So this is what happened....

[N8GAV]

I can't add much more then what has been said here. HF is the way to go, VHF/UHF is more like CB to me. Some good nets to check out on 40 (Ones I check into most of the time) Ecars on 7.255, Midcars 7.258, they are on till 1-2 in the afternoon. At night there is the Nightwatch Net at 7.192 then right after they have what they call the brothers net, they are a friendly bunch. This time of the year on 40 you can work some "Gray Line DX", but remember the band will go long fast at night. Jim is right stay away from 75 phone, people are just nuts down there. Let us know when you get something going on HF, I would be happy to work you.

[kb2vxa]

"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."

Then a scanner isn't your cup of tea either. (;->) When I had antennas I encountered pretty much the same thing on the 2M repeater scene, samol samol radio religion you can set your watch by, same with certain portions of HF especially 75M SSB. For a time the Yay Emmers had a goof on them going, the Piss And Moan Net that WA1HLR on his Radio Timtron Worldwide show on WBCQ simulcast until they ran out of piss except to feed his Slimatron that converts it to pissolene. That BTW is a story in itself, funny as all hell, something described on the AM Fone website as "an unclassified substance somewhere between hazmat and nuclear waste". Also a warning was given; "when the pissolene turns black evacuate the area immediately, the Slimatron is about to explode". That goes back to New Year's Eve 1970-71 and the funniest WA1 Henry Yell Arr broadcash on 3885 ever but I digress.

That brings me around to the AM Gangstas you'll find in the various AM windows and the most popular is on 75M where you'll find the radio version of Misfit Hams, a really nice bunch if I ever heard one. I know a few personally so I can say get on and make yourself heard, you just might find yourself one of the herd. Sure, there is a BIG difference on HF and the closest thing you'll find "upstairs" are the weak signal modes and 70cM repeaters, it's nothing like the 2M CB you've encountered. BTW you'll love it when the bands open, there's plenty of DX to be had AND they don't call 6M the magic band for nothing.

The bottom line is you're a General so take advantage of it, there's more to ham life than 2M CB repeaters. Believe me I know what I'm talking about and can agree with the others completely except for the stay away from 75 phone comment, the poor bear just hasn't seen the other side of the mountain. (Inspired by an obscure old political campaign song.) I've been an SWL since the late '50s and have operated the bands from one end to the other under the watchful eyes of control operators so I speak from personal experience, most of it delightful, the rest had me ROTFLOL questioning their sanity.

One last note, never mind AM on one of those newfangled radios, carrier inserted SSB or DSB isn't real AM and sounds like shit. Get yourself a boat anchor plate modulated transmitter and trick it out or as Timtron would say; de-yellowfy it to get rid of that telephonium audio and put a good mic on it, they appreciate hi-fi. You'll find the Gangstas on the AM Fone web site along with plenty of information on how to build a broadcast station out of boat anchors, Tim(tron) WA1HLR is an engineer and expert on the subject. Remember, you can do it with a scratchy Apache but happiness is a big Johnson.

As I use do say in my CB daze; seventy fleas but don't scratch all of them, save a few for when I see you later. One last thing, take a good look at who the old lady is pointing at and notice the callsign.

[K0RGR]

If you are closing on a mortgage, I understand how your life comes to a total halt until that is done, but I really would make some kind of HF rig a priority.

You've seen my rants about the Technician privileges, I'm sure. I don't think the Tech ticket is worth a bucket of lukewarm urine to most people, due to the exact thing you're saying. You always work the same people. Again and again and again... And frankly, if they are turds or they think you are a turd, you're not going to have a really nice time. You'd probably rather watch paint dry than listen to most of our repeaters these days. In most parts of the country, the repeaters are as quiet as a graveyard nearly all the time. I don't even find much using EchoLink unless I get on one of their nets. I see so many people get their ticket and make a real effort to get on the air, and then within a month or two, they are gone forever.

Some say "well maybe they found out it wasn't for them". That's correct - if it were me, I'd die of boredom so why wouldn't a newbie?

I just finished teaching a class for new Techs. I was afraid I had lost 2/3 of them when I explained what you can and can't do with a Tech ticket. This class was all female - a first for me, though lately my classes have been running almost 50/50. In this class, one of the ladies is planning a long driving trip to Alaska next summer - three months on the road. Another one is planning to buy a seagoing boat and cruise the open seas. I counseled both of them to just plan to keep going and get their General license. The biggest hope I have for them is that the one who is going boating wants to learn the code. She's scared of the General theory, so maybe she will end up as a Tech doing CW. I hope so. I think the one going to Alaska will have her General by summer. The third one just wants to do public service stuff so she'll be set with the Tech, as long as she sticks around. She lives in a town that has no repeater and is in a deep hole. Wow, that sucks.

Anyway, when you get some funds, get an HF rig that you can at least listen with. Even an FT817 will do that quite well, and there are lots of older HF rigs out there for cheap. I recommend flexibility so that you can explore whatever you want. Hopefully, your new house will not have antenna restrictions, but if it does, you can learn all about stealth antennas, or mobile operation. FT817+computer+21 foot wire out a window (and a small tuner) will make PSK and JT65 contacts all over the country, and some DX too.

[KJ3N]

Nets and AM. I avoid them like the plague.

I find most nets to be some of the most mind-numbing stuff out there. Most of them have outlived their usefulness, especially the "no traffic" traffic nets. ECARS and the MMSN are just 2 that fall into the useless category, IMHO. I'm also not a big fan of the many WAS nets, having done some time on them when I was a young and naive General. I've since learned that I don't need a crutch to work stations on the air.

The only AM I've ever listened to sounded like it was a 3-martini-minimum crowd. If not martinis, then it was more like a sixpack-of-beer-minimum crowd. Now, to be fair, most of 75m phone sounds like that to me, but the AM guys seem to have egos the size of a Gates transmitter. They're in love with the sound of their own voice, too. AM also reminds be too much of my days spent on CB and I have no desire to listen to the mode again.

If I'm not DXing, or contesting, I'm not on the air much, if at all. Talking about the same shit, with the same 5 guys, 7 days a week, doesn't float my boat.

JMO, YMMV.

[N8YX]

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).

My experiences and recommendations mirror Corey's. I gave up on the VHF/UHF repeater scene many years ago for the same good ol' boy reasons and prefer to spend my time above 50MHz engaged in weak-signal, digital or satellite work. There are a few sane (and some not so sane) VHF simplex nets in the area and I'll gravitate to the more receptive of the bunch long before breaking the squelch on any of the local repeaters.

[KJ3N]

I don't think the Tech ticket is worth a bucket of lukewarm urine to most people, due to the exact thing you're saying. You always work the same people. Again and again and again... And frankly, if they are turds or they think you are a turd, you're not going to have a really nice time. You'd probably rather watch paint dry than listen to most of our repeaters these days.

As someone who was a Tech (Tech+) for 10 years, it took me about 7 years before I abandoned repeaters completely for other things. Part of what kept me on those repeaters where the people. They were very welcoming and (for the most part) quite an interesting bunch.

Unfortunately, as time progressed, what I call the "unwashed masses" started showing up and "infesting" the repeaters. These people had no clue and no apparent desire to get one. The mind-numbing banality became too much. I found myself just staring at my VHF/UHF radio in disbelief that people could be that clueless and uninteresting.

Fortunately, I had an HF radio to keep me sane. While I was (like so many Techs) limited to 10m, the early 90s were full of packet activity which grabbed my attention first on 2m, then on 10m. I had a really good time on 10m packet. I also had some good times on 10m SSB. All this kept me busy from 1991 through about 1994 until 10m propagation started to drop out.

During 1993, with an Icom 745 and an old Hallicrafters HA-6, I discovered the joys of 6m SSB. Had some great Es openings during that year and the next 3 years. Then things kind of fell off as the bottom of the cycle hit.

In 1999, armed with a new Icom 746 that had HF, 6m, and 2m multimode, I rediscovered 6m SSB along with the new thrill of 2m SSB. I became almost exclusively a VHF weak signal for the next 3 years, using nothing more than a 5-element 6m beam and an 8-element 2m beam. Caught some really great Es and F2 openings on those 2 bands, including EU and AK on 6m and Kansas City, MO on 2m. Thanks to a double peak on that cycle, I could work into EU nearly every morning during the summer for 2 years.

So, what's the point of all this? Simply this: the Tech ticket is more than adequate as it is. If you can't stay interested in the hobby as a Tech, it's because you don't have the drive to constantly challenge yourself to do things other than FM repeaters.

Nobody told me to do these things. I didn't have an Elmer to guide me. I didn't become a General until 2001 and I had plenty to keep me busy until then. In fact, my HF operations didn't really start in any significant way until we moved to the current QTH in 2003.

As always, JMO and YMMV.

[KG4NEL]

DO ALL THE NETS

[KG4NEL]

As someone who was a Tech (Tech+) for 10 years, it took me about 7 years before I abandoned repeaters completely for other things. Part of what kept me on those repeaters where the people. They were very welcoming and (for the most part) quite an interesting bunch.

Unfortunately, as time progressed, what I call the "unwashed masses" started showing up and "infesting" the repeaters. These people had no clue and no apparent desire to get one. The mind-numbing banality became too much. I found myself just staring at my VHF/UHF radio in disbelief that people could be that clueless and uninteresting.

Fortunately, I had an HF radio to keep me sane. While I was (like so many Techs) limited to 10m, the early 90s were full of packet activity which grabbed my attention first on 2m, then on 10m. I had a really good time on 10m packet. I also had some good times on 10m SSB. All this kept me busy from 1991 through about 1994 until 10m propagation started to drop out.

During 1993, with an Icom 745 and an old Hallicrafters HA-6, I discovered the joys of 6m SSB. Had some great Es openings during that year and the next 3 years. Then things kind of fell off as the bottom of the cycle hit.

In 1999, armed with a new Icom 746 that had HF, 6m, and 2m multimode, I rediscovered 6m SSB along with the new thrill of 2m SSB. I became almost exclusively a VHF weak signal for the next 3 years, using nothing more than a 5-element 6m beam and an 8-element 2m beam. Caught some really great Es and F2 openings on those 2 bands, including EU and AK on 6m and Kansas City, MO on 2m. Thanks to a double peak on that cycle, I could work into EU nearly every morning during the summer for 2 years.

So, what's the point of all this? Simply this: the Tech ticket is more than adequate as it is. If you can't stay interested in the hobby as a Tech, it's because you don't have the drive to constantly challenge yourself to do things other than FM repeaters.

Nobody told me to do these things. I didn't have an Elmer to guide me. I didn't become a General until 2001 and I had plenty to keep me busy until then. In fact, my HF operations didn't really start in any significant way until we moved to the current QTH in 2003.

As always, JMO and YMMV.

Very similar story, although I had a later start.

I started out in 2001, so Techs were banished to 50MHz and above by then. My first radio was an HT, but since I was an SWL anyway I quickly bought an HF rig and a 6m transverter so I could find out what this 6 meter SSB thing was about. This was in the winter of '01 - needless to say, hearing Greenland, the Cayman Islands and the UK on supposedly "local" frequencies set the hook. There also was a fairly laid-back group that yakked nightly from VA to SC on 50.200.

I was in undergrad from 2004-2009, so I was basically off the air for most of that time and didn't miss not getting HF privileges until '07.

JMHO, but if I open someone's QRZ page, the first thing I want to see are pictures of what else they like other than ham radio. Nothing is more boring to me on a QSL card than seeing a shack or antenna picture. Show me a picture from a hike you did. Or a guitar you play. Or the fish you caught. Something that we can make a connection with as human beings. Now that I think about it, I think I have an FD antenna pic on mine...d'oh...

I'd say the repeater culture around here is 85% cool to talk with - the rest are either terminal DX brags or reflective-vest types. No, hearing you recite the roll call of the UN for the stations you worked in the past week is not interesting, nor do I particularly care that you'll save the world from a Powerpole shortage. But I guess I'm lucky in that the local club draws from a large and diverse-enough area (20 minutes from both Duke and UNC, but you have to drive through cow country to get there) that chances are there's somebody doing something worth listening to.

[suddenseer]

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.

You forgot enlarged prostate.

[KG4NEL]

Although ever since I started running, I can discuss gimp knees with the best of 'em...