Hi List,

I'm seeing a pattern here that is not limited to ham radio.  The people 
responding to the initial start of this thread that have positive results 
with assistance seem to live in rural or small town America, while the ones 
having troubles are in urban areas.  It's just a sign of the times.
In other words: 'A Country Boy Can Survive.' was that Hank Jr or Charley 
Daniels?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 8:17 PM
Subject: Re: Sighted Hams In Sacramento Not Really Helpful


Eric,

I've found the hobby, over the last 47 years of being a ham, to have become
much as you described.  I'm in Denver.  Three years ago, I literally had 5
different hams offer to help me with towers and antennas when I got on the
air with my Icom 7000 and not one of them, although I contacted them via
email after their offers of help, or talked with them on 2 meters, never
showed up and never made any appointments to come over.  I have a ham friend
in a wheelchair with a short tower and a quad who needs minimal assistance,
is a member of more than one ham club in Denver, and he calls me to try and
scare up some limited help because he faces the same problem.  I can't climb
any longer since my spinal surgery three years ago but my 29 year old son
and his cousin help do tower climbing and assembling of antennas.  When I
was 14 years old and living in Omaha, Nebraska, hams bent over backwards to
help out and I never had a problem getting help.  We have over 700,000 hams
in this country now and getting help is worse than I've ever seen it.  As a
kid, we only had 150,000 American hams and help was abundant.

Phil.
K0NX




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Eric Clegg" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 4:46 PM
Subject: Sighted Hams In Sacramento Not Really Helpful


> Hello listers,
>
> Here is my rant for the year.
>
> I find sighted ham radio operators here in the Sacramento area totally
> unhelpful.
>
> I have four portable antennas that I'd like help assembling. The smaller
> and
> larger Alexloop magnetic loop antennas. The Buddistick antenna and the
> Ventenna, HFP antenna.
>
> I'd love to get a Kenwood TMV-71A but I have no sighted help hooking up
> the
> power supply to the rig. I have a 50% chance of hooking it up backwards
> and
> blowing up the rig as I did with an Astron 2 meter rig many years ago.
>
> The same goes for my Icom IC703 Plus. When I was on a trip recently to
> Harrisburg, PA the stupid people from the TSA at the airport closed my
> power
> cord that goes to the Astron power supply in the suitcase cutting
> completely
> one side of the fused power cord. I bought a new cord from Universal Radio
> but the same as above in the Kenwood applies. No sighted help to hook the
> cord to the Astron power supply.
>
> Since the Pacigficon convention my Yaesu FT817ND has gone nuts.
>
> It will not take some frequencies that I send it with the Radio Mate
> keypad.
>
> I don't know if the radio needs a complete reset or there is some sort of
> fault in the keypad itself.
>
> I'd also like some help ssetting up the menus on the Icom IC703 Plus. For
> instance I can't speed up the speech board or set it to a higher volume.
>
> I'm tempted to try the millennium qsyer on the Yaesu but am reluctant to
> do
> so because I might not be able to set it up to operate with the IC703 Plus
> again .
>
> So I have all this qrp junk that's barely operable.
>
> The only rig I have with some hope is a Kenwood TS480SAT. I have two high
> power shortened dipoles for 20 meters on my balcony which have high swr.
>
> Again no help with anyone with an antenna analyzer.
>
> I have yet to make a contact with this rig on any band.
>
> In summary, I'm disappointed in general with the Sacramento ham community.
> It would probably gtake an hour of someone's time to come over and fix my
> problems adjust radio menus and get me properly on the air.
>
> The ARRL is nothing but a stupid self-serving non-helpful organization.
> Why
> did I join as a life member?
>
> I hope this is not the case for all parts of the country for general ham
> radio helpfulness.
>
> If it is, our hobby is truly in trouble.
>
> I would welcome suggestions.
>
> Merry Crhistmas from a browned off ham radio operator.
>
> 73,
>
> Eric
>
> KU3I
>
>
>
>
>