The heart of ham radio
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As the new owner/builder of K1 #2092, I've been reading the mail here for awhile and want to pass along my compliments on the handling of this forum and my delight in discovering a great group of true hams.
At age 63, I have 50 years of ham radio behind me and admit that up until a few months ago I was suffering burnout, very disappointed in the direction our hobby appeared to be headed. I felt the heart and soul of our pursuits were being left behind, that few were continuing the experimentation and construction so necessary to ham radio's growth and prosperity. I am so very pleased to find I was wrong. The vitality of ham radio is alive and strong within this fine group of Elecraft users. The brotherhood of sharing knowledge and troubleshooting skills, plus the challenge of QRP operating, is to be cherished and nurtured, and you all are doing a wonderful job of it. Like many of you, I've worked hard at self-educating myself with all the changes in electronics over the years, starting with vacuum tube equipment and graduating to construction of solid-state equipment. Most of this took the form of scratch-built test gear and QRP transmitters and receivers. Heathkit also was a big help in the past, particularly the HW-8, but nothing like it came along to fill the void until the creators of the Elecraft products burst upon the scene. Talk about a giant step forward in quality! The Elecraft team's combination of fine design, solid documentation, and immediate, friendly support has truly rekindled the fire in me to plunge headfirst right back into the wonders of ham radio. Reading all the discussions and following the threads on this forum has confirmed for me that I simply must purchase and assemble more of these great products, just as so many of you have done. If they are anywhere near as satisfying to operate as the little K1, I'm going to be in ham heaven the rest of my days. Thanks to you all for reaffirming my faith in this hobby, and for being the heart and soul of ham radio I thought had slowly faded away. I see a K2 kit looming on the horizon J 73, Dale K6PJV, Sacramento, CA. _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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There's a bit of life ham left on the Glowbugs list too, if you aren't
completely "over" glow-bottles. Dan / WG4S / K2 #2456 -----Original Message----- From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]]On Behalf Of Dale Kretzer Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 1:01 PM To: [hidden email] Subject: [Elecraft] The heart of ham radio As the new owner/builder of K1 #2092, I've been reading the mail here for awhile and want to pass along my compliments on the handling of this forum and my delight in discovering a great group of true hams. At age 63, I have 50 years of ham radio behind me and admit that up until a few months ago I was suffering burnout, very disappointed in the direction our hobby appeared to be headed. I felt the heart and soul of our pursuits were being left behind, that few were continuing the experimentation and construction so necessary to ham radio's growth and prosperity. I am so very pleased to find I was wrong. The vitality of ham radio is alive and strong within this fine group of Elecraft users. The brotherhood of sharing knowledge and troubleshooting skills, plus the challenge of QRP operating, is to be cherished and nurtured, and you all are doing a wonderful job of it. Like many of you, I've worked hard at self-educating myself with all the changes in electronics over the years, starting with vacuum tube equipment and graduating to construction of solid-state equipment. Most of this took the form of scratch-built test gear and QRP transmitters and receivers. Heathkit also was a big help in the past, particularly the HW-8, but nothing like it came along to fill the void until the creators of the Elecraft products burst upon the scene. Talk about a giant step forward in quality! The Elecraft team's combination of fine design, solid documentation, and immediate, friendly support has truly rekindled the fire in me to plunge headfirst right back into the wonders of ham radio. Reading all the discussions and following the threads on this forum has confirmed for me that I simply must purchase and assemble more of these great products, just as so many of you have done. If they are anywhere near as satisfying to operate as the little K1, I'm going to be in ham heaven the rest of my days. Thanks to you all for reaffirming my faith in this hobby, and for being the heart and soul of ham radio I thought had slowly faded away. I see a K2 kit looming on the horizon J 73, Dale K6PJV, Sacramento, CA. _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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In reply to this post by dalekretzer
Hi Dale!
I appreciate your sentiments and echo them. I've got 40 yrs of hamming under my belt at age 53 so I'm a decade behind you. There seems at times so many segregated groups snapping at each other these days. Code vs no-code, "Ancient Modulation" vs "Sqawking Slop Buckets", Contesters vs Rag Chewers etc. I am left scratching my head. Are there really people who only operate one mode and hate all others? Or one type of on-air activity forsaking all others? I like them all and can't see the profit in arguing which is better or how bad the other guy is because of what he does. No offense to anyone but ham radio is just wierd. Contesting is wierd...try to explain to a non-ham (or non-contester) how you spent the weekend trying to talk to as many stations in Maryland in order to get a piece of paper. QRP is wierd (ok...it might be dangerous to say that here)...forcing the other guy to strain to hear you in the noise when you have a 1.5KW amplifier sitting next to the QRP rig. Building a radio is wierd...especially if you sell it to build another one. But I LOVE all those things...wierd or not. I wrote the following poem last year after being told that I was "operating illegally in the AM band" on 75meters after a 5 minute SSB QSO with a childhood chum who I hadn't heard on the air in 30 years. THE HAM When I turn on my radio on any given day I'm never sure what mode I'll use or how I'll choose to play Perhaps increase the total of my mixed DXCC Work a county, lighthouse or a state or an island on the sea Perhaps I give a point or two in the Boy Scout Jamboree CQ World Wide or Sweepstakes - makes no difference to me I'll chew the rag with QRP, join pileups with power My time is mine to choose how I will spend a given hour. Perhaps a classic rig I'll use to operate AM Use SSB on E-CARS to locate an old friend Use teletype on 20, play with slow-scan mode TV Use satellites or moonbounce with a mike or with a key What mode I'm on does not define the person that I am When asked how I define myself I simply say "A ham" - Tom Althoff K2TA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dale Kretzer" <[hidden email]> To: <[hidden email]> Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 1:00 PM Subject: [Elecraft] The heart of ham radio As the new owner/builder of K1 #2092, I've been reading the mail here for awhile and want to pass along my compliments on the handling of this forum and my delight in discovering a great group of true hams. At age 63, I have 50 years of ham radio behind me and admit that up until a few months ago I was suffering burnout, very disappointed in the direction our hobby appeared to be headed. I felt the heart and soul of our pursuits were being left behind, that few were continuing the experimentation and construction so necessary to ham radio's growth and prosperity. I am so very pleased to find I was wrong. The vitality of ham radio is alive and strong within this fine group of Elecraft users. The brotherhood of sharing knowledge and troubleshooting skills, plus the challenge of QRP operating, is to be cherished and nurtured, and you all are doing a wonderful job of it. Like many of you, I've worked hard at self-educating myself with all the changes in electronics over the years, starting with vacuum tube equipment and graduating to construction of solid-state equipment. Most of this took the form of scratch-built test gear and QRP transmitters and receivers. Heathkit also was a big help in the past, particularly the HW-8, but nothing like it came along to fill the void until the creators of the Elecraft products burst upon the scene. Talk about a giant step forward in quality! The Elecraft team's combination of fine design, solid documentation, and immediate, friendly support has truly rekindled the fire in me to plunge headfirst right back into the wonders of ham radio. Reading all the discussions and following the threads on this forum has confirmed for me that I simply must purchase and assemble more of these great products, just as so many of you have done. If they are anywhere near as satisfying to operate as the little K1, I'm going to be in ham heaven the rest of my days. Thanks to you all for reaffirming my faith in this hobby, and for being the heart and soul of ham radio I thought had slowly faded away. I see a K2 kit looming on the horizon J 73, Dale K6PJV, Sacramento, CA. _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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