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)
>