AR - and you - in 2019.. Questions to ponder.

[VK4ADC]

How well has AR (amateur radio) started for you in 2019 ??

Here are a few questions that you might like to mentally answer:

Have you..
1. read your latest Amateur Radio magazine cover-to-cover ?
2. operated in an Australian contest: the John Moyle, Summer VHF/UHF Field Day, Ross Hull ?
3. worked via sporadic E on 6 metres or 2 metres ?
4. operated in an international contest ?
5. used FT8 to make contacts on HF or VHF ?
6. worked anyone on CW ?  If not, have you listened to any CW at all this year, even in passing ?
7. worked an "F-call" on HF, 2M or 70cM ?
8. updated your QSO logging software ?
9. logged into eQSL or LOTW (or other) to check or send electronic QSLs ?
10. listened to a beacon on HF or above ?
11. made an antenna, regardless of how simple ?
12. visited the WIA website ?
13. gone portable just for fun ? SOTA ?
14. used IRLP or Echolink (even inadvertently) ?
15. searched on the web for info about an AR transceiver ?
16. had a QSO on the radio whilst mobile ?
17. attended a radio club meeting or event  ?
18. heard about the changes in the AR licence assessment processes ?
19. terminated a coax cable ?
20. used AR-related software ?
21. Google-ed a callsign for info ?
22. checked your licence (or someone else's) details in the ACMA Public Register ? { eg for licence expiry date }
23. received a 'paper' QSL card - and, more importantly, sent a card in reply ?
24. contributed to a discussion on an AR forum ?

......
99. even just thought about doing some - or all - of the above ???

Can you think of other things that might indicate a healthy future for amateur radio and could be added to the list ?

[VK2CSW]

Have you..

......
99. even just thought about doing some - or all - of the above ???

I realise it's horses for courses and that everybody has a different lived experience of things, which means that my experience of AR is vastly different to others.  I am not a stalwart operator whose life revolves around radio, I am more of an 'appliance operator', so with that in mind here are my responses:

1. read your latest Amateur Radio magazine cover-to-cover ?
No.  I rarely read it as it is poorly edited and laid out with content that doesn't attract me.  The articles, in general, are poorly written but that should not fall to the authors, but rather the editors who should be proofing and copy editing them.

2. operated in an Australian contest: the John Moyle, Summer VHF/UHF Field Day, Ross Hull ?
No.  Not a contest guy.  I don't get it but I am happy that others do.

3. worked via sporadic E on 6 metres or 2 metres ?
Nope.  Don't have those bands readily available and, frankly, wouldn't know what kind of propagation my signal was using.

4. operated in an international contest ?
Nope.  See 2. above.

5. used FT8 to make contacts on HF or VHF ?
Yes.

6. worked anyone on CW ?  If not, have you listened to any CW at all this year, even in passing ?
Nope.  As an appliance operator I don't possess CW skills.

7. worked an "F-call" on HF, 2M or 70cM ?
As I usually work digital modes (due to circumstances that make voice difficult) I have no opportunity to do so.
 
8. updated your QSO logging software ?
Yes - kind of.  I use online tools so the software isn't mine to update. I have recently expanded to use LOTW.

9. logged into eQSL or LOTW (or other) to check or send electronic QSLs ?
Yes

10. listened to a beacon on HF or above ?
Nope.

11. made an antenna, regardless of how simple ?
I have reconfigured a couple.

12. visited the WIA website ?
Yes.

13. gone portable just for fun ? SOTA ?
Nope.

14. used IRLP or Echolink (even inadvertently) ?
Nope.

15. searched on the web for info about an AR transceiver ?
Not a transceiver but other AR related things.

16. had a QSO on the radio whilst mobile ?
Yes.

17. attended a radio club meeting or event  ?
No. I am afraid that AR clubs are off my list.  Once bitten, twice shy. Meetings for meetings sake aren't a big turn on for me.

18. heard about the changes in the AR licence assessment processes ?
Yes.

19. terminated a coax cable ?
Yes. RG-58 to my eternal shame.

20. used AR-related software ?
Yes.

21. Google-ed a callsign for info ?
Yes.

22. checked your licence (or someone else's) details in the ACMA Public Register ? { eg for licence expiry date }
Yes.

23. received a 'paper' QSL card - and, more importantly, sent a card in reply ?
Yes and Yes.  I have rediscovered this quaint process and it is a very nice thing - a weird and unexpected outcome of using FT-8.

24. contributed to a discussion on an AR forum ?
I try to, but my range of usefulness in most topics is limited.

I will now don my fire fighting garb and await the responses  

[VK3RX]

Over the last month I have done about 80% of those things.

And I always find AR a good read

[VK6RO]

it was very very refreshing... like a breath of fresh air to work a USA ham on CW 2 days ago on HF.

I used my 1982 galbraith paddle made in new zealand and kenwood ts590s

He was running 1kw output to a 3 el yagi and i was using full size 1/4 wave and 65 watts output

My speed was 20 wpm which i set the rig to and just leave it.

We actually exchanged real signal reports and commented on the deep qsb.

If somebody calls me at 40 wpm  [ and they do] i just reply at 20 wpm to annoy them.

I can tell instantly if a computer is being used to send cw and if i work them i make deliberate mistakes to stuff up their computer decoding.

What is logging software?  i have 49 paper logbooks and some are up to 3/4 inch thick.

How refreshing...

PS sorry to talk about cw but the australian government forced me to learn it....

vk6ro

e&oe

[VK4WDM]

I have done about 60% of the things listed. One that ought to be is listed is mentoring and encouraging people, old and young, to get interested in AR or upgrade their license.

Yes, I have done some CW, albeit with keyboard keying most of the time to help my arthritic hands,  and a decoder to back up my deaf ears, and I feel absolutely no guilt about it. It is 2019 after all. 


73

Wayne VK4WDM

[VK7HH]

How well has AR (amateur radio) started for you in 2019 ??

I've done the following,
1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24... and probably 25-99. 

I've also added to that list - "Remove myself from negative HAM Radio Facebook pages". 
It's a shame others don't have a larger share. 

Whilst we're on the subject... I've posted before about the use of VKLink on repeaters. In a nutshell, this ties unused repeaters together into a large network using high quality audio to enable linking them up to expand activity. Expanding and increasing activity has ALWAYS been the goal. 
We want to expand to VK4 as we have no active nodes there. 
Why not consider building one? http://www.vklink.com.au/