Ham Radio, GROL & Technobabble

[Phil Tipping]

Well this is a great thread I'm way out of date re. modern PC builds so following this with interest. Also fascinated with the variety of backgrounds & interests... so nice to see a familiar collection of 'geeky stuff' all in one place.
I also dabbled with ham radio (or 'amateur radio' as we brits call it) back in my school days. Did the morse test and got a G3 licence. Later at college, we were listening to a friend's am/fm/sw radio he'd brought in at lunchtime. He'd 'discovered' the cacophony of activity on the s/w bands and asked who they were. I told him they were called radio amateurs. He said 'Well, judging by what I've heard, they certainly don't sound very professional!'.
I started a career in mainframe computers and let the licence lapse as there wasn't enough time. The electronics hobby also lapsed so sold off the collection of valves and other components - big beefy capacitors, transformers etc (try getting hold of those now!). Then a latent interest in music surfaced but too late to learn to play any instruments properly. Caught G.A.S. and ended up with numerous keyboards & synths, then onto recording gear. Combined the 2 passions and wrote some music-related computer programs, but now retired and things have gone full circle back to electronics and micro-controller projects... and this has now pushed music & recording to the background.
Just not enough hours in the day

 

[-mjk-]

MAN!!! Novice was 5WPM, General and Advanced were 13, and Extra was 20. Can any human actually do 100WPM?

Yes. I sent 75 wpm over the phone to my friend NJ1P and he copied it perfectly. In a contest he's a monster. He has a cert for 55 wpm, which is his typing speed - the limiting factor in the test, lol.

 

[-mjk-]

Just not enough hours in the day

And not enough years in a lifetime.

 

[-mjk-]

@skier said:

I agree; like you, in opening my new computer, it's obvious how much has changed since I used to build them. We had the ISA bus, the EISA, the PIC, the PCI Express, and now, I don't know what the expansion card buss is in my computer, It's extremely short with many fewer contacts. It actually looks like a PCI-X, but much shorter.

In the old days, the PCMCIA card came out and that was pretty cool. I got a GPS card for my notebook and it worked great. But one day I was with another engineer and he asked me what PCMCIA stood for. I said "I don't know. People can't memorize computer industry acronyms."

 

[skier]

Yes. I sent 75 wpm over the phone to my friend NJ1P and he copied it perfectly. In a contest he's a monster. He has a cert for 55 wpm, which is his typing speed - the limiting factor in the test, lol.

Astounding! I didn't think that was possible.

 

[skier]

Just not enough hours in the day

And not enough years in a lifetime.

I have to agree with you both. There is just so much to life, so many fun things to do; so many helpful things to do for others that bring happiness to them and gratification to us; so many things to accomplish. Yet, so little time to do it. I feel like a jack-of-all-trades, master of none;
lots of interests, but I'm not truly great at anything.

 

[skier]

Well this is a great thread.

Thank you, Phil! Anyone who likes this thread has phenomenal judgement...(or is no smarter than the rest of us - it's a tough call ).

Your life parallels many of us - it's so hard to stay competent in any field when you have many areas of interest. I try to validate this approach as extensive versatility providing great overall insight into life, but there's such a fine line between validation and delusion. When someone asks me how long I've been a musician and I tell them it's been over 50 years, my friends will often respond with something like, "hmmm, you'd think you'd be better by now".

 

[Peter Batah]

So much left to do! But, so little runway to do it on. What I find most discouraging as I age is the difficulty in staying focused. That's a conversation for another day I suppose.

 

[-mjk-]

Astounding! I didn't think that was possible.

It is possible, but it takes work. Morse is a language and some people admittedly are more talented with languages than others. Like all languages, it really is "use it or lose it".

 

[-mjk-]

I've been a musician and I tell them it's been over 50 years, my friends will often respond with something like, "hmmm, you'd think you'd be better by now".

I get that sometimes too. Then I inform them about my medical problems that knocked me of the bigtime, followed by being blacklisted because I had the gall to form my own record company. I paid Vlado Meller at Sony to Master my songs, and I also directly paid the same record promoters that all the big name record companies did. Finally, I remind them that talent and success are unrelated.

 

[-mjk-]

but there's such a fine line between validation and delusion

This comment borders on the profound....

 

[skier]

It is possible, but it takes work. Morse is a language and some people admittedly are more talented with languages than others. Like all languages, it really is "use it or lose it".

Interesting; I never thought of Morse as a language, but you make a point I've not considered.

 

[skier]

I get that sometimes too. Then I inform them about my medical problems that knocked me of the bigtime, followed by being blacklisted because I had the gall to form my own record company. I paid Vlado Meller at Sony to Master my songs, and I also directly paid the same record promoters that all the big name record companies did. Finally, I remind them that talent and success are unrelated.

Well, in learning the foregoing, you've gone much further in music than I and are more accomplished. But I especially like the last line. It allows me to believe I could have true talent that no one has recognized. However, that then raises the salient question of whether any of that assertion is true because it implies that I primarily hob nob with idiots who can't see my real talent; or worse, I have no talent, they're not idiots, but I might be.... ENOUGH!!!

 

[skier]

@-mjk- I have some antenna related questions I'd like to ask you. As previously mentioned, I currently am using a G5RV with which I'm not very happy. I have some other ideas I've been considering and am trying to decide which way to go. Are you interested in discussing this topic?

 

[-mjk-]

Interesting; I never thought of Morse as a language, but you make a point I've not considered.

Musicians can also pick up on the rhythmic patterns easily. I had my keyer in the studio once and sent a few patterns for the musicians to listen to. They were able to distinguish words very well. Made it seem easy.

 

[-mjk-]

But I especially like the last line. It allows me to believe I could have true talent that no one has recognized.

You better believe it. I was told by a famous engineer that I would never make it because no one wanted to follow me. I now understand that record companies are lazy. They don't want to find talent that ups the bar because the other companies will find an act to beat yours. This is especially true in Asia. Mando pop is ridiculous.

 

[-mjk-]

@-mjk- I have some antenna related questions I'd like to ask you. As previously mentioned, I currently am using a G5RV with which I'm not very happy. I have some other ideas I've been considering and am trying to decide which way to go. Are you interested in discussing this topic?

Duh! Feel free to start a new topic.

 

[skier]

Musicians can also pick up on the rhythmic patterns easily. I had my keyer in the studio once and sent a few patterns for the musicians to listen to. They were able to distinguish words very well. Made it seem easy.

Even though I'm a musician, my attempts at Morse as a teenager were not good and fraught with frustration. Now, I will admit that one of the virtues I never received in abundance is patience - that could have complicated the Morse learning process. (Why I'm espousing my many limitations on this forum lately is beyond me.)

 

[-mjk-]

You're not alone. I tried several times to learn Morse and it wasn't until Radio Shack (in the US) came out with their ham radio study package, that I was finally able to make it. That package featured Gordon West's program (whom I briefly met once, in passing). The key is to limit your practice to 15 minutes and then take at least a 3 hour break before the next session. I used to listen to code for hours at a time and my mind wandered to far away places and was never on what I was listening to. West's method enabled me to learn the 5 wpm Novice license requirement in less than a month. After that I was hooked. The best way to improve speed is to do QSOs in CW. Like I said, Morse is a language. As a youth, I picked up Chinese living in the US because I knew many Taiwan people and they all spoke Chinese. But, now, at my age, my Chinese ability is 10 times what it was in my youth because of total immersion living in Taiwan.

I took the Advanced class license, and passed. The VEs suggested that I try the 20 wpm CW test because I was there already. So, I agreed, and I was totally surprised when I easily passed it. As a General class op, I had done something like 300 QSOs all in CW. So, I had been working at speeds well over 20 wpm but did not realize that at the time. That was kind of like the first time I had 2 Australian visitors come to my area and I took them around all day and translated everything they said, and what was said to them, from morning until night, and I didn't have to check or look up anything. I was able to translate everything t0/from Chinese, on the fly, because I had thousands of interactions with local people in Chinese. Same exact principle.

My suggestion is that you jump in with both feet!

 

[skier]

Well, that is what I usually do, for better or worse. I will consider your suggestion and may try Morse again. Then I'd truly have access to every part of every band rather than just 95% of it. It'd at least be an ego trip and I may actually enjoy it - don't know till we try.