[joelchrisman]

Well I havent been active in ham radio for about 5 years and I have been bitten by the bug again. Well i was looking for 2m repeaer streams online and i found these yahoos. RILEY’S FAVORITE REPEATER THE WORLD FAMOUS "ANIMAL HOUSE": Contractors Peak - Sylmar, CA 147.435MHz repeater - W6NUT - KG6DVO Sorry dont have the link to their site. but anyway i was monitoring the trafic tonight and I cant belive what i heard. EXTREAM profanity,racial bickering, crude talk, intentional jamming exet. I hope it is just because it is in CA. If the rest of the ham community has become like this i dont know if i want back in. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE HOBBY I ONCE LOVED??????

 

[dayliterun]

I hope it's just california being california. Here the hams who hold the liscences on the repeaters police them pretty well. Stuff like that is stopped IMMEDIATELY. Some of these eggheads forget that the FCC will come down on them and worst case scenario, take their equipment and fine them.

Around here, they usually just go to their house. Not hard to find, just do a search of their call sign. Their home address is public knowledge.

Sure would like a link to that site.

73.

 

[joelchrisman]

Ok i think i found their site http://www.435.org yeah looks like a great group of guys

 

[kahn]

they leave 435 alone b/c it keeps all the local nuts in one place. Kinda like 14.275 on HF

 

[Survival Helper]

It only takes one HAM to report them. If you are sick and tired of the abuse, report them. Its our hobby that they are destroying by being an operator without guidelines. I have slipped up, and with a quick apology and making sure no one is offended we continue. It is part of HAM to screw up, but when you are intentionally doing it, I say report them to the FCC.

It may sound like a cop out or ratting, but self policed doesn't mean that we can actually do anything other than foxhunt and report them. Let the FCC do the job that we pay them for........

 

[kahn]

like I said, they stay in one place, leave 'em alone or they'll fan out and we'll have lids everywhere.

 

[ZigMund]

my local fav repeater here is heavily monitored. The trustee is also the local fcc police. He's very polite, until people keep doing the wrong stuff...

btw I'm trying to WAS, and I'm out on 20m sat and sunday, and this week, I'm home sick, so I'm on 20m during the day, and even right now. monitoring 14.2300

 

[firehiker]

Currently studying to get my General Class license and was wondering if this may be a result of dropping Morse Code from the test? I am very new (just bought the book), and was excited to hear there was no more CW on the test, but couldn't help but wonder if this would create a new breed of CB'ers...I have a CB in my 4Runner as what I used to call my "analog radar detector", and am constantly rolling my eyes and shaking my head at what I hear people saying over the airwaves...

 

[Grinnan Barrett]

IF the trend continues in the number of Hams declining you will see the Feds realocate airwaves to other resources. It would be good if everyone would at least get their license to keep the airwaves in the hands of good people like ham operators.

 

[firehiker]

IF the trend continues in the number of Hams declining you will see the Feds realocate airwaves to other resources. It would be good if everyone would at least get their license to keep the airwaves in the hands of good people like ham operators.

Workin on it!
Just cracked open GENERAL CLASS by Gordon West..I hear he's a pretty good read and instructor; We'll see!

 

[ZigMund]

picking up Ireland now on 12.2340. wow... come on sunspots!

 

[mgd_only]

i've wanted to get into ham but everytime a ask a few questions the people that respond reply with get your lic. first which has just kept pissing me off and thats probably why the number of ham ops have been falling. before i do anything i wanna know how much i need to spend to set up a system that can reach a 200 mile range without using a repeater and doing that in single side band so that i can talk to them
everytime i ask i give the terrain and every thing a ham would need to answer my question but as always the static answer is get your lic.

well i guess i can just start buy'n equipment and not get registared and just do it on my own. ok hams flame on tell me about the big fines for doing this heard it. tell me about everything that can be done to me heard it. tell me about how they'll find me heard it trianglation isn't that had a concept really. ok rant off for now

 

[ZigMund]

well MGD, there are quite alot of factors besides terrain, and such. there are certain frequencies that carry better than others. there are atmospheric conditions that dictate if you can make a contact. There are skywave and ground wave.

you want prices? it's not cheap. a basic new all band all mode transciever can run from 650 up. antennas can be built, but to buy one for multiple bands, I'd say around 400 +/-100. A tower in the 60' range can run you alot, or you could just build one if you had the knack. towers are in the range of about 2-4k, but you can use a mast which will run you about 200-500. You will probably need a power supply for your radio, so figure in another 200. You will need coax and or ladder line, depending on the length of the run, and the frequency used, that can get expensive. 100' of lmr-400 (a good line for 2m/70cm) is around 75 cents per foot. the prices go up and down but you need the right line for the job based on length of run, and used frequencies.

Does this help?

 

[cofiuhmn]

Is there such a thing as a hand-held ham? I've heard of sailors using them for emergencies, or maybe I'm confusing ham radios with something else?

 

[firehiker]

Is there such a thing as a hand-held ham? I've heard of sailors using them for emergencies, or maybe I'm confusing ham radios with something else?

When I get my license I want to be a hand-held ham. ::thumb:

 

[mgd_only]

zigmund YOU are a breath of fresh air that does help greatly yes the prices helped but the biggest help was you not say'n go get your lic. you tried to answer the question thank you

 

[KF4LNE]

No, Amateur Radio has not fallen to the level of CB. The ones you are listening to are a rare breed.

Amateur Radios current plague in my area is appliance operators. Appliance operators are hams who didn't learn the theory or any of the other intricacies of Amateur Radio but rather simply memorized the questions and took the test. Appliance operators will often buy a new radio with all the bells and whistles, an antenna and set it all up to work the local repeater. You never hear these appliance operators working simplex or testing a new antenna idea or anything else and they often do not know how to enable or disable basic features of their radio.

Another plague in Amateur Radio is the ones who have been around for a while have lost interest because of the emergence of appliance operators. Ten years ago the bands were filled with conversations of all sorts of topics. Today, I hear a lot of use of Amateur Radio to schedule phone calls.

 

[Levant]

I think that ham radio is approaching CB. Locally, the repeaters are often tied up on the weekends as the clubs provide parking lot services for some commercial venture or another. I'm not impressed.

No code licenses and publishing the questions (remember when publishing the questions was cheating?) means that many hams didn't have to work for a license and we all know what happens when you give someone something they don't have to work for.

When I started in amateur radio, you had to have a license for a CB radio and, in fact, you had to have a "business purpose" to get the license; even CBs weren't a give away. Deregulation of the airwaves is not a good idea. I hated to see it go.

 

[mongo]

OK, let me see if I've got this right- as the last time I tried for a general license was 1979-

No Morse code.
Questions and answers available from some source (internet?)
Equipment ready to go 'out of the box'

So, being that my fail in 79 was Morse Code, and I'm still an electronics hobbyist, I should be able to test and be approved for a general license?

 

[Levant]

Well, you'll have to know rules, regs, and operator procedures as well. It's not just the electronics. I haven't seen test questions since they went to the testing coordinator system (I had to go to the Federal Building in San Diego last time I took one) but I wouldn't be surprised if there was no electronics on the test now. The tests are published by the testing coordinators. Nothing immoral or underhanded about it. Start at ARRL.org. You can find links for test questions there. Remember that the ARRL is to amateur radio what the NRA is to gun ownership.