Questions of Amateur Radio??

[zteknik]

hamfests are great!!kinda like a big swap meet
another good thing is when the local ham clubs have feild days
the one by me has them quite frequently-pearl-putnam emergency and amature repeater league
you get to see how they set up and run things and learn from some of the pros

[nontactical]

The biggest problem with HAM radio is that you have to be a huge geek to get into it.... unlike me, sitting in my basement pouring over ballistics manuals and reloading charts, surrounded by stacks of ammo cans, hoards of survival equipment and magazines, two gun safes and god knows how much gunpowder, with my wife yelling at me to come upstairs because we are hosting a dinner party.

Or yelling at the TV on election night and using the instant replay button while looking up candidates who I don't know enough about on my laptop... but going to the sporting clays range on Superbowl Sunday.

I practically have to beat the women off with a stick. Unlike those dorky HAM radio guys.

[gnihcraes]

The biggest problem with HAM radio is that you have to be a huge geek to get into it.... unlike me, sitting in my basement pouring over ballistics manuals and reloading charts, surrounded by stacks of ammo cans, hoards of survival equipment and magazines, two gun safes and god knows how much gunpowder, with my wife yelling at me to come upstairs because we are hosting a dinner party.

Or yelling at the TV on election night and using the instant replay button while looking up candidates who I don't know enough about on my laptop... but going to the sporting clays range on Superbowl Sunday.

I practically have to beat the women off with a stick. Unlike those dorky HAM radio guys.

Being in both hobbies Ham Radio and Guns among others things, I'm not sure which crowd of people look worse. I see way more hot women at the gunshow, but not many women of any beauty at the ham swapfests.

[nontactical]

Being in both hobbies Ham Radio and Guns among others things, I'm not sure which crowd of people look worse. I see way more hot women at the gunshow, but not many women of any beauty at the ham swapfests.

I hope it was clear that I was making fun only of myself... neither is exactly a chick magnet hobby.

[gnihcraes]

I hope it was clear that I was making fun only of myself... neither is exactly a chick magnet hobby.

yep, figured, but after thinking about it, gunshows have more chicks. Hamfest, questionable bunch sometimes.

[Irving]

I once tried to sell a minivan to a Ham radio guy. He cut his own hair. I'll never forget him.

[zteknik]

I once tried to sell a minivan to a Ham radio guy. He cut his own hair. I'll never forget him.

some of them ar characters-must be from sitting in front of the radios in the hamshack suckin up rf frquency waves!!kinda like low level radiation!!

[nontactical]

I once tried to sell a minivan to a Ham radio guy. He cut his own hair. I'll never forget him.

Hell, Ill never forget that sentence.

[Busta Prima]

I've been a Ham since the late 70's. Fun hobby but I never got too deep into it. Some of the antennas can get kind of big and with the stupid covenants and deed restrictions all over the place, it can be difficult.

In a SHTF scenario, cell phones and the Internet would be gone first. Landline phones could last longer but would probably be jammed up with traffic . . . but I wouldn't recommend becomming a Ham just to check a box on your SHTF preparedness list. However, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get to know one that lives near you. It very well could become the ONLY long distance communication available in a worst case scenario. Some Hams actually practice of these types of communications on a weekly basis.

[gnihcraes]

Hell, Ill never forget that sentence.

Go to a ham swapfest and you'll see some other fellas you won't forget either.