Feeling disheartened and ham radio culture shocked

[KB2SFH]

I broke out my yaesu vx-6 tribander ht this weekend and gave it a good charge after too many years in storage and amazingly it charged up and held the charge, but my yaesu ft-530 dual bander batteries were doa even after forever on the charger so I have to order new fnb-27's but the bigger issue is finding all these new operating modes that snuck in while I was gone and limits my repeater use now and renders my gear semi obsolete since many that I was a reg on went dstar, fusion, dmr, wires x with new pl jargon cc1, cc2.cc3. cc6, nac 293. I mean I never heard of any of this new stuff and I am not going to go out and buy new radios with all these new things, I don't have the money and my 2 ht's and mobile dual band are still good. I am not going to play keep up with the Jones's of ham radio trying to come back to the hobby a little after all these years away from it because my entire life was turned upside down and inside out and I had to give up everything except for my job to deal with everything that was dropped on my head and thrown at me on top of it all

[kb2vxa]

Don't feel bad, remember what Arlo Guthrie walking in his humorist/musician father Woody's footsteps said, there's always somebody (like me the paper ham) who has it worse than you. But think of the LAST guy, ain't nobody has it worse than THAT guy. You're suffering from Planned Obsolescence Syndrome and the only cure is money neither of us have enough of... maybe.

Did you receive the only thing Trumpy Bear as our Canukian friend calls him did good, the $1,200 gift? How about Uncle Joe's $600 down payment on the gift they're still squabbling over? Don't answer those rhetorical questions, your finances are a private matter, they're just something to think about.

Speaking of an obsolete HT, my Azden developed a nasty squeal when on 5W, 1W sounded fine, then both battery packs died. I was friends with the NY dealer/service center ham from LIMARC, (from the Jersey shore Long Island is a direct over water path) unfortunately they dropped the Amateur Radio line dealing in TV broadcast exclusively. To make matters worse nobody rebuilt those battery packs, I couldn't rebuild them either, NiCd cells of that size were unavailable.

[N8YX]

Get on one of the FM simplex channels. Much more ingratiating than the average repeater group QSO.

[W3WN]

I broke out my yaesu vx-6 tribander ht this weekend and gave it a good charge after too many years in storage and amazingly it charged up and held the charge, but my yaesu ft-530 dual bander batteries were doa even after forever on the charger so I have to order new fnb-27's but the bigger issue is finding all these new operating modes that snuck in while I was gone and limits my repeater use now and renders my gear semi obsolete since many that I was a reg on went dstar, fusion, dmr, wires x with new pl jargon cc1, cc2.cc3. cc6, nac 293. I mean I never heard of any of this new stuff and I am not going to go out and buy new radios with all these new things, I don't have the money and my 2 ht's and mobile dual band are still good. I am not going to play keep up with the Jones's of ham radio trying to come back to the hobby a little after all these years away from it because my entire life was turned upside down and inside out and I had to give up everything except for my job to deal with everything that was dropped on my head and thrown at me on top of it all

CC1? NAC23? Don't feel so bad, I never heard of them either.

Of course, the Pittsburgh area is still somewhat in the dark ages. D*Star never really caught on, there's some interest in Fusion and DMR repeaters, but the vast majority of FM activity is on 2 meter simplex and some good old analog FM repeaters... quite a few of which are, amazingly, still in use, though nothing like the good old days.

So no, don't give up. I'm sure there's still some activity around. Just have to find it. Drop a note to N2RJ, even though she doesn't hang out around here anymore (outside of lurking), I'm sure she can make some suggestions. And I don't know if you know Steve KF2TI, he's one of the good guys (even if he does let me hang around at the Three Steves flea market spaces at Hamvention, which just goes to prove that nobody's perfect), but he might be able to give you some advice as well.

[kb2vxa]

There's always a fly in the ointment, my once favorite band 6M is out because the only life it sees is during band openings, nobody wanted to move off the 2M repeaters that out of the few left are seeing little use these days so I've been told. I could go 300 miles in the VXAmobile on 52 and hear nothing. 1.25M was a flash in the pan, and without a repeater 70cM range is quite short. Sue can't put antennas on her building so she's limited to sitting by a window with an HT, and you read about her mobile predicament. For several reasons Amateurs are a dying breed unfortunately. Oh, I may be a paper ham these days, but I still transmit... ultra QRP on 2.4 and 5GHz with my teeny weeny digital radio. ('->)

Wavlink 690A5D USB3 AC1900 Wi-Fi Adapter.jpg

[W3WN]

There's always a way, Warren.

For example: Do you have a window you can access from the outside (even if by opening another window)? Consider an on-the-glass mobile antenna. May not be the greatest, but it will get you more than an HT rubber duck will... and when you're ready to leave, there's solvents to remove the glue. No muss, no fuss.

Got a balcony? Mag mount. (V/UHF, 10 meters, maybe 12 & 15)

Balcony decent sized, and you want HF? Put a big potted plant on it, a plant that requires a trellis. The center of the trellis? A hamstick. You can even build a trellis out of two or three. Feed the coax through the bottom. Use a plastic pot, makes it easy enough drill a hole for coax... or an SO-239.

Access to the roof? Ventenna.

Way to sneak the coax in? Do you have a dryer vent? At worst, the internal dryer duct can be removed and replaced with one you can buy at Home De$pot or Lowe$ or even Wally World. Punch a hole in YOUR vent for the coax... seal it after you're done. When the time comes to move, just remove your duct and put the original one back.

Got a sliding glass door on that balcony? Get a small piece of plywood, height of the door, width not much. Leave a notch in it for coax. When you want to operate, open the door, put the plywood in, put the coax in the notch, close the door. (Cold weather, or AC? Get some rubber foam meant for windows or doors...

Just a few suggestions. Hope it helps, or at least inspires. Good luck.

[KG4CGC]

Mag loop. Small and powerful.

[kb2vxa]

I know about the mag loop, and Ron, unfortunately none of your suggestions are possible or I would be active. The window is plastic and screwed shut, the entire complex is ground level, there is simply no place for anything besides my tiny 5GHz transceiver pictured above. Now hopefully Sue is reading this, there's more to life than above 30MHz and more modes than FM. Girl, you have unlimited privileges, so why not look into HF and a mag loop? There's always a large potted plant with RF burns by a window.

[KB2SFH]

Don't feel bad, remember what Arlo Guthrie walking in his humorist/musician father Woody's footsteps said, there's always somebody (like me the paper ham) who has it worse than you. But think of the LAST guy, ain't nobody has it worse than THAT guy. You're suffering from Planned Obsolescence Syndrome and the only cure is money neither of us have enough of... maybe.

Did you receive the only thing Trumpy Bear as our Canukian friend calls him did good, the $1,200 gift? How about Uncle Joe's $600 down payment on the gift they're still squabbling over? Don't answer those rhetorical questions, your finances are a private matter, they're just something to think about.

Speaking of an obsolete HT, my Azden developed a nasty squeal when on 5W, 1W sounded fine, then both battery packs died. I was friends with the NY dealer/service center ham from LIMARC, (from the Jersey shore Long Island is a direct over water path) unfortunately they dropped the Amateur Radio line dealing in TV broadcast exclusively. To make matters worse nobody rebuilt those battery packs, I couldn't rebuild them either, NiCd cells of that size were unavailable.

Sorry about your Azden, I know you always loved that radio. As far as stimulus payments they are going into my savings. I need to do serious replenishing of bank accounts after taking unfortunate major hits over the past 5 years..

[kb2vxa]

I loved that girlfriend pictured, the one Mike hit on, the Azden not so much. I see your point, if you shave your har everybody can see it. (ducking) Getting your finances in order is FAR more important than giving some poor house plant RF burns. While I'm thinking of RF burns, I came up with a twist on an old T shirt slogan, "real radios glow in the dark". How about "12 volts is for wimps, real radios can KILL you."? A stupid design error could have killed me, I forgot a safety interlock relay in a transmitter I built and it nearly burned my left arm off............