In Canada because of our privacy rules we have the ability to opt out of having our address published in the official government ham database. American hams don't have that option which complicates things for them.
My father was pretty serious about this as a hobby - SP7DRV - had shortware CW and voice connections with pretty much all the coutries, remote islands (when there was an expeditions) and some countries that do not exist anymore so his tally was more countries than there are in the world.
Personally I prefer the convenience of fibre connection + TCP/IP but I get that in a time of hypothetical crisis or war this could prove useful.
War in Ukraine shows it's more Starlink + Internet rather than HAM radio but there's still a use case.
I find the technical side of the hobby very interesting but the thought that it requires having a conversation with strangers and that too synchronously, is a personal deterrent.
I don't know if there are others like me.
EDIT: Glad to see that there are others around. Happy to meet you. Async acks are great. So is the joy of engaging with something intellectually challenging.
I have a G6 uk licence that I took after being almost busted for CBs (in the old days) and all my radios have been packed up and in the garage for decades. Computers/BBS/Internet took over. I enjoyed the tech side of the hobby rather than the convo.
General class in USA, not currently active. More interested in tech/building than conversation/contesting although POTA and SOTA hold some interest, as does field day. Perhaps when I retire those might become a thing I do.
Yeah they're not very popular, partly because they're not very powerful: it's always multiple-choice, answer order doesn't randomise, and I don't think you can see how many unique people even voted (which can vary wildly depending on how many options people click on average). Fwiw, I do like multi-voting better as a default than the usual default of FPTP, but still
There was a short burst of activity shortly after introduction, probably a decade ago by now. Would be interesting to plot how many per week^W year make it to the front page or get more than a dozen votes
I did a course on antennae and wave propagation as part of my university studies. The professor told us that with just a bit of extra studying we'd be able to qualify for the license, given that we already knew the engineering and physics side of things. I got the license, but never did anything with it.
I spent a couple months memorizing the test questions/answers with Anki, without learning the theory, and passed the second level test (the one below Extra, I forget the name). I got a cheap Chinese (ABBREE brand I think) radio but never learned how to use it, and am a bit worried about accidentally transmitting if I poke around on it, even if it is probably legal for me to do so (assuming I announce my callsign periodically and such). I'd been meaning to learn things properly once the test was out of the way but I kinda lost interest, I guess. I'll still renew my license if it's about to expire anyway. Might as well. Callsign not shared because I tied it to my real address and haven't gotten a P.O. box (also as previously stated I am not actually active).
Anyone from India? I was looking to apply for one but the site to apply is down and there seems to be no alternative. Do I just cycle up to the monitoring station? It's like 10km away from me.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 87.0 ms ] threadPlease explain. Surely one simply opts out of having ones address published in your countries call book?
Jump between intermediate and full is more challenging, but IMO intermediate is well worth it (with minimal effort).
Go for it.
I don't know if there are others like me.
EDIT: Glad to see that there are others around. Happy to meet you. Async acks are great. So is the joy of engaging with something intellectually challenging.
There was a short burst of activity shortly after introduction, probably a decade ago by now. Would be interesting to plot how many per week^W year make it to the front page or get more than a dozen votes