I've been in the hobby for almost 20 years, and have decided to cut my losses and get out. I just can't stand what I see as the dweebs, nerds and losers that make up a major segment of the ham population. Ham radio seems to have outlived its usefulness and from my viewpoint is becoming a rallying point for misfits. Considering the prevelance of cellphones, the internet and every kind of wireless gadget you can think of, there seems to be little glamour or usefuness left associated with ham radio, and maybe the smart ones know not to waste their time getting a license.

Whether you're a ham or not, I'd like to hear your opinion.

-- hadenuff (selling@ll.mygear), April 19, 2001

Answers

dweebs, nerds and losers that make up a major segment of the ham population.

Now this has GOT to be a troll! Who could possibly be more of a dweeb, nerd, and loser than someone playing with ham radio for twenty years?

-- Sheesh (Keep@up.with.it.and.stay.out.of.society), April 19, 2001.

Nope, not trolling, just kicking myself for not getting out sooner. I got into it when I was a kid and really had fun, but as the years went by there were fewer and fewer decent people to talk to. Ham radio today is a lot like CB radio used to be. Hell, in some respects I think CB radio was/is better.

-- hadenuff (selling@ll.mygear), April 19, 2001.

Fuck off TROLL!!! You posted this same garbage over on Sleazy Board a month or so ago. What sort of loser clutters the airways with this sort of mindless drivel? No one else gives a shit that you don't like ham radio. Go crawl back under the same rock from whence you came.

-- Troll Detector (TD@always.seems.to.be.one.more.loser), April 19, 2001.

Actually Hadenuff, I hear you. I used to have to drive cross-country on occasion & CB was a good keeper-awaker. Now it's just idiots amplifying HELLO as loud as they can.

Oh well, you can always save it for the kids.

-- Or (Good@luck.selling.the.stuff), April 19, 2001.

Art Bell had Harold Ort, publisher of Popular Communications magazine, on his radio show a few nights ago. Excellent interview. Worth a listen.

The Real Audio feed is archived on Art's web site.

-- Rich (howe9@shentel.net), April 19, 2001.

Sorry, not Real Audio format. Try this: Windows Media Player

-- Rich (howe9@shentel.net), April 19, 2001.

Troll Detector, you wanna buy my stuff? With your kind of mouth and attitude, you'd fit right in with some of the elements on 75 or 2 meters. Which is one of the reasons I'm getting out of all this.

-- hadenuff (selling@ll.mygear), April 19, 2001.

P.S. TD, you actually admit to visiting Sleazy Boards? I won't even read that stuff, much less post there.

-- hadenuff (selling@ll.mygear), April 19, 2001.

I've never had a ham radio, but my brother in Mississippi does/did. I don't even know anymore if he still does. He's not my favorite person, so I don't keep up with his hobbies. I can barely stand talking to him on the phone. He could be one of the folks who drove you away from the hobby.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), April 19, 2001.

hadenuf,

"P.S. TD, you actually admit to visiting Sleazy Boards? I won't even read that stuff, much less post there."

As I said before, there was a post remarkably similar to yours over on Sleazy Board a month or so ago. So similar in fact, that I'd be willing to bet that it was you. I'll check later and see if I can still find it for a more detailed comparison.

What really surprises me is that people like you come to these so-called transition points in life and then feel the need to tell the world in a holier-than-thou manner how you have seen the light and that all those others are some sort of idiots or otherwise socially maladjusted.

As I was attempting to communicate, So What? Why should any of us here care if you suddenly don't like ham radio anymore and now look down on others?

Actually, if I were still active, I might find things out there in radio land to be as boring today as you have indicated. I haven't been on the air for years and am sure that it changed a lot since I last frequented the airways. But the difference between you and most of the rest of us is that we don't feel the need to validate our new found point of view by broadcasting it to the masses here on the forum. Why do you feel this need, since it demeans others?

Finally, I apologize for the profanity. I see so many mindless posts these days here and othe places that every once in a while one of them rubs me the wrong way. You are entitled to your opinion without myself or others reverting to the adolescent mental state that is so pervasive on the internet.

But... just out of curiosity, what about the other post on EZB? I'm not ashamed to admit that I sometimes browse their board along with several others. I just skip the screwy stuff and look at subjects that might interest me. If you've been around this board very long you will have noted the major disintegration of the mental level of some of the participants. If you were here very long, then you also must be using a phantom nom de plume. Do you remember who seemed to start all of this childishness?

-- Troll Detector (doesn't@have.to.look.very.hard.to.find.new.trolls), April 19, 2001.

Anita, no way to know if I ever met your brother, but interesting that you mention not really wanting/being able to talk with him. I know from long experience that many hams have great difficulty maintaining one-on-one, personal conversations, even with people they know well.

Most hams talk to each other about NOTHING of any import, on or off the air. One will say "The weather here is rainy, my transmitter power is 100 watts, I'm in Iowa, blah blah blah...", and the other will say basically the same things, just changing the data as needed. If you listen closely to the vast majority of ham radio conversations, even among those who have known each other for years, you'll notice that most of the time the people involved are not talking to each other, they're talking at each other. Both people monopolizing a conversation, if you can imagine that, and nothing much really being said. Total waste of time.

-- hadenuff (selling@ll.mygear), April 19, 2001.

Tweren't me on Sleazy, TD, I have never posted there, and I have lurked here for a couple months without posting. Too bad if you think I came across as holier-than-thou, that's not where I'm coming from. I'm just disgusted as blazes with what HR has become.

You obviously don't like my venting/sharing this subject with the board, and that's cool, but the only advice I can offer is that if you don't care for my posts, then just skip over them.

P.S. I suspected that you were either a ham or an ex-ham from your comments. Someone who had no interest in the subject wouldn't have been so strident in their remarks.

-- hadenuff (selling@ll.mygear), April 19, 2001.

Hadnuff, I was interested in what you said about HR. If I were you though I wouldn't sell your equipment at this point in time. You may just need it in the very near future. With all the things going on over seas and the threat of FMD here with the possibility of martial law to stop the spread of it , your radio may come in extremely handy. Just my .02 worth.

-- Marg (okay@cutaway.com), April 19, 2001.

N7APX

-- Cherri (jessam5@home.com), April 19, 2001.

Hadenuff,

OK, I accept your judgement. You are obviously more familiar with the current status of the airways than I. Since it wasn't you posting the Sleazy Board piece I guess that maybe you aren't the only one who is disenchanted.

You didn't comment as to how long you have been posting here, but if you have perhaps you can understand my frustration at the amount of trolling and idiot-level posturing that goes on here even since six months ago. At least Lady Logic was entertaining.

Again, I apologize for coming off as a jerk myself. Somehow my hot button got pushed. Usually I just joust with trolls in more subtle manner.

-- Troll Detector (signing@off.for.now), April 19, 2001.

Hadenuf, 2 meters hasn't been decent since the late 70s. The only time I'm on that band anymore is to talk to a couple of the storm trackers who have very basic gear. I somewhat agree with you about typical hams and ham personalities, but the same can be said about a lot of the engineers in general: a lot of us are nerds and geeks, who for some reason get all choked up when we can experience e-skip on a homebrewed rig that fits into a beer can. Heck, a buddy of mine built one of the one watt transmitter beer cans. Never mind that he has nothing to say beyond his aches, pains, and the current weather conditions. He built it. It works!

And, yes, I do occasionally hold meaningful discussions with inanimate objects. . . . . .

-- (kb8um8@yahoo.com), April 19, 2001.