Pages: 1 2 [3]   Go Down

Author Topic: ATTRACTING YOUNGER MARS MEMBERS  (Read 22142 times)

K4FAU

  • Member
  • Posts: 1
ATTRACTING YOUNGER MARS MEMBERS
« Reply #30 on: January 18, 2004, 04:58:11 PM »

Greetings again.

Let me start with I like MARS --

here’s the problem as I see it -- and of course problem is the wrong word -- but the days of getting kids into Ham is just basically over --

I'm only 34 but I have a 12 year old son -- I got my amateur extra when I was 17 -- and my son has his technician no code -- but he only got it so we could talk back and forth when I am at home -- and he does have a point --

1. Why use a 2m through a repeater when we can simply call each other on our cell phones -- and when i explain to him that talking on a radio is somehow different -- his answer is that the only thing different is the frequency that it operates at 144 vs. 850... i guess good point...

2. Also in my day when ham was at its apogee -- it cost me 2.57 cents a minute to talk on AT&T from Seoul Korea to my parents in Dallas TX -- and thus I/we used the MARS station at OSAN AFB and Yongsan all the time ..-- we all did -- and i rememeber waiting in line for an hour or more to sit there and say "over" so the phone operator in Dallas could swtitch from transmit to recieve  now -- it costs nothing -- virtually every post has free DSN calls (morale calls) and you can rent cell phones for 15 cents a minute in most countries -- heck -- when we rolled into IRAQ the folks there were letting us use their cell phones to call home for free!!! Its hard pressed to find a soldier in IRAQ tht doesn't have ccess to a cell phone to cll home ...anyway --the days of the MARSGRAM -- if anyone remembers those are done -- we have internet and Voice over IP --

I think for MARS to stay alive it needs to find another niche to fill -- something in homeland defense or something -- but I will tell you -- during the last hurricane that went though -- my unit was issued 50 cell phones and 4 satellite phones for comms -- and they never went down -- we had some guys from the local amateur radio club show up to help at the coast guard station but to tell you the truth -- they were more problems with these guys then help -- they didn’t have all the equipment -- some forgot their chargers -- other forgot their mobile antennas... anyway ....

MARS as great back in its day -- and I am sure that it can find another niche -- but one thing that MARS guys have got to stop doing is reliving the past and expecting MARS to be some form of phoenix that is going to reemerge in its former self...
Logged

K3WVU

  • Member
  • Posts: 504
ATTRACTING YOUNGER MARS MEMBERS
« Reply #31 on: January 18, 2004, 05:11:37 PM »

<<<<"I think for MARS to stay alive it needs to find another niche to fill -- something in homeland defense or something">>>>>

Don't look now, but that IS the primary mission of MARS--the support of DOD or civil authorities during emergency conditions. A hurricane is a somewhat localized situation, so suppose there was a major disaster and no one was conveniently around to pass out those satellite phones.

The one thing I've noticed about this forum is that a great deal of it is devoted to reminiscing about the old days of MARS.  It has also demonstrated that there is a wide misconception about what MARS is doing today.

Suggest you go to our national website at www.navymars.org and get familiar with the 'new' MARS.

73

Dwight NNN0TPR/NNN0ASI EIGHT
Logged

K3WVU

  • Member
  • Posts: 504
ATTRACTING YOUNGER MARS MEMBERS
« Reply #32 on: January 19, 2004, 10:34:23 PM »

Hello everyone.

Thought you may want to know that one of the guys throwing stones at MARS in his posts on this and another topic (MARS Member Participation) in the MARS forum seems to be either very "confused" or is an outright fraud.

This individual posts under K4FAU, which he identifies as "his friend's call".  Unfortunately, K4FAU is the callsign of the Florida Atlantic University ARC.  He also identifies himself as an Army Signal Officer who was "stationed in Korea" in 1983 and used to call his folks from there.  The only trouble with that is that in another post, he states that he is 34 years old, which would have made him 14 years old when he was "stationed in Korea".  

The icing on the cake is that he has alternately identified himself as "Brian" in one post, and as "Sam, KC5LMF, Fort Hood, Texas" in another.  I did some research on the callsign KC5LMF, and it belongs to a Ham in Georgia.

Kind of reminds you of all the fake Vietnam Veterans running around, doesn't it?  The only consistent thing about this guy seems to be his seemingly irrational dislike of and disrespect for MARS.

I think we should give any further postings by him the time that they deserve.

73

Dwight NNN0TPR/NNN0ASI EIGHT
Logged

K3WVU

  • Member
  • Posts: 504
ATTRACTING YOUNGER MARS MEMBERS
« Reply #33 on: January 19, 2004, 10:39:18 PM »

Oh yes, one more thing about "K4FAU":  he mentions that he got his Extra when he was 17.  The only other callsign with which he identifies himself (KC5LMF) is a Tech.
Logged

K3WVU

  • Member
  • Posts: 504
ATTRACTING YOUNGER MARS MEMBERS
« Reply #34 on: January 19, 2004, 10:48:07 PM »

Sorry guys, but this just keeps getting stranger and stranger!  I did a search on this K4FAU guy on the Eham Forums, and he's an expert at everything!  He identifies himself as a member of the Coastguard in another forum.  He also signs off as a K4FAU member in another--that would make him a student.

LOL!!

Dwight NNN0TPR/NNN0ASI EIGHT
Logged

KC9FJE

  • Member
  • Posts: 23
    • homeURL
ATTRACTING YOUNGER MARS MEMBERS
« Reply #35 on: February 26, 2004, 11:48:11 PM »

Yea I think It would be and interesting and educational experence cause currently im a 14 year old tech operator. not to many hams my age but there are some.

                 73's Mykal Anstrom
                     KC9FJE  
Logged

K3WVU

  • Member
  • Posts: 504
ATTRACTING YOUNGER MARS MEMBERS
« Reply #36 on: February 28, 2004, 07:26:24 PM »

Oh yes, FYI, K4FAU will no longer be seen on E-Ham forums.  The person pirating this callsign has been squished.  He'll probably come back as something/someone else.
Logged

K6PDU

  • Member
  • Posts: 43
ATTRACTING YOUNGER MARS MEMBERS
« Reply #37 on: May 01, 2004, 01:35:37 AM »

I am 15 years old and am very intrested in MARS and if the age where to suddenly be lowered I would definantly join.
Logged
Pages: 1 2 [3]   Go Up