Me, an Amateur? 03.16.15

 

                I have been called a lot of things during my life, some of them were in an effort to insult me. When I was younger, one could say I had thin skin and would take offence at some comments very quickly. Being older and somewhat wiser, even if I do have to say so myself, I have learned to react much slower to comments that are meant to be hurtful.

                It is true, I was a professional for many years. Being a professional just means I was getting paid for what I did. Being a professional manager I would say that one third of the staff members hated me, one third liked me and one third didn’t have an opinion, either way.

                Of the many titles that have been bestowed upon me, being an amateur is one that I approve of. As an amateur I do not get paid, and being on a fixed income, getting paid would be nice.

The title amateur, when used in, “amateur radio operator”, is a good title. I have been accused of being a ham in more than one way, but being a ham radio operator is ok.

                I have recently taken a couple radios out of storage, one of which is an HF rig, and reconnected an antenna. HF stands for High Frequency, and these are the frequencies that allow an amateur to talk long distances.

                I have been listening to transmissions (conversations) of other hams in an effort to remember the jargon used by hams. A lot of it is coming back.

                This morning (Sunday) I decided to see if my 20 plus year old radio, would do anything other than receive. There was a fellow calling CQ, which means, he is wanting to make contact with other hams. There was a contest going on to see which ham could make the most contacts in a prescribed period of time.

I decided to attempt to talk with the fellow. I keyed the mike and said, “This is KJ5OD”. I was happily surprised when the other ham came back to me with a good morning KJ5OD. He was located in Denver Colorado and we exchanged names, locations, signal strength and the equipment we were using. Then he thanked me for the contact and he began calling for his next contact.

I changed frequencies and heard another ham calling CQ. I made my call to him, he was located in Ohio. We exchanged basically the same info as the first contact.

I am a happy amateur, the radio and antenna works.

 

Pro or amateur, enjoy what you are doing.

 

Don Ford