people are different, that's why ham radio is different...and perhaps not 
for the good I don't know.

The grouping of young people communicating and being social with each other 
has certainly not changed, only the methods by which they do this has 
changed.
Now it's via cell phones and facebook, not on the radio.  And, honestly, far 
more young people are socializing this way than they ever have before.  Just 
not on the radio waves, well, at least not on radio waves below the cellular 
bands lol.
and those guys on 14.208 are terrible I agree...and yes, 20 has several 
groups like that as does 75.
But, there are also far more groups on both bands that are easy to talk to 
and get into.  Don't let the relatively small per centage of hams that are 
ass holes color your opinion of all hams.
Just because they exist and you can hear them doesn't mean they're all like 
that.
And, most of the idiots stick to specific frequencies and if you know 
they're like that, then you can avoid their ilk lol.
And I don't buy this rubbish that it was never like that before.  It's 
always been like that on the ham radio bands.
I've heard more than enough stories from older hams describing this kind of 
stuff going well back into the 50's.

73
Colin, V A6BKX
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 4:22 PM
Subject: Re: Trying to get back into the swing of things again!


> Ron,
>
> I hate to say it but it has changed, as you described, and fewer hams are
> willing to assist fellow hams, too.  That's nothing as it was like in 1966
> when I got into radio and had my novice.  Some of the individual round
> tables are exactly as you mentioned but wait until the bands pick up and 
> 10
> meters is rolling great guns; you can talk for hours and hours to 
> different
> hams all over the world due to the increase in activity alone.  The last
> group, some of the hams I even knew personally, that I tried breaking 
> into,
> one station, an older guy I knew years ago but whom he did not recognize 
> me
> due to the change in my call sign, did everything but call me names.  I 
> sent
> an email to a guy I personally know, who was a member of the group, and
> explained what had happened but nothing changed.  I never went back.
> Unless you have a big signal they cannot refuse, it is a problem getting 
> to
> join a group in most places.  I saw a group on 14.208 literally tell 
> people
> trying to break in to go away because they are trying to have a private
> conversation.  W2NQ/7 is notorious for this behavior on 20 ssb and he's 
> been
> a ham probably longer than I am old.  Some of these guys, and dad gum it, 
> I
> hate to say it, but they are getting up there in years and they just flat
> won't talk to anybody but their buddies.  Even 2 meters, in the larger
> repeater clubs here in Denver, are like this, too, so I rarely work a 
> round
> table or 2 meters.  6 meters has become one long contest with trying to 
> work
> grids.  I know guys can instantly look up where you live and what state 
> you
> are in but whatever happened to rag chewing.  I hear very few rag chews on 
> 6
> meters.  I know the band changes quickly but the guys who just want to 
> know
> your QTH, and not your grid, are almost look down upon.  I have to ask
> nearly every guy I work on 6 what his QTH is and I do, too.  So, yes, your
> assessment of the change on the ham bands is real.  It will change as the
> sun spots increase and the band conditions and propagation peaks and 
> becomes
> stable.  It always brings back a fresh crop of guys who love to just ham.
> This is why I work more CW because it isn't so much like this on the CW
> bands.  Back in the late sixties, I could break in on nearly any round 
> table
> on any band, and without an amplifier, and they would always try to 
> include
> you.  Unless, of course, you were breaking into NASAC on 3815 or the other
> boys on 3830 and a few groups like that but that was rare back then.  Even
> as routy teenagers, our group often had as many as 12 and 15 guys in it 
> and
> we still tried to include new comers and we were all 15 to 17 years of 
> age.
> That's what ham radio used to be like.
>
> Phil.
> K0NX
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Ronald E. Milliman" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 3:25 PM
> Subject: Trying to get back into the swing of things again!
>
>
>> CQ CQ CQ de K8HSY
>>
>> I'm trying to get back into the swing of things on the ol' ham bands
>> again!
>> As I have mentioned before, I got my ticket back in 1957, and was really
>> active for many years, but ham radio has really changed. I am trying to
>> figure it out. It seems like the bands are totally made up of clusters of
>> little cliques, and some of them aren't even all that little. They all
>> know
>> each other, and either they don't acknowledge you, or if they do, they
>> give
>> you the impression that you are a stranger, not welcome into their 
>> clique.
>>
>> When I was an active ham before, back a few years ago, I could call CQ on
>> any of the bands and there was a high probability that someone would come
>> back, and we would carry on a QSO for maybe a few minutes to maybe an 
>> hour
>> or so. I could break into a round table or QSO and they would usually 
>> make
>> you feel welcome, and after a while you fitted right into the group or
>> QSO.
>>
>> Am I wrong and missing something? I don't get that welcome, friendly
>> feeling hardly anywhere anymore on the bands, except for the "Do Drop In"
>> net and the HandiHam nets. We blind hams seem like a pretty friendly,
>> smooth bunch of hams.
>>
>> Also, I don't hear much of any activity on the repeaters anymore either. 
>> I
>> used to be able to jump onto a repeater and say: "This is K8HSY; is there
>> anyone around this afternoon," and about 70% of the time someone would
>> come
>> back. Even if they were busy doing something else, they would often come
>> back and say something like: "K8HSY this KK4QL. I'm sort of tied up
>> working
>> on a little work bench project right now, but I just wanted to let you
>> know
>> you were being heard. Unless there is something you really need, I'll get
>> back to my project..."
>>
>> I feel like I've been sleeping for the last 10 years and have woken up
>> into
>> a different world!
>>
>> Ron, K8HSY
>>
>>
>> At 01:58 PM 6/12/2013 -0600, you wrote:
>>>also listen for the fm repeaters on 29.62, 64, 66 and 68.
>>>there is a big one out of new york state running 1500W on 29.62.  Input 
>>>is
>>>100K down btw.
>>>also, you will hear CW beacons, which are continuous automated
>>>transmitters,
>>>from 28.3 down to around 28.185 or something like that.  They are a great
>>>way to practice your cw because they are usually no more than 10 words 
>>>per
>>>minute and they repeat the same message over and over.
>>>
>>>openings on 10 are pretty spiratic in the summer, but they certainly
>>>happen,
>>>and they can be relatively short distance openings which is fun.
>>>
>>>73
>>>Colin, V A6BKX
>>>----- Original Message ----- 
>>>From: "dustin thompson" <[log in to unmask]>
>>>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>>Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 1:16 PM
>>>Subject: 10M
>>>
>>>
>>>> there was some openings on 10 M, i heard some CW, and some net out of
>>>> Long Beach, CA. not sure what it was, because it was fading in and
>>>> out.  quite a few other stations too, i was going to look them up, but
>>>> they gave there call sign too fast,
>>>
>> Dr. Ronald E. Milliman, retired Professor Western Kentucky University
>> Ph: 270-782-9325
>> Email: [log in to unmask]
>>
>> Chair, American Council of the Blind Public Relations Committee
>>
>> Chair, American Council of the Blind's Monthly Monetary Support Program
>> (MMS) Committee
>>
>> President: South Central Kentucky Council of the Blind (SCKCB)
>>