Do You Wear Your Ham Radio Badge on The Street?

[Jeff K1NSS]

Taking kind of an informal poll about golden ham radio badges.

10690

For my part, I usually wear my badge only in the shack. It kind of puts me in the mood to call CQ. That said, without it, I would feel under-dressed on the air.

After couple of days polling on a number of ham Facebook groups , ham radio badges have received quite a beat-down. As one might expect, current and retired public safety operatives generally frown on ham shields. Amateur operators are also widely dismissive, with a few curious about how to obtain one, probably as a joke.

Sure, they're funny as the dickens. But on the other hand, there's something elusively trainwreck-ish about these shiny things that fascinated me from the moment I saw them advertised, something that puts them in the realm of ruby-eyed skull rings, key-chained Day-Glo rabbits' feet, and Theme Mudflaps. Something primal is going on here, straight out of the Crocodile Brain, from which your Better Judgement knows nothing good will come. And yet...and yet...

Well, we passed along our observations to our corporate partner Deluxe Luxury Laboratories, and after a bit of a brainstorm, we're proud to announce the rollout of a next-generation ham radio badge module, AKA the personalized B4 Big Boss Body Badge.


Further details now at www.dashtoons.com (http://www.dashtoons.com).

10691

[NQ6U]

"This is the city, Los Angeles, California. It was Thursday, September 12. It was hot in Los Angeles. We were working the Day Watch out of Emcomm Whacker Division. My partner's Bill Gannon. My name's Friday."

[NA4BH]

"This is the city, Los Angeles, California. It was Thursday, September 12. It was hot in Los Angeles. We were working the Day Watch out of Emmcomm Whacker Division. My partner's Bill Gannon. My name's Friday."

So we gotta wait a day until you tell us your name?

[NQ6U]

So we gotta wait a day until you tell us your name?

"The story you are about to read is true. Only the call signs have been changed to protect the stoopid."

[KB3LAZ]

I don't wear one at all.

[KG4CGC]

Doesn't the mainland have an amateur radio related thong for purchase?

[VE7MGF]

badges? we don't need no stinken badges.

[wa6mhz]

I wear my ARRL HQ Red badge on my Callsign hat at Ham Radio events where my callsign is relevant. Swapmeets, Ham Conventions, some radio club meetings. But never on the street or where I meet the non-ham public. All they would do is give a WTF?

[Jeff K1NSS]

I'm sensing a collective Island NO and that's pretty consistent with opinions in other venues. Feelings tend to run strong. In another forum, someone suggested that I go to Hamsexy because "this is a respectable place." These things ain't cheap and somebody besides me must be buying them, facetiously or not. I'm getting curiouser and curiouser about who invented the ham radio badge and how far back they go.

Moreover, I wonder if the badge might be the the tip of an uncomfortable iceberg. Could a case be made that having a personal radio station is one ON AIR sign away from a pretend police cruiser? I say this as a lifelong (at least in the imaginary sense) ham. Radio history might refute that, in that personal radio stations were the genesis of grown-up radio stations. But it's my impression there's a little whacker running through all radio DNA, and it usually doesn't get expressed so obviously as a Crown Vic bristling with whips.

[Jeff K1NSS]

I wear my ARRL HQ Red badge on my Callsign hat at Ham Radio events where my callsign is relevant. Swapmeets, Ham Conventions, some radio club meetings. But never on the street or where I meet the non-ham public. All they would do is give a WTF?

See, I don't consider the ARRL badge in the same realm as the ham shield. That's a simple identifier, like a branded name tag for retail clerks, nothing that suggests you think you're so big. Well, okay, it might suggest you have the ghost of Hiram Percy Maxim in your corner, but I mean, that shield is a whole other kettle of Joe Friday.

[KG4NEL]

I don't own any callsign-related paraphernalia, don't want any.

[Jeff K1NSS]

I don't own any callsign-related paraphernalia, don't want any.

Sounds no-ish

Thumbs up for classiest quotation on the island "The machine does not isolate us from the great problems of nature but plunges us more deeply into them. - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry"


Antoine ran with Fast Beryl Markham (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_Markham) for awhile

[K7SGJ]

"The story you are about to read is true. Only the call signs have been changed to protect the stoopid."


MARK VII

[wa6mhz]

This all reminds me of the time I was RAIDED by the POLICE!

No, not THE police, the "Cable TV POLICE"!

I had a bootleg cable box so I could get free HBO and Showtime back in the early 80s, when it was easy to descramble the signal. At the time it was a wavy picture that could be corrected by a funny coil and capacitor. I had the Technology to modify a Swapmeet surplus cable box and did so. Then I modified a few for some "FRIENDS", one who RATTED ME OUT to the MF'ing Cable company.

The CABLE TV POLICE came to my house while I was still at work and FLASHED THEIR BADGES at my wife, who let them in and gave them the box. Had it been ME, I would have told them to "FUCK OFF" and come back when they had the Sheriff and a Search Warrant! But she saw the BADGES and folded like a deck of cards. With the EVIDENCE, the bastards busted me big time!

So, badges work WONDERS to the uninformed!

[ki4itv]

Hammy badger don't care.

[KK4AMI]

I pinned a piece of paper to my desk until I could remember my call sign. That is the closest I'll get to wearing a badge.

[W5BRM]

Dont own one. Have no plans to own one. Don't see the need for one. Too many chances for accidental/intentional misrepresentation as a local/county/state official with enforcement authority by wannabe cops. Dangerous IMHO in the wrong hands (and there are WAY too many of those in this hobby)

[K7SGJ]

Instead of a badge, I'd rather have a chest to pin it on.

[Jeff K1NSS]

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition or the Cable TV Police, especially with badges. Did they have special hats too? Oh the hamanity.

[Jeff K1NSS]

Dont own one. Have no plans to own one. Don't see the need for one. Too many chances for accidental/intentional misrepresentation as a local/county/state official with enforcement authority by wannabe cops. Dangerous IMHO in the wrong hands (and there are WAY too many of those in this hobby)

All good points OM, but to play the DA for just a moment, doesn't all that fall into the realm of "you'll put somebody's eye out with that"? Sooner or later, an eye DOES get put out with that. But when you weigh the odd eye against, well, I dunno, all that that shiny golden stature...seems like it's six of one, half dozen of another, or at the very least, a wash.

[WØTKX]

http://www.hamcrazy.com/images/MULTIKNIFE.jpg

[W5BRM]

All good points OM, but to play the DA for justi a moment, doesn't all that fall into the realm of "you'll put somebody's eye out with that"? Sooner or later, an eye DOES get put out with that. But when you weigh the odd eye against, well, I dunno, all that that shiny golden stature...seems like it's six of one, half dozen of another, or at the very least, a wash.

Its only golden stature to the wannabe or those who are looking for that cool factor or gratification without having to think before they act. Those are the ones will "put an eye out"

To those who truly understand and accept responsibilty, the shiny doesnt really mean anything.. Its the mature use of a tool like this that is the key to having one of these.

Of course the real question is... How to identify who is responsible enough to own one and not abuse it? Kinda like gun ownership i think?

[WX7P]

I think we're all overlooking the obvious.

The badge is just plain DUMB.

Kind of like the old fire chief hats they used to hand out at the Texaco stations. You know, for the 5 year olds.

[Jeff K1NSS]

.

Of course the real question is... How to identify who is responsible enough to own one and not abuse it? Kinda like gun ownership i think?

Background checks! Conversely, the FCC might create a ham radio badge buy-back program. And the Department of Homeland Security could dry up the supply by purchasing all the badge blanks. Finally, OSHA could have its jurisdiction extended by executive order from beyond the workplace to the ham shack, where failure to wear eye protection would result in hefty fines, or in the case of repeated offenses, a drone strike.

[Jeff K1NSS]

I think we're all overlooking the obvious.

The badge is just plain DUMB.

Kind of like the old fire chief hats they used to hand out at the Texaco stations. You know, for the 5 year olds.

DA here agn. I think we're overlooking the obvious need for a full ham radio ensemble including helmet, , uniform, boots, and whistle.

Btw, love the Texaco hat reference. May I sample that?

[WX7P]

Btw, love the Texaco hat reference. May I sample that?

Feel free!

[W3WN]

badges? we don't need no stinken badges.Dayum. I knew someone would beat me to it.

I don't wear a badge (thank ghu) but I do occasionaly wear one of the embroidered "golf" shirts, with my name & call, in public. Sometimes someone will stop and ask me about ham radio, almost always in a positive way.

[W3WN]

I'm sensing a collective Island NO and that's pretty consistent with opinions in other venues. Feelings tend to run strong. In another forum, someone suggested that I go to Hamsexy because "this is a respectable place." These things ain't cheap and somebody besides me must be buying them, facetiously or not. I'm getting curiouser and curiouser about who invented the ham radio badge and how far back they go.

Moreover, I wonder if the badge might be the the tip of an uncomfortable iceberg. Could a case be made that having a personal radio station is one ON AIR sign away from a pretend police cruiser? I say this as a lifelong (at least in the imaginary sense) ham. Radio history might refute that, in that personal radio stations were the genesis of grown-up radio stations. But it's my impression there's a little whacker running through all radio DNA, and it usually doesn't get expressed so obviously as a Crown Vic bristling with whips.Jeff,

I've run into a few hams who bought those badges or ones like them. I'd estimate that 90% or more of them did it as a joke, or just for fun, or just to have. In a couple of cases, a family member bought one for them.

Now, the remaining ~10% (-) ? Some of those are of the whacker mentality. Not much I can tell you about them, outside of the fact that when I see one of them coming, I head in another direction.

[n2ize]

I don;t need no badges daddy-o. I wear a black leather jacket and ride a motorcycle. That is a dead giveaway that I'm a "ham radio operator".

[Jeff K1NSS]

[QUOTE=I've run into a few hams who bought those badges or ones like them. I'd estimate that 90% or more of them did it as a joke, or just for fun, or just to have. In a couple of cases, a family member bought one for them.

Now, the remaining ~10% (-) ? Some of those are of the whacker mentality. Not much I can tell you about them, outside of the fact that when I see one of them coming, I head in another direction.[/QUOTE]

Tnx for your experience. Yep, I can imagine a lot of these stuck in desks, back with the orphan paperclips and dried up bottles of White-Out, gathering dust, biding their time until future archeologists dig them up and get the wrong idea about us.

[Jeff K1NSS]

I don;t need no badges daddy-o. I wear a black leather jacket and ride a motorcycle. That is a dead giveaway that I'm a "ham radio operator".


Given all the geezer dentists abroad on bikes, I'd say you're spot on.

[KC2UGV]

I was thinking of getting one to convert to a belt buckle.

[AC8KF WALT]

No, no and no. Just like nut sacks hanging from the back of pick-up trucks.

[Jeff K1NSS]

Once, a polyester raccoon tail and a Kansas City A's team card clothespinned in the spokes was edgy enough. Somewhere along the way, somebody dropped the bar.

[K7SGJ]

Once, a polyester raccoon tail and a Kansas City A's team card clothespinned in the spokes was edgy enough. Somewhere along the way, somebody dropped the bar.

Probably a bad lawyer.

[w2amr]

If seen wearing that thing , I would expect my wife to do the proper thing and shoot me.

[KA9MOT]

But it's my impression there's a little whacker running through all radio DNA, and it usually doesn't get expressed so obviously as a Crown Vic bristling with whips.

The very important whacker only buys Lincolns that look like Crown Vics. The super important whacker puts fake bullet holes on his... The extra super important whacker owns two and parks one by a big rock! :lol:

[w2amr]

I think we're all overlooking the obvious.

The badge is just plain DUMB.

Kind of like the old fire chief hats they used to hand out at the Texaco stations. You know, for the 5 year olds.
Trust your car to the man who wears the star.:yes:

[K7SGJ]

I think we're all overlooking the obvious.

The badge is just plain DUMB.

Kind of like the old fire chief hats they used to hand out at the Texaco stations. You know, for the 5 year olds.

It's too bad that Mobil didn't give out a full size Pegasus with a purchase. Judging by the value of their metal signs with the raised letters and flying horse, they'd be worth a fortune. I guess the problem would be that they would be with the Texaco fire hats, buried under 60 or 70 years worth of garbage in the landfills.

[KG4CGC]

Remember when everyone smoked?
Callsign Zippo lighters.
NOW, you're talking!
(or smoking)

[n6hcm]

i wouldn't have anything like the faux leo badge (i don't wear anything shiny ... ), but i do have a plastic badge with my first name and call sign on a club badge (rara--the rainbow amateur radio assn) ... then i looked around at the hamfest and decided i didn't want anyone there to hit on me so i don't wear any of that stuff.

[K6CPO]

I think a lot of us have the typical plastic call-sign badges, I know I have four, one for my club, one each for my duties as an ARRL VE and SANDARC VE and a generic one. I may eventually get one of the law enforcement style ones just as a novelty item and conversation starter around the shack.

[K7SGJ]

The last one of those plastic name tags I had, was given to me by the Army. If I never have another one, it"ll be too soon.

[Jeff K1NSS]

If I can't find anyone to pin a note to my sleeve with my name and address before I head out to the dog track, wearing my ham radio badge helps keep me centered.

[K7SGJ]

If I can't find anyone to pin a note to my sleeve with my name and address before I head out to the dog track, wearing my ham radio badge helps keep me centered.

Be careful, they may see your badge and have you out chasing the rabbit, too.