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Author Topic: Cool PBS program on hams.  (Read 988 times)

N1AUP

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Cool PBS program on hams.
« on: December 02, 2022, 09:22:01 AM »

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W6BP

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Re: Cool PBS program on hams.
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2022, 09:35:23 AM »

Amateur radio is also known as ham radio.

Amateur radio operators are also known as hams.

Amateur radio is not called HAM, except by people who learned about the hobby 20 minutes ago.
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K6SDW

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Re: Cool PBS program on hams.
« Reply #2 on: December 02, 2022, 10:08:25 AM »

I've met a few younger folks (I'm 73 and first licensed in 1965) that have no clue what Ham radio or Amateur Radio is, no matter what ya call it!! And when I try to explain communicating with other radio operators using radio waves, especially working hams in other countries, they stare at their iPhones and wonder why hf radio even exists anymore...HI HI HI.

I did figure out a way to communicate with them, I ask if they have ever seen the movie Titanic and they have. Then I remind them of the scene where the radio operator is sending CW SOS calls using something called Morse code for help whilst their ship is sinking. I think they sorta get it then, but I can tell they still wonder why the radio op didn't use his cell phone back in 1912 - at least his satellite phone???

In a few years (I won't be around) what young'uns will think when some ol' geezer talks about the days when he drove a car instead of a robot??

GL/73
« Last Edit: December 02, 2022, 10:30:19 AM by K6SDW »
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AE0Q

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Re: Cool PBS program on hams.
« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2022, 10:31:01 AM »

Funny, KR7Q says in the video that he got bored with SSB and THEN used CW. 

Lots of us started with CW and intentionally NEVER went to SSB :-)

Glenn AE0Q
ex GM5BKC (all CW)
ex ZB2WZ (all CW)
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WY4J

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Re: Cool PBS program on hams.
« Reply #4 on: December 02, 2022, 10:42:41 AM »

Once I received my SSB privileges 46 years ago I found out that I felt more comfortable with a key than a microphone.
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K4HB

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Re: Cool PBS program on hams.
« Reply #5 on: December 02, 2022, 10:50:07 AM »

That was a nice video to watch. Didn't know Grape Juice (W7GJ) was the first ham to make a contact with space. Noticed the astronaut first returned his call as W1JXN, then later said it correctly as WA1JXN. Most of us who have spent time on 6 and 2 meters know about W7GJ and his accomplishments. Lance has done so much to give back to the hobby, like going on DXPeditions and stateside operations for grids. He developed a handy map for keeping track of grids for FFMA, and he's been helpful for those wanting to get started with moon bounce.
« Last Edit: December 02, 2022, 10:55:18 AM by K4HB »
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W6SWO

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Re: Cool PBS program on hams.
« Reply #6 on: December 02, 2022, 02:39:44 PM »

VERY cool!  Thanks for posting.
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KE6SLS

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Re: Cool PBS program on hams.
« Reply #7 on: December 02, 2022, 03:19:06 PM »


Thank you for finding/posting that cool video Christine,

Fortunately, I am VERY cozy with both my mics & my key here.  Yeah, it did a few years before I finally did plug in the mic after I earned my general.  Who woulda thought Morse code could be so much fun and consist of such outstanding ops?!  Yet I also have many fine extended phone & digital contacts some local and DX stations.

I am quite skeptical about the first space contact claim however.  Old Rocky (w6bme) had confessed to me once that he'd worked every amateur that went to space.  Mostly, those hams were from russia.  Rocky was in his triple digits when he passed.  So yeah, I am both skeptical of the claim and also very curious who would have been the first as there did in deed have to be a first :)   I didn't enter the amateur radio ranks until the 1990's but man that had to be exciting!

Thanks agn, that was fun.  Especially seeing folks in my home state.

73
Jaye
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W7RIP

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Re: Cool PBS program on hams.
« Reply #8 on: December 02, 2022, 03:48:54 PM »

Thanks N1AUP for taking the time to share the Montana PBS special program. The XYL (W7MDR) and I enjoyed watching the guys in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana as well as western Montana who were featured in the University of Montana presentation. 73s,  Rip  W7RIP    Bozeman, Montana
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K4HB

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Re: Cool PBS program on hams.
« Reply #9 on: December 02, 2022, 04:27:56 PM »

I am quite skeptical about the first space contact claim however.  Old Rocky (w6bme) had confessed to me once that he'd worked every amateur that went to space.  Mostly, those hams were from russia.

I'm not trying to cast doubt on W6BME working every amateur that went into space. But it does appear that W7GJ (ex-WA1JXN) was the first amateur to work an astronaut in space. The space contact in the video is in 1983, and on this NASA.gov page, W5LFL says he took the first amateur radio into space in Nov 1983.
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K0UA

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Re: Cool PBS program on hams.
« Reply #10 on: December 03, 2022, 07:43:58 AM »

That was a nice presentation.  I went to LOTW and noticed I had worked W7GJ a couple of times on 6 meters in 2021
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73  James K0UA

K6CPO

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Re: Cool PBS program on hams.
« Reply #11 on: December 03, 2022, 10:06:25 AM »

Amateur radio is also known as ham radio.

Amateur radio operators are also known as hams.

Amateur radio is not called HAM, except by people who learned about the hobby 20 minutes ago.

It's the trend of young people to use adjectives or nouns as verbs and the schools are doing nothing to correct the bad grammar.
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AC7CW

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Re: Cool PBS program on hams.
« Reply #12 on: December 03, 2022, 03:07:28 PM »

Great video! My view of the hobby needed reorientation after all the threads I've read here...
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MONITORING

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Re: Cool PBS program on hams.
« Reply #13 on: December 04, 2022, 11:01:22 AM »

Did they cover whether it was legal to put up a cash bounty on other hams?  I heard a ham yesterday offering cash bounties to any ham who can locate other ops that are "harassing" him.
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K4HB

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Re: Cool PBS program on hams.
« Reply #14 on: December 04, 2022, 11:33:58 AM »

Did they cover whether it was legal to put up a cash bounty on other hams?  I heard a ham yesterday offering cash bounties to any ham who can locate other ops that are "harassing" him.

You made this same post in the past day or so, and it disappeared. What's illegal is transmitting on ham radio without identifying. If those hams who were "harassing" were identifying with their call signs, any op can get their address on the Zed and pin point it with Google Earth. So why is a bounty needed to locate them unless they were identifying with calls such as Monitoring.
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