Local repeater Scene

[NQ6U]

John, I like your accent. With the advent of TV over the last fifty years, American speech has become very homogenized and it's really a shame.

I was raised down the S.F. Peninsula a ways and have a sort of generic midlands American accent but my father, who was raised in San Francisco, has an accent that sound pretty much like someone from the Northeast, as do most of my Frisco-raised relatives. They sound like they hail from somewhere between New York and Boston. I'm told that this is because of the heavy influx of Yankee seafarers into S.F. during the California gold rush of the mid-Nineteenth Century.

[n2ize]

John, I like your accent. With the advent of TV over the last fifty years, American speech has become very homogenized and it's really a shame.

Yes, I've noticed that. It's kind of like a generic accent that has become more and more pervasive over the years.

I was raised down the S.F. Peninsula a ways and have a sort of generic midlands American accent but my father, who was raised in San Francisco, has an accent that sound pretty much like someone from the Northeast, as do most of my Frisco-raised relatives. They sound like they hail from somewhere between New York and Boston. I'm told that this is because of the heavy influx of Yankee seafarers into S.F. during the California gold rush of the mid-Nineteenth Century.

I was always fascinated by regional accents and how they came to be. My accent is mild compared to some in this region. For example one of my uncles had a very thick Brooklyn accent. Different ethnic groups and nationalities also have their own variations of some of the local regional accents. My Dad always insists that we don't speak with any regional accent. And I always tell him that we most certainly do and when I am talking to people around the country via the radio it usually doesn't take them long to figure out where I am once they hear my speech... although it might take a bit longer if I am using CW. :)

I always loved the classic Boston accent..."Drive the cah from Bahston ta Cape Cahhhd".

[n2ize]

I heard that, and I agree with him completely. I kept my radio tuned to the repeater that hosts the local node (once I found it) and it was silent almost the entire time, except for the usual commute hour chatter. Might as well use it for Echolink.

Tell me about it. There are a lot of repeaters around here that seem almost always silent, although activity has picked up on some of them now that the holidays are over. One such machine is the 147.060 machine located in Valhalla. It has relatively good coverage and back in the late 80's / early 90's when I first started using VHF it had a lot of traffic throughout the day. These days it seems that it gets sporadic use otherwise its silent most of the day. They still run a traffic handling net on it every evening at around 9:30pm. I have yet to hear a single piece of traffic passed through that net since I have been back on. In the old days there was lots of traffic and the net went on for a good hour or more. These days the net is over in about 5 minutes and then the repeater is silent. Do people still pass traffic via ham radio nets anymore ?? I'd imagine with the prevalence of the Internet there is much less of a need. And autopatch ?? Remember that ?? Does anyone use autopatch anymore ? With the prevalence of cell phones I would hardly see much of a need for autopatch, except maybe in areas that have repeater coverage but no cell coverage ? Or, in the event a person doesn't have a cell phone. However, if a person can afford a handie tallkie they most likely can afford a cell phone. I guess autopatch may be useful in some emergencies where the normal cell system is overloaded or goes down.

[ki4itv]

ON EDIT: Does this count towards our WAI (Worked All Islanders)?

<tightens ham radio curmudgeon hat>
"ECOLINK IS NOT HAM RADIO!"
<kicks crusty old doughnut half to other side of shack>

[KC2UGV]

<tightens ham radio curmudgeon hat>
"ECOLINK IS NOT HAM RADIO!"
<kicks crusty old doughnut half to other side of shack>

What if I link my repeater into it, and use my mobile set. Does it count then?

I really don't think that's such a bad idea. This weekend I'll be setting up my own simplex node so I can welcome local yokels to the islander chats.

[ki4itv]

I was just brushing up on my crusty old ham-curmudgeon public service act, Corey.

You guys have me downloading Ecolink this afternoon. I thought it sounded like fun.
Looks like it's time for an IOMH conference room...or some such gathering place.

[KC2UGV]

I was just brushing up on my crusty old ham-curmudgeon public service act, Corey.

You guys have me downloading Ecolink this afternoon. I thought it sounded like fun.
Looks like it's time for an IOMH conference room...or some such gathering place.

I was agreeing with ya :) I do think it's a good idea to use RF every way possible, so if each person here puts a simplex link up, and uses it to talk in, we cna tie several together, and get a lot of coverage, and lots of occupied freqs :)

[n2ize]

I was agreeing with ya :) I do think it's a good idea to use RF every way possible, so if each person here puts a simplex link up, and uses it to talk in, we cna tie several together, and get a lot of coverage, and lots of occupied freqs :)

I'm in a major urban center and, except for a few, the majority of VHF repeaters are dead most of the time. I can just imagine how quiet some of them are in rural areas. Some hams will argue that Echolink is not ham radio. I beg to differ with them but ham radio is all about experimenting with communications. That includes the use of the internet and computers and other communications devices and interfacing them and making them work with existing and/or traditional methods. If thats not ham radio then i don't know what is. True, when you use Echolonk you are making use of the internet which is comprised of private, personal, government and commercial networks as opposed to just a radio, an antenna and the ionosphere. But that still doesn't make it non-ham radio. As a further incentive new and different technologies have been incorporated into ham radio since it's earliest days. It ham radio is going to capture the minds of young people, and retain its usefulness and purpose it is going to have to embrace and incorporate new technologies as the come along. Of course it doesn't mean we should abandon the old and give up our CW, SSB, AM, etc. But, by the same token ham radio shouldn't be divorcing itself from the new ideas either.

And yes, if things like Echolink, IRLP , etc bring activity to the FM repeater scene that is an added boost. Repeaters are not very useful if they sit around and are never used.

[NQ6U]

I[f] ham radio is going to capture the minds of young people, and retain its usefulness and purpose it is going to have to embrace and incorporate new technologies as the come along. Of course it doesn't mean we should abandon the old and give up our CW, SSB, AM, etc. But, by the same token ham radio shouldn't be divorcing itself from the new ideas either.

Truer word ain't never been spoke, John. At least not about amateur radio.

[N8YX]

I really don't think that's such a bad idea. This weekend I'll be setting up my own simplex node so I can welcome local yokels to the islander chats.

This could be bigger than Y2K and 435! :shock: