Welcome to my blog. I’m very happy to be on the air after a sixty-year hiatus. I have to admit that a lot of the reasons to be a ham have disappeared over the last six decades. Almost everyone carries a two-way radio that allows instant contact with voice and video to anyone in the world. Technology has made our hobby a quaint throwback to simpler times.
It isn’t that we haven’t changed too. Echolink and AllStar let us use our computers and the Internet to broadcast on connected radios around the world. Amateur TV is still around for people who like to tinker with analog video. Let’s face it, we like to play with radios. The biggest change I’ve noticed is that the bands seem empty. Back before cell phones and Zoom, it was hard to find a frequency to use for CQ. Now, even with my DX Champion antenna, I find it hard to hear more than a few conversations on any band. This is disappointing. I hoped for a rich opportunity to connect with hams across the world.
My single non-two-meter conversation was on 20 meters with a guy in North Carolina. I haven’t heard any local hams on HF. Two-meter and 70 cm have provided my primary opportunities to connect. I could have saved a lot of money and just stuck with my VHF/UHF transceiver. My IC-7300 isn’t doing much at all.
I want to offer sincere thanks to Kirk, WA7KS. He generously came over and set up my DX Champion. I’m disabled and couldn’t do it on my own. My wife was willing to try, but she isn’t skilled at things like this. Kirk spent a day here setting up and tuning the antenna. Thanks to him, I have access to HF bands. My wife, Kim, put up my Comet GP-6 2-meter/70 cm antenna. She also ran and, where needed, buried the coax to the two antennas. Without Kim and Kurt, I wouldn’t be on the air.
One of the most difficult things for me to accept is the limitations my disabilities place on me. Over the last five years, I’ve lost nearly all of my vision. Spinal surgery made my balance difficult. I’ve never been dependent on others before. I hate imposing on others.
Kirk is a member of the Lake Washington Ham Club. I joined too. It’s only $10 a year and the club offers a lot to both members and Seattle-area hams. It operates three linked repeaters (70 cm, 2-meter, 6-meter) open for public ues. It has monthly Zoom meetings and hosts daily nets on the repeaters. I put out a request for help with my antenna on the club mail list. Kirk replied and came to my rescue.
Meeting the good people of the LWHC is a wonderful benefit of getting my license. Maybe one of these days the HF-band gods will smile on me and let me talk with some folks in other places.