From: Harold Hallikainen <harold@mai.hallikainen.org>
To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. <piclist@mit.edu>
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Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2020 09:49:57 -0700
Subject: Re: [OT] Socializing over Ham radio? (as a "young person", and the
	usability of the upper HF bands)
Thread-Topic: [OT] Socializing over Ham radio? (as a "young person", and the
	usability of the upper HF bands)
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Jason,

As stated by others, welcome to ham radio! I was first licensed in 1968. I
mostly got into it as a high school student for the technology. Back then,
I ran all vacuum tube equipment on AM, CW, and RTTY. Today, I have a model
15 Teletype that I have running on a local loop and am SLOWLY working on
getting on the air. Here, again, it's a chance to play with technology.
I'm building a terminal unit (modem) using DSP in a PIC32MZ. My chance to
play with DSP instead of the 88 mH loading coils I did as a kid.

Otherwise, I'm mostly on CW (generally 40 meters at night) and SSB
(generally have a radio on 14.2 MHz USB during the day). More info at
http://w6iwi.org .

On HF, I use an inverted V and a 3 element Yagi. The Yagi covers 10, 15,
and 20 meters. It also acts as a steerable dipole on 40 meters. I can
drive the inverted V on any band with an automatic antenna tuner. My
existing tuner is good for 150 W. I'm working on one for higher power
built out of old AM broadcast station parts. It will, of course, be
controlled by a PIC.

I generally run 150 W or 1 kW. I have had good conversations with stations
running low power. Just got a QSL card yesterday from someone 985 miles
away that was running 5 W into a half wave end fed wire when we talked on
40 meter CW.

An interesting way to get on HF is to use something like
http://remotehamradio.com . There, you rent a transmitter by the minute.
I've used it while traveling. I've done some CW from my sister-in-law's
dining room table and from an Amtrak train. Also, for just listening,
there's http://websdr.org .

I've had some interesting discussions on both CW and SSB. These often
involve technology or someone's work. So, there's a certain amount of
socializing there.

On "social awkwardness," I think there's a wide range of personalities,
and the diversity makes it interesting. I think any awkwardness can be
reduced by just jumping in and doing things with people. It can be rough
going at the start, but improves with experience. Unfortunately, right now
it's not possible to do large group activities with covid. But my favorite
activity like that is contra dance, which is currently suspended. But, I
look forward to its return. Contra seems to have a lot of engineers and
teachers!

So, good luck! I look forward to hearing you on the air!

Harold
http://w6iwi.org .



> Jason,
> Welcome to the world of Ham radio.
> I have been a ham since 1963, so I have seen a lot of changes in the
> equipment and the propagation ups and down across more than four eleven
> year solar cycles.
> To do HF in urban environment,  I suggest that you either buy or build a
> small magnetic loop, and get a used HF transceiver to y contacting a loca=
l
> ham radio club. You will be amazed how far you can go with little power.
> Digital modes will get you the whole world with less than 10 watts of RF
> power.
> But you need to understand that ham radio purpose is not social gathering=
,
> but more experimentation, contest and emergency help.
> If you need to know more about any topic on ham radio, feel free to
> contact
> me off list, and  I will be glad to help
>
> 73 de Jean-Paul
> N1JPL
>
>
>
> On Sun, Sep 13, 2020, 8:38 AM Jason White
> <whitewaterssoftwareinfo@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I'm a fairly recent college graduate. The socially awkward engineering
>> type. I was wondering if Ham radio could be a viable way to "expand
>> one's
>> social circle" - perhaps by participating in local ham club nets.
>>
>> My impression is that ham radio consists predominantly of retirement age
>> folk. And, that outside of university/college run ham clubs that I'd be
>> unlikely to encounter many people my own age.
>>
>> With the advent of "advanced" digital modes - the distinction between
>> the
>> experience of talking over the radio and talking in an internet chat
>> room
>> is blurred. I find myself questioning the value of investing in tbe
>> purchase and setup radio equipment/antennas.
>>
>> I got a technician license in 2015 and a Boefeng UV-5 handheld radio. At
>> the time the goal was to tinker with and build some RF circuits and
>> socialize. I found that the local 2M nets were not much to my liking -
>> my
>> transmit power was low, and even on close repeaters I rarely could
>> manage
>> to get a single word in due to the eagerness of the other participants
>> to
>> speak.
>>
>> I was recently granted a general class license. The thinking being that
>> perhaps DX (international contacts) and local nets on the HF bands might
>> provide a better experience. However, now that I have gotten my license
>> and
>> am looking at the investment involved in getting a radio and a 40m
>> dipole
>> set up in a suburban area - I find myself wondering about the value that
>> it
>> would provide to me.
>>
>> Additionally, I've read that the sunspot cycle is at an all time low. My
>> limited understanding of ionospheric radio propogation is that many of
>> the
>> shorter wavelength bands (that use more reasonably sized dipoles) can be
>> marginal without high gain antennas and high transmission power levels
>> at
>> this point in the solar cycle.
>>
>> I'm going to cut off my post here. I look forward to hearing the advice
>> of
>> others - even if only tangentially related.
>>
>> -Jason White
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Jason White
>> --
>> http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
>> View/change your membership options at
>> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
>>
> --
> http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
> View/change your membership options at
> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
>


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