the year of the elmer?

[n6hcm]

i've just read this item: http://kb6nu.com/2011-year-of-the-elmer/ and i think it kinda makes sense ... except for the "how" part. i never had an elmer, and i'm (somehow) certain that having had that relationship would have made me a better, more involved radio operator. as it is, i've just set up a ft-857d that's been sitting on my desk for *three years* ... still have to put up some sort of antenna for HF.

but how ... ? i belong to the local rardio club, but there are no obvious candidates there (indeed, it's a collection of so many amateur radio unpleasant archetypes ... ).

hrm.

[WX7P]

i've just read this item: http://kb6nu.com/2011-year-of-the-elmer/ and i think it kinda makes sense ... except for the "how" part. i never had an elmer, and i'm (somehow) certain that having had that relationship would have made me a better, more involved radio operator. as it is, i've just set up a ft-857d that's been sitting on my desk for *three years* ... still have to put up some sort of antenna for HF.

but how ... ? i belong to the local rardio club, but there are no obvious candidates there (indeed, it's a collection of so many amateur radio unpleasant archetypes ... ).

hrm.

Are you a member of W6 Poorly Working? They used to have a repeater on 145.15 which I used a lot back in the early '80's. That was the default repeater when 529 would go down. I think Don Bertone KK6AN (world's worst neighbor-look him up on Sfgate.com) was a member of that club.

[KC2UGV]

Well, I think maybe the "elmer" concept might be a little dated (/me dons flame suit)... The one-on-one, experienced ham working with a noob is gone.

Now, I think it's more a "team approach". Two buddies go and get their license together, and work with each other, then they go and hunt down advice as needed.

I don't know. I could be wrong, but it's just how I see it happening now. Me and my neighbor work on projects together. If we can't figure it out, I pop up on here, or some reflector with the questions. Or, I jump on IRC where a local club (w2sex) has their chat room, and someone is online there usually.

YMMV

[KJ3N]

i've just read this item: http://kb6nu.com/2011-year-of-the-elmer/ and i think it kinda makes sense ...

(I'm making comments as I read it, so bear with me..)

I have to disagree with the very first paragraph. 1M hams still isn't going to give us "serious political juice". Get to 5 or 10 million, then you might have something.

As for the second paragraph; it's a laudable goal, but the only way I see that happening is to try and swell the ranks of the EmComm folks. Anyone here probably knows what I think of the EmComm arena. Let's just say it's not positive. In my mind, these are not people interested in ham radio for the sake of ham radio. They're bodies for served agencies, nothing more. Too many of them won't budge off of VHF/UHF FM. That's great if you want to "save" that part of our spectrum, but in my mind that's an awfully small slice of the "pie".

I also think his bottom line numbers on active hams is off. Quite a bit off. I'd say about 1/3 (at best) of the 700,000 are even remotely active.

As to your situation:


i never had an elmer, and i'm (somehow) certain that having had that relationship would have made me a better, more involved radio operator.

While I'm sure in some people's cases this might be true, I'm (apparently) one of those anomalies in ham radio. Except for a little coaching in learning CW (which never really did stick) back in the late 80s, I didn't have much of an elmer. I was pretty much left to my own devices. Of course, having spent nearly 10 years in the electronics repair field before I got a ham ticket probably set me apart from some.


as it is, i've just set up a ft-857d that's been sitting on my desk for *three years* ... still have to put up some sort of antenna for HF.

but how ... ?

As the Nike commercial goes.... Just Do It.

Pick up some antenna books, give a serious look around your property, and come up with something. Don't over analyze the problem. Don't let Perfect be the enemy of Good Enough. I've witnessed more people who are paralyzed to do anything because it's not "by the book". Throw something up and see what happens. Think outside the box.

There's no such thing as the perfect antenna for all bands. Don't be concerned with working every single band, especially if you don't have the room for it. Most people can put up a 20m dipole. Many can put up a 40m dipole. Some can put up antennas for 75/80. Not a lot can do it for 160m. That's just life; get over it and move on.

[KG4CGC]

Are you a member of W6 Poorly Working? They used to have a repeater on 145.15 which I used a lot back in the early '80's. That was the default repeater when 529 would go down. I think Don Bertone KK6AN (world's worst neighbor-look him up on Sfgate.com) was a member of that club.

WOW!
http://articles.sfgate.com/2006-01-19/news/17278896_1_explosive-device-neighbor-barbed-wire

[WX7P]

WOW!
http://articles.sfgate.com/2006-01-19/news/17278896_1_explosive-device-neighbor-barbed-wire

Donnie wasn't that crazy when I knew him. He was a little out there, like most hams, but I didn't think he was any goofier than your average DX'er. I used to talk to him a lot.

He and KB6LED, Bob, a good guy, started a bunch of connected repeaters which came to be known as the POC nation. The POC designation came from the Bay Area VHF overload, the late Jack Mullins, K6CBL, who labeled their repeater system a "piece of crap". Don and Bob took it as a badge of honor and referred to anyone who used the system as a member of the POC nation.

Something snapped with Bertone. Not sure what set it off. He had a good gig going for awhile. He had a job with the SF Plumbers union and his house was paid off. He was living in the lower story of the house and renting the upstairs, for a profit. He had good antennas and a gun collection that would make Fred proud.

[KJ3N]

Something snapped with Bertone. Not sure what set it off.

Maybe it had something to do with the meth and coke they found?

[KG4CGC]

Something about coke and meth being in the mix, after a while it makes the little "trons" in the brain start firing sideways.

[WØTKX]

My call sign is an Elmer's old call... and there is still some of the "old fashioned" thing going on.

It's a two way street, those who seek to Elmer, will, those who seek an Elmer will find them.
There's some cool things going on in some of the Front Range radio clubs.

Ham radio is something to learn on your own if you want, and it's much easier to do that these days.

[KG4CGC]

The Intertoobz is my Elmer. I shall not want.
Kinda a joke, kinda real.

[WX7P]

Maybe it had something to do with the meth and coke they found?

You know, I wondered about that. He never struck me as a drug user. You can usually get a hint of that when you're dealing with someone and Don never kicked out that vibe. I saw him in person a number of times.

He was a 'Nam vet and saw combat. Maybe that screwed him up. Who knows?

[WØTKX]

Closet tweakin'. Hopefully, he doesn't do that anymore.

[KG4CGC]

Closet tweakin'. Hopefully, he doesn't do that anymore.
Is he still in prison? Oh nevermind, that's a hot commodity in prison.

[N8YX]

I'm in the process of Elmering another friend into the hobby. One co-worker is kinda nibbling at the bait; nothing serious yet.

The friend and I go back a number of years, and I haven't talked to him in a while. He stopped by when we were at Field Day and left a note to get in touch - wants to obtain at least a Technician class license and possibly a General.

This will make around 20 people I've gotten into the amateur radio bit.

[n6hcm]

This will make around 20 people I've gotten into the amateur radio bit.

do you get a toaster or something? :)

that's pretty awesome ...

[n6hcm]

Are you a member of W6 Poorly Working?

yup. you'd think that this is a sweet deal ... their meetings are held on the other side of the hospital ... but they meet on friday nights. after a long week at work all i want to do is go home, not park another N hours at the v.a. ... plus: mass transit to/from the hospital stops at 8pm (just when the meeting starts).

[N8YX]

do you get a toaster or something? :)

that's pretty awesome ...
No, just a bunch of calls, texts and e-mails asking for help from time to time. :lol:

A couple of my students have gone SK recently. Makes a fellow feel old...and I ain't.

[KJ3N]

A couple of my students have gone SK recently. Makes a fellow feel old...and I ain't.

There is such a thing as living life a little too hard and fast. :yes:

[N8YX]

There is such a thing as living life a little too hard and fast. :yes:
Hard, yes. Fast, no:

3109

[KJ3N]

Hard, yes. Fast, no:

3109

Did you wax the rotors? ;) :rofl:

[N8YX]

Did you wax the rotors? ;) :rofl:
Oh helno. I need to get stoppaged. :whistle:

[NQ6U]

"Little Hollywood," know it well although we didn't used to call it that. It was all part of Visitation Valley back then. My mother grew up there, I lived the first six years of my life there and my grandparents on both sides of the family lived there until they died. Used to be a nice neighborhood until the city turned Geneva Towers into a housing project. That's how I got my first inkling that public housing on that sort of scale is a bad idea.

[WX7P]

"Little Hollywood," know it well although we didn't used to call it that. It was all part of Visitation Valley back then. My mother grew up there, I lived the first six years of my life there and my grandparents on both sides of the family lived there until they died. Used to be a nice neighborhood until the city turned Geneva Towers into a housing project. That's how I got my first inkling that public housing on that sort of scale is a bad idea.

You know, Geneva Towers is now gone. They blew that up some time ago. Bertone's house is behind what we used to call KYA hill, because that's where 1260 AM KYA's tower was located. It went down in the 89 quake and I think it has been rebuilt.

Yep, Vis Valley. Home of Dan White.

[NQ6U]

You know, Geneva Towers is now gone. They blew that up some time ago. Bertone's house is behind what we used to call KYA hill, because that's where 1260 AM KYA's tower was located. It went down in the 89 quake and I think it has been rebuilt.

Yep, Vis Valley. Home of Dan White.

I'm glad they're gone, they really blighted the neighborhood. There had been a great mix of newly-middle-class blacks and old Italian families there right up until Eichler went bankrupt and the city took over the unoccupied buildings and turned them into public housing. I know that most of the people who lived there were decent folks--I actually did some work there as an antenna installer back in the early Eighties--but as in all of those sorts of places, there was a fraction of the population who lived by preying on their neighbors. Those are the ones who caused the problems for the entire neighborhood.

I remember the old KYA tower just east of the James Lick freeway. I wasn't aware that it had fallen down in the Loma Prieta quake but I did notice it was no longer there the last time I went that way, which was some time back. If it's been rebuilt, it's been in the that ten years or so.

I'm happy to say that I never made Mr. White's acquaintance when I lived in VV.

[n6hcm]

I have to disagree with the very first paragraph. 1M hams still isn't going to give us "serious political juice". Get to 5 or 10 million, then you might have something.

i agree with this. i'm not sure what he was thinking here ... with one million active hams you have less than one half of one percent of the population which isn't "serious political juice."

[n6hcm]

Bertone's house is behind what we used to call KYA hill, because that's where 1260 AM KYA's tower was located. It went down in the 89 quake and I think it has been rebuilt.

maybe that explains his behavior :)

i never knew this history was so close to home (i live in the next neighborhood west of VV).