Posted on 03/15/2020 9:15:08 AM PDT by Vermont Lt
KAOTLAhere
Sister is ND0D — made Extra when needed CW at 20 wpm. I only got to my general ticket — but in the day I could take 13 WPM code.
VVVVVV —
UR URL is 599,
ahhhh the good old days
Sitting in Augsburg, GE about 40 years ago I caught a CB radio heading home from rush hour in Boston. Of course, I had a FLR-9 antenna to help out :)
Yup, that’s me in your list. I do mostly HF digital modes. Also Winlink. Busy on the digital traffic network for radiogram messages. Also support some federal (non-ham) stuff. Voice (SSB) is mostly in state on 75 meters.
The only Kung Flu related net I’ve heard about is the ALE (automatic link establishment) net sponsored by the hflink group (hflink.org). PA is talking about possibly running a flu net using digital modes.
Kind of funny, our ME-NH Hospital Net seems to be on hiatus as no ops are going into the hospitals. At least not voluntarily.
Husband has been slow on getting the Extra - ‘Math is Hard’.
He says he used to know all that math, but doesn’t anymore :-)
I’m supposed to be working on my technician’s; but this Mountain Dulcimer fascination cut into my study time.
I always thought I’d be good at CW, because it’s just a sort of ‘language’, and I’m good at languages.
Not so easy :-)
2 meter repeaters in STL have been silent. Strange.
The usual banal chitchat, 90% about antennas, is gone.
In my area, it’s mostly older folks. We’ve seen some younger people taking tests when we’ve gone for my husband’s testing; but not many.
The Internet and cell phones took it over; and I understand that.
I was fascinated with radio, when my brother built a crystal set and grounded it to a radiator. I was enchanted, and remembered that my father had listened to a president’s inaugural address over HIS crystal set.
When I found the Internet in the late 1980s-early 1990s, I felt like I had my own spaceship - it fulfilled all the old fascination.
(Husband just tried the local 2m frequencies; nobody on.)
I had my 2 meter on this evening. I heard on guy.
Back in the day:
Novice — 5 WPM and 20 question test
Tech — 50 question test
General — 13 wpm CW
Advanced — 100 question test (I failed it miserably, I was so hoping to get the advanced call sign)
Extra: 20 WPM, 50 questions
I couldnt believe when I got past the 13 WPM on the first crack, I new a tech who tried for 15 years (I was 14 at the time). My sister — 6 weeks to extra ticket. Took an two exams every two weeks — you could take the CW and the written as they were staggered, and in weeks 4 - 6 she nailed down the extra,
I was always the dumbs** of the family
I did get to talk to the space shuttle on 2m (IIRC 146.640; -600) one night in 1989
There are all kinds of ‘intelligence’.
I’m sure you are not a ‘dumbs**’
:-)
i was an extra back in the day. cellphone and intenet pretty much made that obsolete
Just ask my sister — Mom MD, she will affirm it from her perspective. She is just bitter, however, I am a highly trained specialist in medicine, she is just a hospitalist. I am sure it is an attempt to cover up her inadequacy :-)
I recall you did it in six weeks. I remember you listening to the tapes, and I couldn’t friggin get past 13 WPM. And when I failed by advanced test I was beyond it. Never got the “Special” call sign.
Do you remember MEL — WA0YGU
Or Tim — WBOTUB
Why the hell I can remember that but cannot remember what I had for breakfast is beyond me - I guess I need my seroquel dose
no dear. aricept not seroquel
Hell I can even remember MELS CW call sign because it was the call for the .640 repeater
.— .- -—— -.— —. —. -.-
The last letter was R for repeater.
NDOD for the patch — *64
Ah the good old days
bite me. I am delirious — not, what it is called, oh yeah , demented — you ARE 10 years older than me
Huh.
That’s a very enlightening post...I suspect...
There’s a pretty active group/club in Southern Maryland...
Freaking spell check
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