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Author Topic: ARTICLE: Yes, amateur radio is still a thing: Here's why  (Read 746 times)

K7JQ

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Re: ARTICLE: Yes, amateur radio is still a thing: Here's why
« Reply #15 on: September 04, 2022, 05:02:15 AM »

My keyboard ability is hunt-and-peck, but I've gotten pretty good at it over the years. Never needed typing skills for my occupation.

Now that a Morse code test is in the can, maybe the FCC will require a typing test at various speeds ;). More appropriate for the future "Compu-ham".

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K0UA

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Re: ARTICLE: Yes, amateur radio is still a thing: Here's why
« Reply #16 on: September 04, 2022, 07:05:52 AM »

My keyboard ability is hunt-and-peck, but I've gotten pretty good at it over the years. Never needed typing skills for my occupation.

Now that a Morse code test is in the can, maybe the FCC will require a typing test at various speeds ;). More appropriate for the future "Compu-ham".

In my field of Telecom in the late 70's we were rapidly going away from electromechanical PBX's (Private Branching eXchanges) to the electronic so called Stored Logic programable systems. In fact the first of its kind I saw was the Northern Telecom  SL-1 which stood for Stored Logic number 1.

When we went to school on this system in I think it was 1979, I quickly noticed that the "old guys" in the school were having a hard time communicating with the system which was through a teleprinter interface. (glass terminals were not all that common yet). And the main reason they were having a hard time with the new machine was because they couldn't type. Having taken typing in school and been working a lot of RTTY as a ham to keep my typing skills up and actually improving my speed by working RTTY, I had no problems at all with this new fangled type of phone system.

In fact I took to it like a duck to water. In my organization I was soon a supervisor with men working under me. I could rapidly program and troubleshoot these systems with their built in diagnostics by using the MMI (Man Machine Interface) of a simple Teletype terminal hooked to these systems. Older guys who had been pretty good telephone men, fell to the wayside, because they could not rapidly program and troubleshoot these systems.

A new era had dawned and I had gotten right in on the ground floor.

Back around 2000 the new VOIP systems were starting to take hold and the telecom world was undergoing a rapid upheaval again. You still needed to know how to type, but you also needed to know a good deal about computer networking. I had been buying, building and messing with computers for many years. Again I managed to survive and transition into this new world by my interest in computers and managed to get caught up pretty quickly.

Even today many "old timers" will say "I don't know much about computers and even less about computer networking".  Yeah, well you better learn or get left behind. They say old dogs cannot learn new tricks. But they can. If they want to.

I am out of the job market now, and well into retirement, but it never hurts to stay on top of trends. Who knows you may even be called on for help from friends and associates. :)
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73  James K0UA

K7JQ

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Re: ARTICLE: Yes, amateur radio is still a thing: Here's why
« Reply #17 on: September 04, 2022, 08:21:37 AM »

I hope the readers of my posts on this thread have taken my comments as tongue-in-cheek ;). But I do believe ham radio will eventually evolve into mainly digital operations. Gone will be the key/bug/keyer paddle, and maybe even the microphone. Replaced by a keyboard or two. Time will tell.

I never learned to touch-type, wish I would have, but no biggie, as it didn't affect my occupation. It would now make working with my contesting program easier and more efficient when entering call signs and contest exchanges. Being retired for the last 13 years, I get along fine hunting-and-pecking my way through emails and other correspondence. It may be slower, but I have all the time in the world ;D.
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K0UA

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Re: ARTICLE: Yes, amateur radio is still a thing: Here's why
« Reply #18 on: September 04, 2022, 08:43:55 AM »

Quote
I never learned to touch-type, wish I would have

Bob, there is still time. If you want it.
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73  James K0UA

AI5BC

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Re: ARTICLE: Yes, amateur radio is still a thing: Here's why
« Reply #19 on: September 04, 2022, 09:31:38 AM »

But I do believe ham radio will eventually evolve into mainly digital operations. Gone will be the key/bug/keyer paddle, and maybe even the microphone. Replaced by a keyboard or two. Time will tell.

Quit kidding yourself. Ham radio operators were at one time cutting edge and developed Packet Radio, the foundation of all internet protocols and never did a dang thing with it except relapsed back in HF and CW tapping a paddle like a cave man. The hobby is an old man hobby stuck in the 60's and the younger generations hate baby boomers with a passion and want nothing to do with the past. Heck ham operators never figured out what the third wire in the AC wall receptacles and still place ground rods outside the shack wreaking havoc. Guess I should not complain because I make a lot of money fixing problems and selling lots of ferrite products as band aids. 
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K7JQ

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Re: ARTICLE: Yes, amateur radio is still a thing: Here's why
« Reply #20 on: September 04, 2022, 09:59:49 AM »

Quote
I never learned to touch-type, wish I would have

Bob, there is still time. If you want it.

Yup, but I'll pass. I just typed this in 15 seconds ::).
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K7JQ

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Re: ARTICLE: Yes, amateur radio is still a thing: Here's why
« Reply #21 on: September 04, 2022, 10:08:05 AM »

But I do believe ham radio will eventually evolve into mainly digital operations. Gone will be the key/bug/keyer paddle, and maybe even the microphone. Replaced by a keyboard or two. Time will tell.

Quit kidding yourself. Ham radio operators were at one time cutting edge and developed Packet Radio, the foundation of all internet protocols and never did a dang thing with it except relapsed back in HF and CW tapping a paddle like a cave man. The hobby is an old man hobby stuck in the 60's and the younger generations hate baby boomers with a passion and want nothing to do with the past. Heck ham operators never figured out what the third wire in the AC wall receptacles and still place ground rods outside the shack wreaking havoc. Guess I should not complain because I make a lot of money fixing problems and selling lots of ferrite products as band aids.

I never intimated that digital is a bad thing. It's not for this old codger, but just the way I see things are evolving. But don't you worry...us older baby boomers will be gone before you know it ;).

Now, tell us how you REALLY feel ;D.
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K6CPO

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Re: ARTICLE: Yes, amateur radio is still a thing: Here's why
« Reply #22 on: September 04, 2022, 10:30:36 AM »

CPO and Charlie:

Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).  Checked their local website.  Thanks for enlightening me.

73, David

OK. That's a legitimate use of amateur radio, but I still wouldn't classify them as "first responders." CERT, like ARES only responds when called out. First responders are characteristically police, fire and EMS.
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AA4PB

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Re: ARTICLE: Yes, amateur radio is still a thing: Here's why
« Reply #23 on: September 04, 2022, 11:48:40 AM »

I too took a typing class in high school. I was in the Naval Reserve and the typing paid off big time when I reported to active duty at the shipyard in Philly. The first morning the chief asked if anyone here could type. I know they said never volunteer for anything, but I raised my hand. I spent the next several weeks in an air-conditioned office while the rest of the guys went down to the shipyard to chip paint.
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Bob  AA4PB
Garrisonville, VA

K0UA

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Re: ARTICLE: Yes, amateur radio is still a thing: Here's why
« Reply #24 on: September 04, 2022, 06:52:03 PM »

I too took a typing class in high school. I was in the Naval Reserve and the typing paid off big time when I reported to active duty at the shipyard in Philly. The first morning the chief asked if anyone here could type. I know they said never volunteer for anything, but I raised my hand. I spent the next several weeks in an air-conditioned office while the rest of the guys went down to the shipyard to chip paint.

It is amazing when you have skills others don't have how you can advance in life. I learned how to program Cisco routers. You would be amazed how popular you can become when you know how to program Cisco routers. Even a lot of so called IT network guys can't program a router. Especially if it involves routing and prioritizing voice packets.
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73  James K0UA

K7MEM

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Re: ARTICLE: Yes, amateur radio is still a thing: Here's why
« Reply #25 on: September 04, 2022, 09:50:02 PM »

I never learned to touch-type, wish I would have, but no biggie, as it didn't affect my occupation.

Yea, if it doesn't affect you occupation, then it really doesn't matter. For me, it was little different. Since I got my first real job in electronics (late 60s, early 70s) there has been a keyboard sitting in front of me, all day every day. Knowing my way around a keyboard was essential. Even after retirement (2011), I work on the computer every single day. My eyes are always on the screen and never on the keyboard. The fingers know what to do.

Even when I was on vacation, I would have to get on-line and take care of some issue. So I always had a laptop with me. Early on it was tough with connection speeds around 300 baud and only a TTY window to work with. It always felt like you were pushing and pulling the characters across the phone line. I loved it when we upgraded to 9600 baud.

One Christmas I was taking three weeks off. But at work I was trying to figure out a simulation issue. I had a Verilog model for a IC (VME Bus Interface) which had about 8 input pins that controlled the operation. The company that made the IC would not tell me the ordering of the control pins and the model was encrypted. All I had to work with was a input array. So every morning for those three weeks, I would get up early and log into my computer at work. I would spend about 3-4 hours figuring out the control pins. The rest of the day was for me. I did figure out the ordering and told the IC company. Then I told everyone else on the net at the time, what it was. I became very popular.
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Martin - K7MEM
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W9FIB

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Re: ARTICLE: Yes, amateur radio is still a thing: Here's why
« Reply #26 on: September 05, 2022, 03:27:20 AM »

CPO and Charlie:

Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).  Checked their local website.  Thanks for enlightening me.

73, David

OK. That's a legitimate use of amateur radio, but I still wouldn't classify them as "first responders." CERT, like ARES only responds when called out. First responders are characteristically police, fire and EMS.

You do realize they are dispatched as well. Only difference is they are paid to be dispatched while volunteer groups show up for free. As a retired volunteer firefighter of 25+ years, I was dispatched and never paid. Too many people forget that when they live in an area served by full time paid first responders. And automatically play down the skills of the unpaid people because of it. Not saying every volunteer is great, but also could say the same to some full-time paid people.

In my world, being a volunteer makes the difference between life and death. So, any volunteer group that strives for that goal and puts in the time to actually do what they say, is golden in my eyes. It is the effort and not the fraternity that separates the good from the bad.
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73, Stan
Travelling the world one signal at a time.

K3UIM

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Re: ARTICLE: Yes, amateur radio is still a thing: Here's why
« Reply #27 on: September 05, 2022, 06:11:49 AM »

"As a retired volunteer firefighter of 25+ years"
Stan, from someone that lost his youngest and her three kids in a house fire, "Thank You!"
Charlie
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Charlie. K3UIM
Where you are: I was!
Where I am: You will be!
So be nice to us old fogies!!

K8AXW

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Re: ARTICLE: Yes, amateur radio is still a thing: Here's why
« Reply #28 on: September 05, 2022, 10:15:11 AM »

FIB:  You're so very right!  Sometimes it is forgotten or minimized that in rural America it is the volunteer that provide essential emergency services, rather it be fire, EMS or communications.

In most cases they train and serve on their own dime.  THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS!
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A Pessimist is Never Disappointed!

W9FIB

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Re: ARTICLE: Yes, amateur radio is still a thing: Here's why
« Reply #29 on: September 06, 2022, 02:46:58 AM »

"As a retired volunteer firefighter of 25+ years"
Stan, from someone that lost his youngest and her three kids in a house fire, "Thank You!"
Charlie

So sorry to hear that Charlie. It is a firemen's worst day to know we lost someone we served.
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73, Stan
Travelling the world one signal at a time.
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