I got my technician ticket in 1992 when I was still in high school. I upgraded to general then went to extra around 5 years ago.
A bit of humor here! My daughter is in 4-H and her group has to work the food barn at the local county fairgrounds for 2-3 events a year. I was told one of them was the "Ham Fest" back in June. We showed up ready to work the Ham Fest expecting to see all sorts of pig selling, roasting, and pulling going on. I could taste the pulled pork/cheese loaded backed potatoes before we hit the gate. To my dismay it was a "Ham Radio" swap meet event! There was no pork roasting and pulling going on!!! I did have fun though walking around and checking out everyone's cool stuff while my daughter slung cheeseburgers and dogs for a few hours. Even bought some odd and end items myself! There were quite a few folks there so its still a popular activity around here!
KD8NSD here. Haven't done much with it. Checked into a repeater net a couple times. Looking at getting 2m/70cm & 10m setup in my jeep. Would be fun to dable with when on the road.
I've had my ticket since about 2003. I'm just a Technician Class though and no intentions to upgrade further unless I get extremely bored. I have far to many stick in the fire as it is.
I don't have a ham lic, but have dabbled in radio's for years, many years ago. And since, have always kept a functioning scanner going. Bought a new digital bearcat scanner BCD396xt last year and spent a few months programming it. I keep abreast of the local nets, and other ham stuff going on, and of course listen to the local cops chasing all the idiots around all night long.....
Back in the 70's I ran a Yausu (sic?) FT-101C on the 11 meter band in my big truck. I had a guy in Seattle build a set of 6' custom antennas that had a 3/4" fiberglass core and wound up about 1.1" on diameter after they were wound. I had to remove them when I got close to my home terminal because they wouldn't clear the overpasses on the interstate.
Good afternoon all. This thread is a year or so old, but I thought I would post to say hello. I have a Bixby model 115 that has been cold for several years and I hope to get it back to life again. Nice to see there are some hams heating with wood and other alternative fuels. I am in the very NW corner of Missouri and stay active on 75/40 as well as 144/450 FM. 73s all Pat
Radio communications is not what it used to be, don't get me wrong it is not all bad but, I have many radios that have been dark for a long time
