So this is what happened....

[K9CCH]

I jumped off into this head first. Obtained my tech in June, my General in August. I bought a couple of 2m/70cm radios, l programmed a few repeaters, and I listed to a few conversations. I checked in on a few local nets, and basically got my feet wet. But that's where the excitement ended for me.

One of the things that I know I didn't like was that all of the 2m repeaters around here are pretty much segregated and dominated by a "royal few", and those royal few are forever bitching and complaining about the same stuff. One system is pretty much old Texas guys who you can barely understand because they are either swallowing the mic or talking through their tobacco chew, and the other system is pretty much dominated by one person. I mean for the love of grilled cheese, I have no idea how his radios live more than a few days without burning up. I'm fairly certain that his index finger has an indentation of the mic button on it.

But the conversation never changes. At 4am you can listen to all the 'good mornings', 7am is the drive to work, at noon you'll learn what everyone is doing for lunch, a few afternoon snacks and bitch sessions about the traffic, and then everyone "checks in with the wife" around 6pm. And between all of that, you can bet that someone is going to be bitching about the government, gays, and guns. I got tired of listening to the shame shit over and over and over, so I turned off the radio.

I still haven't made it to a local club meeting, they always fall on days/nights that I work.

[W4GPL]

Get on HF. We told you that from the start. :p

[K9CCH]

Yeah, I know.

After we close on the house (hopefully by 11/29), I'll start looking for an HF unit.

[KG4NEL]

HF isn't immune from that, either - the General portion of 75, and a fair chunk of 40, tend to be populated by the same types.

I don't mind the repeater scene around here too much, but between the major college towns and the country folks, there's a pretty wide variety. It's more background noise for whenever I'm on HF.

[K7SGJ]

Yup. HF is the answer, here. You may want to try digital modes on HF. In as much as I do like a good ragchew, most people won't want to spend a lot of time typing their bitching. I don't know why that is, but that's the way uh huh I like it.

[WX7P]

There's so many options, that you need to listen around a little before you decide it's all garbage.

Get a cheap shortwave receiver with a BFO and listen on HF for a while. I did that with Radio Shack DX-160 analog receiver and I learned enough to realize I wanted to do the radio and I also knew the places to avoid.

I've never had much interest in vhf, except when I got to know some people, that were a little .alt like I am. That was a reality in Santa Rosa and the Bay Area, but not here.

[K9CCH]

I think that's the biggest thing Janet... I wouldn't mind tooling around town in the Jeep with a 2m radio in it if there were more people my "speed" out there. I just don't have much to say to these guys. I don't want to discuss hip replacements, rifles, and Obamacare.

[K9CCH]

And I listen to people bitch and complain 40 hours a week at work (police dispatcher)... I damn sure dont want to listen to it in my free time.

[KC2UGV]

I think that's the biggest thing Janet... I wouldn't mind tooling around town in the Jeep with a 2m radio in it if there were more people my "speed" out there. I just don't have much to say to these guys. I don't want to discuss hip replacements, rifles, and Obamacare.

While I find the repeaters in my area have a lot of that nonsense as well, simplex FM and SSB is a bit more balanced, as is UHF. Just some thoughts.

And, of course, packet :) (My little baby that I love doing, for no real reason).

[KJ3N]

HF isn't immune from that, either - the General portion of 75, and a fair chunk of 40, tend to be populated by the same types.

Which is why I tend to avoid the General portions of most HF bands. As someone who prefers DXing and contesting, I find little in the General sections that interests me, especially on 75m. I'd much rather sit in the 75m DX window than bother with anything above 3.800.

On 10m, I tend to concentrate on 28.500 and above. 40m, I tend to stay below 7.200; on 20m, below 14.225. 15m I haven't quite figured out yet. It doesn't seem to suffer a lot of the blah, blah, blah that infests the other bands. 17m and 12m aren't too bad, either.

Just my observations. YMMV