Well, I've been promising it for a while after it was both suggested and requested that I do some Q&A's, and this weekend I actually got a Q I can and don't mind A-ing.
So here it is, the very first 'Ask Shoey' blog post:
Q: Hey Shoey, what is a young, cool and fairly normal guy like you doing in Ham Radio? Isn't it for old anti-social hermits and overweight losers with no life??
*Editor's note: This is an actual question I was asked, by a sober individual.
A: Well Eric, I would have to concede that the groups you describe are pretty well the accepted stereotypes of the average ham radio operator, I can assure you that the hobby is a lot more diverse.
There is no doubt that the average age of ham radio operators is significantly higher than that of people in today's more mainstream hobbies like parasailing and ultimate fighting, but there are a couple of big factors in play.
First, while amateur radio's popularity is increasing, it's hay day was back in the day when these septuagenarians were teenagers and it was the popular hobby of the time.
Amateur Radio was the original Social Media, and you got 24/7 news from around the world decades before CNN hit the air!
Many, if not most have stuck with it, which should actually tell us something.
I suppose the idea of ham radio operators being anti-social hermits stems from sitting alone in rooms for hours on end playing with radios, which lots of people do, and did for many years because they had no other choice. Radios were big, heavy and fragile. The hobby is a lot more mobile these days and a lot more team oriented with clubs and group events, like contests.
Secondly, amateur radio can be a time consuming hobby. I can tell you I don't get to put 1/10th of the time in to it that I would like, I don't have the gear and setup I'd like and when I do get to devote some time to hit the airwaves, I am often interrupted. See, I have these things called "a family" and "a job", and I can't ignore my wife, starve my kids, quit my job, let my property go to shit and default on my bills in order to be able to invest the time, effort and money in to the hobby that I'd like... But someone who is retired probably can. So the age demographic does sit a little higher.
Now, as for the overweight losers, they're out there, LOTS OF THEM, and they're all in their parents basements thinking the world would cease to exist if they didn't check in to the weekly emergency nets. And, I'll let you in on a little secret: they're not all overweight! There are plenty of skinny losers too!
They are in to ham radio because they can sit on their asses, stuff their faces and feel important, all at the same time.
We call them "Whackers", they are the idiots who drive around in $200 cars with 75 antennas on the roof and the only thing holding it all together is all the bumper stickers and magnets.
It's sad, but they do give us all a bad name.
While we are on the subject, for more information on Whackers, visit Hamsexy.com and check out their Facebook page.
So yeah, the stereotypes are out there and there are reasons that the stereotypes exist, but overall my fellow hams are by far the nicest group of people I've ever met, and I run with some pretty damn nice groups of people! And, just for the record, they're are also lots of younger hams and a lot of younger female hams ;)
Now, to answer your first question: What am I doing in ham radio? Well, I fell ass backwards in to it, but I quickly fell in love with it.
I've always been an information junkie, and having come of age right beside computers and the internet, I had never really heard about ham radio. Once I discovered it, which is a story for another blog post, I was hooked. I could not only talk to people across town and listen to all the local emergency and transportation channels, but I could talk to people around the world and listen to exotic news and entertainment programming from countries big and small.
If I see something on the news, like say, the Arab Spring uprising a few years ago, I didn't have to take what CNN reported as gospel, I could listen to news coming straight out of Egypt, or talk to someone in the region.
It's interesting to get other points of view. Case-in-point: North Korea has regular English programming that is downright hilarious to listen to.
Okay, I'm getting a little off topic, the listening aspect is more Shortwave radio, which is a nice side benefit of amateur radio, but it is something that anyone with a $100 radio and some wire can do, and I will do a blog post about that hobby one day too.
Amateur radio encompasses many aspects, the least of which includes talking to people via orbiting satellites, talking to astronauts on the International Space Station or bouncing signals of it. Some people even bounce signals off the moon to communicate around the globe. With the digital modes, you can text and chat via radio. Yes, I know, you can do that on your iPhone, but it's not nearly as cool! You can tweet from your phone? Well, I can tweet from my ham radio!!
I enjoy "going portable", which basically means packing my radio, antenna and a battery to various points, in my case mostly high hills around town and out in the woods, and using my radios from there. It's a bit of a challenge, but quite rewarding and a hell of a lot of fun.
Believe is or not, it's actually a very social hobby. I enjoy being a member of a couple of local clubs, and we have lots of events that include radio, and lots that don't.
Ham radio is also the perfect means of communication for outdoorsmen. CB radios are quite limited and constricted in what they can do, and FRS radios are a joke.
I think my favorite aspect of amateur radio is that with some basic gear, which can be as cheap or as expensive as you want, and simple antennas that I build myself, I can talk to people all over the world. It's a very satisfying part of the hobby, and in the age of the internet and all the technology we have to day it is too easy... anyone can do it!
It is a pretty open-ended hobby. You can spend as much, or as little time and money as you want, and there is always someone willing to help you and answer your questions. Most importantly, It is also a hobby that can be as challenging, or as easy as you want it to be.
That about covers it. I could go on, but I bet you're already sorry you asked....
