Ham v Pirate

Well ive been sat here in my lockdown tomb twiddling my thumbs, as you do,,, well not quite.
I went against my birth right and lowered the Jolly Roger, yes I started a Foundation course and booked my exam.
The course, very good id say, it put things in a very down to earth way. My fellow students,,,,arrr yes ,,, well it made me realise that what I had suspected was in fact very true. The comments and attitudes ive come across proved one thing to me... The proper Hams the old hands with proper numbers are on the whole a good bunch. Then we come to the, what I call the Micky Mouse numbers........Their attitude to other users ranked with tar and feathers and burning at the stake. So in conclusion.... I will finish the course, I will sit the exam. Should I pass then great, if not there wont be a rematch.. and for sure I wont be using an M7 number or paddling in the 2 mtr pond. I have to be honest if they are a sample of the NEW HAM ill stay an OLD PIRATE ......

26CZ455

Know what your saying Tom, hope it goes well for you, not for me I'm afraid but hope it opens doors to a new part of the hobby for you.
73

Hi Steve,
Don't know about new parts, theres nowt wrong with the old parts lol lol and my parts are very old lol,,,,,, it wont change anything for me ill still free band till the cows come home. lol only need the ticket to stop "him nextdoor" moaning about my antennas,,,, I told him I was a Ham and his answer was " guess I got to put up with it then. So I put his mind at rest, I told him hes 20 years older than me so wont have to look at them for tooooo long ,,,, didn't go down well lol lol , Must dash got to nail this Jolly Roger to my mast ;o)

Best 73s

ps, he's a mate really but we love to have a pop now and then keeps the ticker going

Hello Tom,

Many of us here do Amateur and C.B. radio. I really think the snobbery you have experienced is a minority of individuals. When you have you Ham ticket you get a massive chunk of radio spectrum to play on. Because we are at solar minimum I spend the majority of my limited radio time on 20/40 meters where good DX opportunists still exist. It's all radio to most of us mate and the majority of radio amateurs started using C.B. anyway.

73's Gary.

Hello Gary.

I couldn't agree more matey. Like I said it seems to be mainly the wanabies and newbies. If im honest ive not come across an old hand that had this quirk,,,,, the worse ive had from a true Ham is,,, Your not a Ham I cant talk to you , sorry,,,, which is fair enough he was just doing things right and full respect to the chap,,,, but this new breed, well I think they would be better off watching eastenders..

Yes im itching to give the HF bands my full attention.

Best 73s Tom

There's plenty of old hams out there who started off as illegals. Experimenting and so such then finally got the bug and took the exams.

Very true, but its not about HOW you get there its the attitude before and after you arrive, and I have to admit there are some I don't want to be associated with on the air or off and that goes for CB and HAM.
Many year ago when you had to build your own radio I could understand those guys, they were a cut above the rank and file and all due respect to them, but in the real world today a brain surgeon and a tree surgeon can walk into a shop and buy the same radio, same antenna and use the same Q codes there is no difference so why the snobbery lives on beats me, especially when 90% of it seems to come from people that have yet to obtain a ticket or are waiting for the ink to dry. lol Ok rant over lol...........

70thirds Tom

so true there is some great hams and some pure bad ones,passed my test
and was told no more cb for you, I would come club nights with my sirio 4000 on my car
and get some bad looks. they would not talk to me in the club house and the local repeater
GB3BT they could be ten and they all ignored me, so I put my 2m 70cm pmr antenna up to 10m I was living at 990ft asl could open gb3bt on 1w so looked around and found a repeator in fife, so been
been in north Northumberland I opened the repeater it my be a fluke, then I got a reply come on lets
chat and away it went I was using a little more then 10w I use to go there all the never
bothered with the local repeater and the sent me repeater fees, I said I am not paying them I never go on it payed the fees for fife then some one twigged I was getting out well, I was made welcome and no bad ass lot I told them what had been going and the reply was we need every one in this hobby as it will die, my kenwood 2m radio and my 70cm hand helds to yes there many that are great hams but minority are getting bigger I give up ham and do my own then now a cb Pirate

I hear many stories about 2mtr and repeaters and I have to be honest all they did was convince me to stay on HF with a little dabble on pmr ( handy when im out shooting or fishing). Just my opinion but 2mtr seems to me no better than 4watts on 27mhz and if your going to use repeaters its no more than a fancy mobile phone, you make a call to an antenna/repeater the server does the work and calls the number you want,,,,,,,,,, wheres the radio in that,,,,,, To me Ham or Cb radio is you a rig and a twig,,,, and you make them work you find the contacts,,,,,,,,,,,, is it me am I turning into a grouch,,,,,,,,,, or have I missed the point.

70thirds matey, keep the jolly roger flying

26cz455
I am with you all the way 100%.
Used to pirate many many years ago and went to a local ham club.
When one found out i used cb a lot they all started to blank me but that was a long time ago.
Went to a weekly class to get my ticket and they all started talking to me again.

Well I found all the ( from want of a better word) snobbery came from hams to be and the new born, never had any from the old hands,,, as ive said worse I got from them was the " Not allowed to talk to pirates" which is fair enough... the thing that hit home to me the most is how it turned me well off 2mtr, I just don't want to mix with people like that...... I think im going to run for Prime Minister, my policy will be No antenna restrictions, No power limit, Free radio and No planning permission, Oh and assisted payment plans for first time Yaesu buyers,,,,,,,,,,, lol lol

Personally i think a lot of " NEW HAMS " only get the licence because it's easy and it gives them an excuse for using HF sets out of band and having larger antenna's on show.
I don't have any problems with that but i would like to see more progressing.

Paul.

Hello Paul,

Quite right matey, I read something somewhere that the rsgb is going to do the inter and in time the full exam online..... Bring it on it gives us mobility challenged a chance

Tom