Hi,
I would probably be called an Appliance Operator. I don't build things, I don't figure out antenna formulas, I don't do any soldering. I do not do contesting, and I don't use Echolink. I do encourage NTS Traffic Handling, I do participate in Emergency Communications including Skywarn, Amateur Radio Drills and am also a Member of Navy Marine Corps Mars. I am a Net Control for the OHIO Single Sideband Net, I am also Net Manager for our local Ares Traffic and Training Net in Northwest Ohio.
I know enough to know if I need to get someone to help when equipment is functioning well.
We each have our niche.
Colleen Roth, N8TNV;



----- Original Message -----
From: Ronald E. Milliman <[log in to unmask]>
To:  [log in to unmask]
Date: Sunday, Aug 19, 2012 02:36:20 PM
Subject: diversity of ham radio as a hobby

>
>
> One of the really great things about ham radio as a hobby is its diversity.
>  That is, there is something in it for everyone.  Over my 55 years in ham
> radio, I have enjoyed at different times about every aspect of the hobby,
> from Rag chewing on the 75 meter phone band, initially using a DX-40 on
> A-M, to stepping up to SSB using a Central Labs 10A barefoot, to chasing DX
> on all bands running QRP up to 1500 PEP with an Alpha linear, from HF to
> VHF and operating field day and contests, Working All States and then,
> earning the DXCC.  I have built several pieces of gear from scratch using
> my own design to building kits from Heath Kit and Globe when they were
> still in business marketing ham gear.  I especially enjoyed designing and
> building all types of antennas.  It has been fun meeting people at hamfests
> that you have QSO's with for a long time but never met in person.  I've
> burned my fingers lots of times using the soldering gun while building
> equipment, and you learn really fast that you can never have too much
> saliva on your fingers when soldering connections.  I've had my share of
> failures, burned up rigs, and antennas that I could never make resonate for
> some reason.  Speaking of math, I've found it necessary to use lots of math
> when designing gear, figuring out the right values of parts that were
> needed for specific tasks, and I have often used the Pythagorean Theorem to
> compute how high my tower or the center of my antenna needed to be.  So, my
> point is that there is something in it for everyone, and over time, you
> will probably do like I have done and find different aspects of the hobby
> appealing to you at different times of your life.  
> 
> My newest adventure is to figure out how to use Echolink and play around
> with it.  Why?  Simply because it is just another aspect of the hobby to
> check out.  No, it isn't ham radio in the traditional sense, but then,
> using repeaters was very controversial when hams first started using them
> too believe it or not.  When SideBand first showed up on the ham bands in
> the form of double sideband, it was so controversial that it put the hobby
> into a war, literally, a war between the comAM'ers and the sidebanders.
> Double sideband didn't last very long because developers quickly figured
> out how to filter out and suppress the unwanted sideband, either the upper
> sideband or the lower sideband, depending on which band you were on.  There
> has always been some sort of controversy; perhaps the most recent is the
> debate over dropping the code requirements and in some ham's views,
> dummying down the ham exams.  I'll have to admit to you that it was much
> more challenging for me to take the General license exam back in 1958 when
> I had to draw out all of the diagrams and schematics.  Since I couldn't see
> well enough to draw them myself, it was even more challenging to try to
> describe them to someone and have them draw them well enough so the FCC
> Examiner could understand it.  To be perfectly honest with you, the Extra
> Class exam that I took at the end of the 1990's was actually easier in many
> respects than the General Class exam I took in 1958.  
> 
> I'm sharing all of this with you to encourage all of us to respect all the
> different aspects of ham radio and the hams that enjoy all of these various
> parts of the hobby.  I've heard some hams called "appliance operators," and
> admittedly, I've used the term at times in the past, but some people just
> don't have the interest in being ham techno-geeks like some of the rest of
> us might be.  So, there is a place for all of us.
> 
> Ron, AC4HM
>   
> 
>