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MFJ is ceasing its on-site production

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Re: MFJ is ceasing its on-site production

#61

Post by wl »

alostpuppy wrote: post #15
topspin wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ham radio's time has come and gone, but I still treasure the memories of listening to him talk to people all over the world. Those people all over the world are still there. Every day. The airwaves are full. Yesterday I was handed off between a dozen Italians working contacts in the US. I have to hand it to European hams. They don't leave anything on the table at all. Some of the gear they fabricate is world class…

How does one get started?

A lot of people will tell you to study for the technician exam, take the test, and buy a Baofeng handheld radio. The end result of that is usually that the new licensee keys up a local repeater a few times, doesn't find a community they want to be a part of, and the radio collects dust.

Instead, I suggest finding local ham clubs and seeking out experience with different parts of the hobby. Find people who chase DX (long distance contacts) on shortwave. Find the contesters, people who compete to see who can make the most contacts meeting some condition in a given period of time. Find the parks/summits on the air people, who go to parks and summits to set up portable stations and make contacts. Find the fox hunters, people who compete to find hidden radio beacons. Find the people with VHF/UHF rovers, vans with bit directional antennas mounted. Find people who communicate with satellites. Find people who bounce signals off the moon.

If your experience with any of that excites you for more, study for your license and dive in. I'd highly recommend getting your general class license instead of technician. It's not all that much harder to get and it opens up the shortwave bands.

Re: MFJ is ceasing its on-site production

#62

Post by wl »

_JamesA_ wrote: post #47
SamPatt wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a ham. I communicated with someone 8,000 miles away from me (Midwest US to South Africa) by bouncing radio waves off the ionosphere from an antenna I built myself using as much power as a light bulb. The hobby is definitely dying, but it still provides some awesome moments. Tons of nerds here would find it time well spent.

Incandescent or LED?

I've done both. If you and your remote station have good antennas, a low local noise floor, and the right atmospheric conditions, a little power can take you to the other side of the planet.

Re: MFJ is ceasing its on-site production

#63

Post by [deleted] »

SamPatt wrote: post #58
topspin wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably the former but possibly the latter. Sometimes "conditions" are such that a tiny amount of power will go a very long way. Right now, near the peak of the solar cycle, 4 watt CB radios are sometimes heard thousands of miles away.

It might be possible those CBs heard that far away are actually 4 watts - but it's much more likely they're illegally boosting their output. Still, you're totally right that in ideal conditions propagation can be astounding.

[deleted]

Re: MFJ is ceasing its on-site production

#64

Post by Dalewyn »

michaelbuckbee wrote: post #4

I'm not a Ham, but my grandfather (W8IGY) was, and I credit him for letting me know a larger, more technical community existed "out there" than what was apparent from the small rural town I grew up in the pre-internet days. Ham radio's time has come and gone, but I still treasure the memories of listening to him talk to people all over the world. MFJ shutting down is likely one of the final nails in the coffin, but I…

>Ham radio's time has come and gone,

To me this is more a sign that western manufacturing's time has come and gone.

The ham world is buzzing as of late with how cheap, Chinese manufacturers are taking the market by storm from incumbent manufacturers on both sides (US and Japan) of the pacific. It's both grim and bittersweet because the hams admit their quality is good enough while being so much cheaper and easier to acquire.

Source: Dad is ham, overhear conversations of such from his comms and in radio shops; catalogs from HRO and the like are now half Chinese.

Re: MFJ is ceasing its on-site production

#65

Post by hallway_monitor »

germinator wrote: post #43
topspin wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing to remember about ham radio is that there is a bit of natural bias in the demographic: a lot of the stuff involved requires a certain minimum amount of things that older people tend to have. Property being one of the keys. HF antennas, towers, etc. are essentially outlawed by HOAs and entirely infeasible for renters. Some of the equipment is pricey as well. You can do a lot at low cost and without property,…

Eh. It might be a part of it, but the hobby just lost its luster. It used to be this magical way to connect with friends and strangers. Now, cell phones and the internet make it a lot less magical. Other aspects of the hobby aged poorly too. The ham community (and the regulators) were slow to embrace use cases that might have been interesting to younger people in the 21th century - say, mesh networking. Instead, the…

I agree. Got into it during COVID - it was really fun learning about radios, RF, building antennas and stuff. But when it actually came to using it....there's not much to do unless you really get a kick out of making contact with random people who are far away and getting points for that to win contests. It is nice to know that I can communicate thousands of miles with no infrastructure but currently I don't have a need for that.

Re: MFJ is ceasing its on-site production

#66

Post by rpcope1 »

wl wrote: post #61
alostpuppy wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does one get started?

A lot of people will tell you to study for the technician exam, take the test, and buy a Baofeng handheld radio. The end result of that is usually that the new licensee keys up a local repeater a few times, doesn't find a community they want to be a part of, and the radio collects dust. Instead, I suggest finding local ham clubs and seeking out experience with different parts of the hobby. Find people who chase DX (l…

As someone who listens but doesn't transmit, some of the most fun is actually chasing shortwave pirates around 6.950 MHz. There are a lot of fun radio shows that people put on, and I guess the FCC doesn't seem to care too much what happens below 40m. It might take some of the fun out of it, but it would be really cool to see some of that legalized as a form of amateur non-commercial music broadcast.

Re: MFJ is ceasing its on-site production

#67

Post by fortran77 »

SamPatt wrote: post #33
michaelbuckbee wrote: post #4

I'm not a Ham, but my grandfather (W8IGY) was, and I credit him for letting me know a larger, more technical community existed "out there" than what was apparent from the small rural town I grew up in the pre-internet days. Ham radio's time has come and gone, but I still treasure the memories of listening to him talk to people all over the world. MFJ shutting down is likely one of the final nails in the coffin, but I…

I'm a ham. I communicated with someone 8,000 miles away from me (Midwest US to South Africa) by bouncing radio waves off the ionosphere from an antenna I built myself using as much power as a light bulb. The hobby is definitely dying, but it still provides some awesome moments. Tons of nerds here would find it time well spent.

My WSPR beacon is routinely heard at a research base in Antarctica.
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