable for me was the "hands on" group. We'd do everything. We'd do field day (SOOO much fun I might add....), as well as the ARES/public service things. But, we'd also have meaningless chats on the radio about nothing. So, it was a mix of everything, and quite fun.

Because of work and school these days, I don't get on the radio much, but I want to get back into it, because I really enjoyed those few years when I was very active.

Ham Radio is what you make of it. And for those who say "Life is boring", well....YOU are boring!

Mike

jim · Post by **jim** » Sun Jan 05, 2003 8:21 am

um.....in Pittsburgh, all they do is yak about nothing at all.

KB3EPZ · Post by **KB3EPZ** » Sat Jan 18, 2003 3:07 pm

I got my ticket to do more experienting and learning about the stuff. My fire dept and ambulance didn't really like my projects because, although they worked- weren't aesthetically pleasing. I like operating HF as a 31C in the army and would love to do HF again. Unfortunately, I still can't sit down long enough to learn the code, and quite frankly have little interest in repeaters. I always thought the fun was tweaking the antennas and seeking distant contacts. Just some random thoughts............

W4WTF · Post by **W4WTF** » Sat Jan 18, 2003 7:21 pm

If all you want to do is talk locally on a repeater, perhaps ham radio is not for you. Rent some time on a local 800 or 900 MHZ trunked system of go with GRMS.

If an 800mhz system makes you happy, then thats all you need.

Myself, I am into ham radio because I can do so, so much more that just talk on FM to limted area of a few hundred miles. Do I get on FM and sometimes ask how something sounds or how my antenna is working..... yes, because when I do I have either repaired, improved, or built something that I need feedback on it. There is so much more the hobby than push to talk, speak, and release to listen.... if thats all it takes to make you happy, then you are just a radio user.

Build stuff, improve stuff, and make stuff! I am just about done with a junk box 10m QRP transmitter, designed using modified plans found online and some trail and error..... and made entirely of parts that I removed from a broken CB and a couple of VCR's and other defunct household items.. just to see if I could. Every antenna on my roof but one I built, and they equal or outpreform anything available commercially, at a fraction of the cost

Most of all, GET OFF FM!!!!!!!!! FM sucks for anything but ragchewing (the stuff most are complaining about here) and utiliy communications. It is an inefficent sue of bandwith and power. Get on SSB and CW..... talk to Europe on 5 watts on 50mhz, bounce some signals off the moon, use some sattelites, get on HF and work the world with 100 watts and a dipole strung between two trees, build a souncard interface and run some PSK-31.

Of course to do so you will need one of those "cheap" ham rigs, I have never seen a /\/\ rig that was anything but FM over 30mhz, and was not impressed by the HF rigs.

dfc2 · Post by **dfc2** » Sun Jan 19, 2003 4:17 pm

Astro_Saber wrote:1 time out of alot.

everyonce in a while I will switch over to the hams but nothings going on

Why in the world do you Care?

I would never spend $40,000 on a vehicle....but don't mind when another does... I don't like Hockey, but could care less if someone else does. Perhaps we are again faced with someone who is less than pleased with their own life and must find fault with others to make themselves feel better

DFC2

What do hams do besides yak on repeaters?

What do hams do besides yak on repeaters?

Hams, etc.

HAMS

HAMS