Many hobbies in one

[N8TGQ]

I know a lot of hams who are also musicians, professional and amateur.

A wierd thing I’ve noticed is the number of Jims that are hams-three in my local group alone, and I talk to a lot of them on the air. There are a lot of Marks also!

[wa3ltj]

Antique radio collecting and restoration

Having something to occupy your time while your girlfriend runs mountain trails.

[N8TGQ]

Oops, I sorta misunderstood the origial post.

There are so many facets to the hobby-

The AMers trying to get the perfect audio

The hams diing satellite and moon bounce

All the digital modes

The mesh networks people are setting up on 440 and 900 Mhz

My niche is QRP CW. Lately I’ve been trying QRPp-less than 1 watt output. I build little one and two transistor transmitters, go to the park and see how far I get using the Reverse Beacon Network. It’s amazing how far 100 or 200 milliwatts can take you! And the rig fits in a mint tin you can carry in your pocket.

[Jim]

Let me try to refocus this thread the way I had intended it. I was trying to make the point (clearly not well – LOL) that amateur radio is a compendium of external hobbies, much the same way you need to understand both electricity and the basics of civil engineering to be a railroad enthusiast. My feeling is that amateur radio is one of the most complex hobbies with so many necessary skillsets needed to set up a wave to travel around the world. This said, for the old-timers in the room (he says while looking in the mirror) it was once even more complex. The need for electronics knowledge has waned with the advent of ready-to-use radios. Some of us still remember building our radios from scratch, literally. Now, your VISA or MasterCard is all you need to get a state of the art transceiver.

I just thought of another needed skillset… negotiating skills, much needed when your spouse realizes that your shack, which she/he considers an eye-sore to begin with, is actually not a $500 expense. “You what? You spent how much on that xyz? One radio is worth $11,000???” Your feeble response… “but darling…” I’ll have to start another thread just to see how we ‘negotiate’ our way out of spousal ire.

• This reply was modified 3 months, 2 weeks ago by  Jim.

[KE8HNK]

Overlanding, Off-Road rock crawling, camping, Jeeps, trains both real and model trains

• This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by  KE8HNK.

[ns7x]

Personally, one of my passions is teaching. If you think about it, teaching is nothing more than communicating a concept or an idea to someone else. That is pretty much what we do as hams. Just like a teacher, we communicate. And, in my opinion, that makes us pretty cool.