CB and Ham Radio Techs Love Their Bird Wattmeters

[xrunner]

Yuck. Maybe I'm a little old school, but that's too clinical for me. Sure I have a computer monitor above my radios but I still want the look of a "radio shack". Not for me.

[joeqsmith]

I bet that's a fun job for the intern.   She made an intro vid and shows a bit of the office.  At 0:29, I had that old Hammerlund at one time (complete with the clock).   At 1:35, you get to see their lab.  Sadly, I was not able to spot a Bird meter.



Looks like her dad may have helped getting things in place.   He doesn't look like a happy ham.   
http://www.arrl.org/news/steve-goodgame-k5ata-joins-arrl-headquarters-staff

[bd139]

Ah the intern. So she’s basically unpaid and has been indoctrinated into the organisation. How American.

ARRL web site seems to be down so I can’t see how mental he is. Perhaps someone unplugged something in the office to vacuum it.

As for getting your kids into this, why would you? I dragged my eldest to the last hamfest for extra carrying help and that was about it. I taught her to look for Tek and HP kit to bounce  . Also how to spot porcupines which was hilarious as literally when we were arriving I got carved up by one. Out got two 30 year old ish hams with walking sticks already  . She got to see what the average hams were like. That’s what put me off getting a license in the 90s; I think it worked for her too 

Edit: ARRL seems to have rattled a few people  http://n6qw.blogspot.com/2022/08/appliance-boxes-and-arrl-have-killed.html

[xrunner]

Hmmm ... I swear I didn't see the project bench where they build electronic projects for ham radio, make up coax cables, or repair / restore transceivers. I didn't see a soldering iron or breadboard anywhere. I'll watch the video again I'm sure I missed that.

[bd139]

They don’t exist. Read the rant by N6QW 

Outcasts now.

ARRL are turning it from a technical thing into golf. RSGB aren’t much better although at least they’ve been poncing Siglent pretty hard.

Edit: ooh he's even pissed on Soldersmoke podcast 36:00 in 

[vk6zgo]

Hmmm ... I swear I didn't see the project bench where they build electronic projects for ham radio, make up coax cables, or repair / restore transceivers. I didn't see a soldering iron or breadboard anywhere. I'll watch the video again I'm sure I missed that.

A lot of hams don't do any such thing---they buy ready made up cables, commercially made antennas, &,of course, radios.

On the other hand, you won't see a lot of people on this forum "making up coax cables", either.
It is distressingly common to see posts enthusing about the fully assembled coax leads someone has bought on eBay or whatever, here.

The problem is that, like sporting clubs, the people who get to run the National Amateur Radio Associations are often the same type as those who are in Management elsewhere, & apply the same thinking to their hobby.

If I may say so, they have the same attitude to the "Hobos" that is often exhibited on this Forum, with less justification, as at least those on eevBlog have the messy benches & old solder burns to prove they "mess around with Electronic crud!

As one of the "Hobos", I have dead radios & test equipment "awaiting repair", a huge quantity of horrible crusty old coax connectors & adaptors, plus various other junk.

Interestingly, the older & crustier the coax connectors are, the more likely they are to be good brands.
All the nice new shiny ones are "no-name" from the PRC!

[joeqsmith]

A few clip leads on he bench along with a fancy digital Bird meter complete with two slugs.   A possible Bird load on the top shelf.   

Second picture showing a section of the training area. 

[joeqsmith]

Ah the intern. So she’s basically unpaid and has been indoctrinated into the organisation. How American.

I would have guessed parents all over the world try to give their children opportunities and teach them useful skills.  Pay wise, you would need to ask.  I doubt it's unpaid and we have minimum wage laws. 

[bd139]

Ah the intern. So she’s basically unpaid and has been indoctrinated into the organisation. How American.

I would have guessed parents all over the world try to give their children opportunities and teach them useful skills.  Pay wise, you would need to ask.  I doubt it's unpaid and we have minimum wage laws.

If the primary beneficiary is the intern then they don’t need to be paid over there. Source: I work for a US mega corp

But yes I have three kids and give them every opportunity I can. But also the savvy not to get fucked over.

[joeqsmith]

https://www.indeed.com/career/intern/salaries

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/71-flsa-internships

I would have to ask them.

[xrunner]

Playing with some software changes for the new meter and I got carried away so I needed to get back to the panels for the case. The front panel is done and I need to get the slide mount finished to move forward. There is very little room at the front so I modded the rotary encoder so the pins are where I want them to be. I guess they figured they knew best what the customer required so they came with 90 deg pins already soldered on. Well that's the worst position for them I could have come up with so I pulled them and put on my own pins (the one on the right).

That is all for today.

[Squarewave]

Hmmm ... I swear I didn't see the project bench where they build electronic projects for ham radio, make up coax cables, or repair / restore transceivers. I didn't see a soldering iron or breadboard anywhere. I'll watch the video again I'm sure I missed that.

A lot of hams don't do any such thing---they buy ready made up cables, commercially made antennas, &,of course, radios.

On the other hand, you won't see a lot of people on this forum "making up coax cables", either.
It is distressingly common to see posts enthusing about the fully assembled coax leads someone has bought on eBay or whatever, here.

The problem is that, like sporting clubs, the people who get to run the National Amateur Radio Associations are often the same type as those who are in Management elsewhere, & apply the same thinking to their hobby.

If I may say so, they have the same attitude to the "Hobos" that is often exhibited on this Forum, with less justification, as at least those on eevBlog have the messy benches & old solder burns to prove they "mess around with Electronic crud!

As one of the "Hobos", I have dead radios & test equipment "awaiting repair", a huge quantity of horrible crusty old coax connectors & adaptors, plus various other junk.

Interestingly, the older & crustier the coax connectors are, the more likely they are to be good brands.
All the nice new shiny ones are "no-name" from the PRC!

I have bought antennas, but I've also made my own too. I make all of my coax cable sets up, I buy a reel of coax which suits the frequencies I want to use and every now and then, if I need a new patch lead or antenna run, I'll make it up myself.

[xrunner]

Working on the slide-in mount today. Moving the encoder pins will allow the left side to slide in. Only need to mod the right side now. Then add a platform to hold the log amp board.

Hey Joe - it was suggested to me by another party to show you a picture of a ham transceiver I was going to repair several years ago for a local ham. Turns out after I had it in my house for several hours I discovered it had live cockroaches in it. I took it to an empty shed next door and bug-bombed it. It was also filthy with nicotine so I ended up not wanting to touch it and it was sent back.

The friend of the ham that wanted it fixed and brought it here apologized and said he would talk to the other guy about his bug problem. 

[joeqsmith]

I know several elderly people who use PCs and phones to get their social media fix.  With these older hams, I wonder why they don't just give up the radio and convince their friends to use the email groups or other social outlets.   They could run a full on meeting if they wanted.  If their smoke filled, infested PC dies, they can easily replace it and the cost would be much less than a new radio.   They also don't have to worry about people trying to impede their communications with their friends. 

[bd139]

I know several elderly people who use PCs and phones to get their social media fix.  With these older hams, I wonder why they don't just give up the radio and convince their friends to use the email groups or other social outlets.   They could run a full on meeting if they wanted.  If their smoke filled, infested PC dies, they can easily replace it and the cost would be much less than a new radio.   They also don't have to worry about people trying to impede their communications with their friends. 

That's a bit of a sore point here. One of the people to put me off amateur radio originally was someone I am being expected to clear the house of in the near future. He's got stage 4 cancer and Alzheimers and refuses any help or assistance. I know his grand daughter fairly well and she knows that I know what all the crap is and wants me to get rid of it for her so she can sort the house out. His wife died 5 years ago after divorcing him 30 years ago because he was an asshole to her. His daughter lives in Singapore because he was an asshole to her. He's an asshole to his grand daughter.  The only remaining life line he had to society was on 2m and 80m. Last year a storm took out his antenna pole and he's too immobile to fix it. I volunteered to assist out of some insane desire to try and be a nice person but was told I wasn't capable of it because I was one of those "wet behind the ears" M0 calls. Proceeds to go to hobble down the stairs, which takes 20 minutes, then off to his shed. "who took my fucking ladders!?!?! Who took my fucking ladders!!!". His grand daughter because he's 91 and fell off one 9 months before leading to a fractured wrist that isn't even healing.

He has a computer. He has zoom. But it "annoys him" and there are "only assholes, lefties and wokes on there". He's been banned from the Daily Mail web site, which for the folk not in the UK is a semi-right wing tabloid for retards, for his comments for being too extreme.

On his 2m net, he's perfectly happy with the company.

And that'll be why they don't use the computers...

I've met the guy once and that was more than I could stand. I think that's the case for a lot of older people. They exist in little bubbles all over the place. Unless they develop the communications skills early on then they're stuck.

Think I'm going to list some ARRL books on ebay now I'm feeling motivated 

[Squarewave]

I know several elderly people who use PCs and phones to get their social media fix.  With these older hams, I wonder why they don't just give up the radio and convince their friends to use the email groups or other social outlets.   They could run a full on meeting if they wanted.  If their smoke filled, infested PC dies, they can easily replace it and the cost would be much less than a new radio.   They also don't have to worry about people trying to impede their communications with their friends.

The whole point is that radio is a technical hobby, you can always find another way of doing something else, much like anyones hobby.

[Squarewave]

He has a computer. He has zoom. But it "annoys him" and there are "only assholes, lefties and wokes on there". He's been banned from the Daily Mail web site, which for the folk not in the UK is a semi-right wing tabloid for retards, for his comments for being too extreme.

 

[bd139]

I know several elderly people who use PCs and phones to get their social media fix.  With these older hams, I wonder why they don't just give up the radio and convince their friends to use the email groups or other social outlets.   They could run a full on meeting if they wanted.  If their smoke filled, infested PC dies, they can easily replace it and the cost would be much less than a new radio.   They also don't have to worry about people trying to impede their communications with their friends.

The whole point is that radio is a technical hobby, you can always find another way of doing something else, much like anyones hobby.

Yeah I'm working on that.

I might write a book with a working title of:

"Ham Radio Without Hams On The Other End."

Playing around with APRS ideas as the moment hence the Marconi signal generator purchase...

Edit: also ARDF / Radio Orienteering looks like fun. It's like SOTA but no humans to try and QSO with...

[Squarewave]

I don't really understand the negativity part. There are people who aren't very pleasant everywhere, regardless of the hobby. I know loads of armature radio people who are nice people, only a few of them I wouldn't want to socialise with, but that'll be the same anywhere else. At the end of the day, we're dealing with people - intolerance can have a certain degree of common dominator.....

[bd139]

Well the thing is at least with me the ratio of bad to good is insanely higher in amateur radio than any other hobby I've been involved with over the last 40-odd years. It really is a horribly toxic environment with people who tolerate and even amplify the problems due to the controlled nature of the communication medium.

If I go out hiking for example it's a right mixed bag in age, gender, political inclination and race and everyone gets on. One black woman at a hamfest and half the people would be cutting holes in their bedsheets. the rest would say nothing to them

[Squarewave]

I think that's largely down to your own experience, I've certainly not experienced that at all and don't know anyone else who has. I would disagree that the hobby is inherently toxic - I consider it to be one of the most friendly, after all, people are engaging in communication with many people, often those they don't even know. If the ratio of bad to good is high, well, they can't all be like that.....

[joeqsmith]

I might write a book with a working title of:

"Ham Radio Without Hams On The Other End."

Consider "Ham Radio Without Hams",  "Hamless Ham Radio"   

Maybe have a chapter on Googles AI station...

[joeqsmith]

I know several elderly people who use PCs and phones to get their social media fix.  With these older hams, I wonder why they don't just give up the radio and convince their friends to use the email groups or other social outlets.   They could run a full on meeting if they wanted.  If their smoke filled, infested PC dies, they can easily replace it and the cost would be much less than a new radio.   They also don't have to worry about people trying to impede their communications with their friends.

The whole point is that radio is a technical hobby, you can always find another way of doing something else, much like anyones hobby.

Technical ...    No more so than my wife talking on her cell phone.   If this was the goal, they would screen for it.  Reading the questions for the exams, it's pretty clear what they are looking for.    It's been a plug and play hobby for decades.

[Squarewave]

I know several elderly people who use PCs and phones to get their social media fix.  With these older hams, I wonder why they don't just give up the radio and convince their friends to use the email groups or other social outlets.   They could run a full on meeting if they wanted.  If their smoke filled, infested PC dies, they can easily replace it and the cost would be much less than a new radio.   They also don't have to worry about people trying to impede their communications with their friends.

The whole point is that radio is a technical hobby, you can always find another way of doing something else, much like anyones hobby.

Technical ...    No more so than my wife talking on her cell phone.   If this was the goal, they would screen for it.  Reading the questions for the exams, it's pretty clear what they are looking for.    It's been a plug and play hobby for decades.

Completely disagree. It sounds like you have contempt for the hobby.

[bd139]

I think it’s a well earned softer disdain rather than contempt