“Every man should have a hobby…” I can’t remember who said that, (was it Mae West? – I can’t Google it, because I don’t have enough time left on my free 30 mins of Premier Inn internet access) but it’s certainly true.
Women have their hobbies: ironing; washing; cleaning; having babies, etc, so there’s no reason why men can’t have hobbies too.
I’ve had plenty of them over the years, and you’ll probably not be surprised to learn that as a kid, I collected stamps and made Airfix models. Children nowadays – the MTV Generation (no, isn’t that us? Aren’t we the MTV Generation now?) OK, the Phineas & Ferb Generation – don’t have the patience for such things. “Build an Airfix model? I’ve probably got app for that.”
But one of my hobbies has just resurfaced, after a fifteen-year hiatus.
Radio.
Or, more precisely, Amateur Radio.
Passing my exam in 1984 (I think), I was a keen player of the hobby right up until when I moved house in 1998. My old house was on the top of a hill – the highest point in town – and signals from far and away were easy pickings. But, then I got married and our new house was located in a dip (it still is) and all my radios suddenly went deaf.
But whilst I’ve been away, things have changed. Back in the day, my licence restricted me to operating only on VHF and UHF frequencies, but the rules have changed and I can now operate on HF frequencies too. That opens up a whole new world, as HF frequencies propagate differently and with a half decent aerial system, I should be able receive and transmit out of our dip.
But there have been other changes too. It was always the ‘data modes’ that interested me the most, especially RTTY (Radio TeleTYpe) and AX25 ( a highly resilient packet protocol based on the X25 system used by the likes of BT for data transfer). I’m pleased to see, from reading the amateur pages on the internet, that not only is RTTY still alive and well, but it has been joined by a whole host of other systems, offering more resilience and improved performance under weak signal conditions. And whereas, in the old days, I had to build/buy a suitable demodulator to operate these modes, it’s now all done just using the sound card on your PC.
So, this last weekend – despite having enough other things to do – I dug out my old HF receiver from the loft and downloaded some suitable software.
It was hard work trying to get anything at all, as my receiver is just a ‘cheap’ one with limited sensitivity and rubbish selectivity. And I was just using the built-in telescopic aerial, which is next to useless. But when – on Sunday morning – I managed to resolve some morse code being sent by a chap on the west coast of Wales and then some RTTY from the German weather service Deutscher Wetterdienst, I was more excited than than Jimmy Saville was, when it was announce that the St Winifred’s All Girls School Choir were to appear on Top Of The Pops.
But, that tiny, little success has encouraged me to pursue it further and already I have ordered a load of cable to make an aerial and some bits to make some modifications to my HF receiver to improve its performance.
Mrs Masher has ‘fond’ memories of me cooped up in my room, with a set of headphones on, till stupid o’clock in the morning.
As recompense, I may have to get her that bloody dishwasher after all.
I have absolutely no idea what the bloody hell you are going on about but well done. If I find a cat’s whisker anywhere I’ll send you one, you’re bound to need it if I understand these things correctly. Oh, and can you pre-warn me if you hear from aliens, I don’t want to book my summer holiday if they are going to come and invade us and the Channel Tunnel ends up being out of action in August. Ta muchly. Over and out. Unless I should have said Roger.
CQ CQ CQ
I remember it well
Then there was that mayday call from that poor chap capsized in the Indian Ocean ….Yellowjack !!!!!
You’ll soon have friends all over the world…None in this country but friends all over the world
Do you know there’s not many people here who know it is are not raining in Tokyo, Good ol’ Yoko Suji, what was his wife called, “Radiant flower of the divine heavens” I wonder if her feet are still playing up.
Then there’s the fun of sending a tray of bread pudding to Kuala Lumpur
All for the want of a 4CX250B
You lost me at ” data modes” ! But…I have been hugely enjoying your back posts over the weekend.
I used to love listening to/bouncing SSB HF signals around the ionosphere. I spent a happy five years living/working with Racal equipment, doing geeky nerdy things with various frequencies and getting paid for it. And that’s all I can tell you about it.
Dave – Yep, I’ll happily take a cat’s whisker off you. Just the whisker. No pussy jokes, please.
Arthur – See? See what I do for you?
Frances – You’re quite welcome!
Bren – I think that’s all I need to know, thanks. One of the mods I’ll be doing on my HF receiver is to narrow the filters, which will hopefully improve my SSB reception no end.
MASHER! We need a CHAT. REF:”Women have their hobbies: ironing; washing; cleaning; having babies, etc,”
I don’t understand this radio thing… do you mean you’re a secret DJ? Or are you a spy? or is this CB radio? If so, what’s your handle? I hope it’s funny.
Yeah, I’m free for a chat whenever you feel you can squeeze me in, between your shopping trips for shoes and chocolate.
And the radio thing? Yes, it’s a bit like CB, but much, much more nerdy.
CB radio … now there’s a coincidence, I was reading a Ham friendly website recently when a comment was posted that amateur radio only took off because of the CB activity in the 80s after it was made legal on fm.
Of course a lot of us who dabbled in CB when on to get an amateur licence of one class or another, the point is that this commentator’s input raised a storm of protest, but I think it has some validity.
73 from a 2e1.
Yeah, I too started off in the world of CB, before progressing onto ‘proper radio’. My first radio was a Tristar 777 (I think, though it may have been the 747 – it’s a dim and distant memory).
There is certainly an element of snobbery still within Amateur Radio – mainly with some of the older Class A licencees. But yes, I agree that CB was definitely a stepping stone for many of us at that time.