Profoundness - A Possibly Humorous Look At It

Hi All,

Hope you're keeping well and enjoying your radio.  

("Here, look, he's done it again...thinks it's a catch phrase or something"  - It's actually meant. I hope you are all well. )


To while away a bit of time while the wife enjoys her cookery TV, relegated to my shack and having a listen on the bands, I came across one of 'those' conversations.....You know the ones, where the QSO is very one sided, (never will break my EMF limits with one of those when you only get to talk for 10% of the time! )

It always amazes me that whenever you are involved in anything even remotely 'technical' there will always be a self professed expert amongst the crowd. Indeed, some people are actually 'experts' and can usually be identified by them sitting silently with a smirk on their face as the verbal expert gushes forth.

These latter people will do their very best to sound 'profound', the more profound they can make themselves sound the less likely they are to be found out by the 'lesser mortals' that surround them. (Or so they believe.)



Profound, from the Latin 'Profundus', which literally translates as 'deep'.
When assigned as a personality trait it usually refers to someone who is 'very knowledgable and insightful'. It can also be used for someone who tries to sound 'profound' in that their knowledge is pretty superficial yet 'dressed up', usually with catch phrases, longer words and annoyingly, abbreviations. Pretty much as 'deep' as a puddle in a car park.

You come across them in walks of life, I'm unsure of as to why but usually they are trying to elevate their apparent status for whatever reason. Normally anyone that possesses any useful 'knowledge' will do their very best to pass on that knowledge, (the only time it has true value really), but those that really don't will use whatever methods they can to berate others, only realising apparent 'intelligence' by making others appear less intelligent than themselves.

The other 'give away' to such people is the often demeaning methods they use to 'categorise' others whether individually or the common method of 'groups'. Derogatory remarks to a group of people and their interests seem to be a favourite theme and should be taken as an instant warning to their intent.

Possibly another, although usually used by self elevating but less 'profound' sounding individuals is the game of 'top trumps'. There will always be something they've apparently done better than you, or have 'more of' than you, or some other meaningless method of counting at least 'one more' than you. (They'd add 1 to infinity!?!)
They're the easier ones to spot though, their 'deepness' only being the 'one more than you' method. Hardly profound.


We only can really elevate ourselves by doing our very best to elevate others around us.

If you see someone that needs help and if you can, offer them a helping hand. If and when you yourself require a helping hand it will often be others who you have helped that will step forward to offer any assistance they can. In such an example of unilateral offers of help we can truly ascend mountains.

If however you slash and hack at someone whenever you can, you will only be able to ascend as high as their corpse you now feel you can stand upon. Sure, you can slash at more 'victims' piling up the bodies raising inches at a time, but it's hardly progress and still only ascending in your own mind.....

....you'll soon find out 'profundus' or the literal meaning of 'deep' as you slowly sink into the now rotting pile of corpses you stand upon slowly submerging into the detritus of your own making.


'A Possibly Humorous Look' at profoundness?
Those that recognise the signs of sounding profound and 'victim' of it will probably be laughing, maybe smirking with a knowing nod of their head.

If you do not find it humorous in any way, then perhaps you are one of the very people I speak of.

What would be really 'profound' is if you recognise it, learn from it, lift yourselves out of it and you may even be surprised to know that there are others waiting and willing to give you a helpful hand up.



More of my 'waffle' I'm afraid....but once again given freely in offer of some assistance or help.

Profound or what?


All the best,
Victor

Excellent Victor, I must say in the radio community the Profundus (I Profundi) are a very large percentage of the population and very easy to find. It was one of the first things i noticed when I started in this hobby. The qualifications for such folk seems to be “length of service” alone. 

They are great to listen to though, as long as they are not actually speaking to you.

Got to the bottom of that post Victor but forgot   did you say listening or reading.

How about infinity to the power of infinity?    

Sorry I did write a long reply but then chickened out

Why am I an M7?

I've only been licenced for all of five minutes.

Seriously, I only sat the exam because it became available online and did it in October 2020. It was a long time coming as I had originally intended taking the Amateur exam back in 19-clickety-click as a young lad. I attended a club, thoroughly enjoyed it until I was shunned for getting involved in the then illegal activity of CB radio(!)

I did attempt a couple of times later only to see the old style RAE courses cancelled due to lack of students, (I was the only one left attending!) Sort of got on with life after that although still played occasionally with CB radio.

I've been disabled and housebound for over seven years now, (left knee shot), but an old friend and Ham gifted me with a HF radio in December 2019 so with that I attended a club in the new year to look at getting licenced. They weren't exactly inviting, (must be my face or something?!? ), and wanted to charge me a total of £140 to sit my Foundation(!)


With that slap in the face I went on to enjoy the gifted radio on CB frequencies and came across this here wonderful Charlie Tango lot. Must admit, turned my world around as far as getting a little happiness out of life.  

It gave me the opportunity to 'converse' with like minded radio people, (as much as online forums can do), and was how I found out about the exams becoming available online. With some awesome support here, gentle nudging and a loan of a laptop I sat my exam.......and now I'm an M7. 

Definitely not an RSGB plant.

I'm totally enjoying Ham radio, in my own way - fixing up old radios, chatting to old friends, remaking old acquaintances as I stumble upon them on the air waves. I'm always trying something new, keeps the old brain going and I like to share what I do, not for recognition but in the hope that it helps someone in any way whatsoever.

That's the bit that's important for me and why I love the whole Charlie Tango ethos, inviting for all no matter where their radio interests lay, CB, PMR, SWL, Ham - If it's radio, it's all good!


You have the same ethos from what I've read from yourself, here and around the forum, that doing our best to help others out where we can irrespective of how long we've been licenced, what radio we use, etc. It's that passion that individuals express that warms me immensely, not the apparent 'hierarchy' that people place upon themselves or indeed thrust upon others. I can definitely see where you're coming from though, these things do tend to happen in groups. However, I commend you for your activity within the group here, it's really good to see.


My 'waffling' here about 'Profoundness' was due in part to individuals that have maybe invaded this group on occasion with more negative connotations and something I really don't like to see or witness. I was put off from radio for far too many decades due to such attitudes and don't want to see it happen to anyone else simply because they have a passion for radio.

As for further licensing steps....maybe, who knows? I'd have to borrow a laptop again but this time with two cameras(!)
and only be able to for as long as online examinations are available.

In the mean time 10 watts is more than enough and thoroughly enjoying it as well as what bands are available to me. As for advancement?...You can't tell me that an Intermediate or Full licence suddenly enables you to build a transmitter or other such.....there's a bit more involved to such things than 'extra' callsign.



Anyway, loving your words. A big 'like' and 'thanks' from me to you.

Here's hoping I catch you on the bands one day.


All the very best,
Victor

Ah, what a shame. Just saw you removed your posting. Really enjoyed your sentiments as well.

You still get a 'thanks' as I'd already read it.

I didn't see the post 

Victor, from what I've seen you embody the true spirit of ham radio.
Some of the best hams I've ever known never got their Extra license.

Alan - The posting by 'ILikeRadioSoDoYou' was a wonderful insight into what radio can mean to us individually as well as collectively. Was a warming read.



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Tracey - Much appreciated my friend but I don't feel like I go to any extraordinary lengths....I enjoy it all and hope that others can and do enjoy their radio too.

Thanks for the info Victor yes I probably made the post a bit more personal than I should. I will try and recap it... if I can recall.

In short some people may do better in groups than others.. I find them a bit of a drain of energy.. it depends on your own ability I guess, social skill and or knowledge level and how much you rock the hierarchical boat. I am not positive about things where I have had poor experiences... I won't say something is good if my experience of it has been bad... this gets up people's noses if they are super glued to their opinion and not flexible. I cannot be bothered with that.... if there is no resonance with people I am off.... life is rather short instead focus on your own corner.

I was saying it is better to be "alone" than in the company of those who make you feel lonely.

And that we sometimes ask of the hobby more than it can provide (especially in corona times).. in different ways.. it is kind of social in that without others listening to hiss may not exactly be a good pass time... but it is is also a hobby you can go quite far with through self endeavor.

Also that all info in your head now has come from someone else... be it a book, or conversations on forums or on radio. And that there is always someone with a bigger antenna, better radio, more power, on more bands, more knowledge and that ham radio is a humbling experience coming from CB. I have spoke to people who have equipment that would make commercial FM broadcasters envious.. some of these hams are extremely serious and huge sums of money are input into the stations.

Yet worth bearing in mind they can only do the same as you can long path to any given destination on the surface of earth notwithstanding EME.

I stick with a fairly limited slither of ham radio to try and focus and learn within that area of interest...rather than dart around on many bands with all sorts of kit and not really get into they details. It all depends what you wnat to do and what you enjoy.

You seem intelligent Victor and more important care about the hobby and participants that is very commendable.

PS I also mentioned I personally found sticking to 10W (which I did) a struggle for DX (my main reason for being a ham).. also adapting to the short 5/9 QSO Euro hops was difficult. It felt cold to me, rightly or wrongly I have just fallen into line, so be it, no point going against the grain unless it is clear someone wants a chat.... not always, sometimes you do the nice chats with people who you rub along with well in Europe.

I can be honest I have worked through a lot of disappointments with being a ham, it is harder work in these relatively low conditions than you might think. I have gone through a lot of thought processes, antenna making, power levels, QTH's (portable) about what it is and is not to me. It depends on your expectations, what you want to achieve, how much effort you can put in, your QTH circumstances and of course the thing easy to forget, conditions !

I have moments where I have become completely disillusioned with it.

At last I seem to be getting somewhere through effort, time and experimentation and help from others and can slowly see my goals being achieved with just a single piece of wire... even with rather low SFI's

Very well said and very much appreciated. (Probably even more thought provoking than the first time.)

Thank you for posting back, I'm sure it is appreciated by many more than just myself.


Enjoy your radio all, no matter what aspect of it you pursue and never forget the kindness of others or the time they provide willingly.