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Stardate: 20190922.1633 | |
Location: Home office, zero-gravity lawn chair. | |
Input Device: Cybah rig + Cybah cheez keyboard | |
Audio: Portable A/C unit, child process playing Minecraft | |
Visual: Olympus Face-Mounted Display | |
Energy: 80% | |
Mental: 80% | |
Emotional: Chill, introspective. | |
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Since I've been seeing some cyberdecks in my | |
mastodon feed, I thought it would be appropriate to | |
post with the Cybah Rig. It has been awhile and | |
I have some time for geeking out since I took | |
vacation time for Monday and Tuesday. | |
I have read a couple posts in the gophersphere | |
regarding an inexpensive ham radio that will no | |
longer be available at the end of this month due to | |
some new changes made by the FCC. I think it was | |
tfurrows and mhj that wrote about this. Well, this | |
new change has got me thinking again about ham | |
radio. | |
I have had a facination with radio going way back, | |
not just AM/FM, but also with citizen band (CB) and | |
police scanners. I loved going to Radio Shack! My | |
folk's Cadillac Eldorado that I grew up with even | |
had an OEM CB radio built into the AM/FM stereo | |
with 8-track player(!) Yeah, I'm old. | |
In college, I had an FCC license for my college | |
radio show (back when students needed a license) | |
and dabbled with all kinds of consumer radios | |
(world band, weather radios, crystal radio kits, | |
etc.) I was aware of ham radio, but it seemed a | |
bit out of reach for me. I had some friends that | |
did have licenses, and would tell me tales of | |
who they talked to or what they heard...I found | |
these stories facinating. One guy would even | |
talk and listen on the radio to find out when | |
trains would pull into town just so he could | |
snap a photograph of the engine. And this was with | |
analog film! | |
I never got around to studying for a license since | |
I think back then you needed to learn morse code. | |
Plus BBS's and eventually the advent of the | |
World Wide Web consumed my time. I did have a CB | |
in my car and a police scanner, which seem to | |
satisfy my radio curiosities at that time. | |
Fast forward a bit to when I moved out west, I | |
started getting exposed again to ham radio. This | |
exposure was from a local wireless user group that | |
was formed by ham radio operators to discuss the | |
new 802.11a/b standard and the equipment that uses | |
it. Along with these discussions, the | |
conversations would usually include ham radio. I | |
got interested again and loved hearing about the | |
stories, but again, did not persue a license, even | |
though they changed the licensing to include a no | |
code license. Spawning child processes seem to put | |
a damper on resource allocation for leisure | |
activities. | |
So fast forward to the gopherspace of now...with | |
the recent phlog phosts and FCC rules, I decided to | |
gift myself with a cheap radio. It is here and I | |
have been exploring the features, but have only | |
been receiving. No transmissions up in here. I am | |
unauthorized. So I listen. | |
I probably have much to learn about the current | |
state of the art of ham radio and licensing. I | |
still have an older ARRL manual (2nd edition), but | |
unsure how far I want to proceed with this hobby. | |
The child processes are evolving and have become | |
more autonomous which has freed up some resources | |
to be reallocated to other pursuits. Perhaps it | |
might be this one. But for now, I just research | |
and listen. | |
Are there other ham radio operators out there in | |
gopherspace actively involved with this hobby? I | |
know that people are doing stuff besides chatter on | |
the radio. What are you doing with your license | |
these days? Is it worth pursuing a license? Any | |
feedback would be greatly appreciated. | |
And it is now time for International Wasabi Mix | |
by snowdusk on aNONradio...gotta jack in. | |
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