Posted: 5/22/2014 8:13:02 PM EDT
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For the first time in a long time, I had the chance to play radio tonight. Like maybe 6-9 months. Life has just dictated other priorities. Made contacts in Israel, Czech, and was working on Japan on 20m. Some lid decided he was going to tune up over the top of everybody w/ a MW. Took me 5 min to remember how to hit the ANF. Simple, one button function, and this extra couldn't remember... Now, I've never been one of the sharpest knives in the drawer, but I do have quite a bit of time on this rig. Or so I thought. For whatever reason, my first thought in frustration was of the folks who post here. The ones who "need" to have contact with random other UN-practiced people within 500 miles at any time of day under any conditions w/ an HT, asking what gear they should buy without ever using it, for when "SHTF" happens. I feel bad for those guys, if they buy all of this stuff and never use it. Their probability of success has to be close to zero. And I never did get Japan, he faded before I could break the pile up...  |
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For the first time in a long time, I had the chance to play radio tonight. Like maybe 6-9 months. Life has just dictated other priorities. Made contacts in Israel, Czech, and was working on Japan on 20m. Some lid decided he was going to tune up over the top of everybody w/ a MW. Took me 5 min to remember how to hit the ANF. Simple, one button function, and this extra couldn't remember... Now, I've never been one of the sharpest knives in the drawer, but I do have quite a bit of time on this rig. Or so I thought. For whatever reason, my first thought in frustration was of the folks who post here. The ones who "need" to have contact with random other UN-practiced people within 500 miles at any time of day under any conditions w/ an HT, asking what gear they should buy without ever using it, for when "SHTF" happens. I feel bad for those guys, if they buy all of this stuff and never use it. Their probability of success has to be close to zero. And I never did get Japan, he faded before I could break the pile up...
"as we forgive those who trespass against us" |
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We know shooting is a perishable skill. Take a few months off with your weapon system (hate that term but it fits here), then pick it up again and your skill level is nowhere near where it was before. I see it at the matches all the time. Come spring after the winter layoff the number of errors I see is off the chart. Couple months later after a bit of trigger time and everybody is back in the groove. Skill goes up through the summer and by fall everybody is on top of their game. Then the winter layoff and the cycle starts again.
Radio is the same. Whether remembering which button to push to eliminate QRM or staying in practice to maintain your 12wpm CW, you've got to practice the art to stay proficient at it. Yeah it's a hard pill to swallow for some that wander to our corner of ARFCOM when we tell them that yeah you have to be licensed and then you have to operate to stay proficient. Yeah you have to know the bare basics of radio theory. Yeah that $30 HT you just bought on Amazon isn't going to do 300 mile local comms when the SHTF. I do give credit to all on this board in that we as a group don't sugar coat it. Here's the reality and here's what you need to do to do what you requested. |
Lately, I've been concentrating on chasing WAS on CW and SSB. About a week ago, I decided to jump back on the digital modes for the first time in a couple of months. It took me a few minutes to remember how to set up the radio to operate on the digital modes. Not hard, but it was something I had to stop and think about. Anyway, on my first transmission, I realized that I was blasting 100 watts into JT65. Whoops. 
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I wrote up and printed out some cheat sheets on how to set up switching between modes - SSB, Digi, CW. Helped me out after a long hiatus, and originally was meant to help the wife in the unlikely event she needed to use the HF in an emergency.
They all start with "Plug in the antenna wire labeled _____". |
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First of all, how old are you? If the answer is over 50, I got some bad news: It ain't gonna get any better!
http://ootc.us/ Tube rigs I can operate because I grew up with them. I have to sit and stare at my IC-746 and K3 for a few moments before I fire them up to re-familiarize myself with the controls. |
It is a perishable skill. As of late about my only operating time for hf is on field day. Talk all the time on simplex vhf but have no time to get everything set back up much less time to operate working two jobs. My kit is still all together from field day last year. So I will have little packing to do this year. 
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One of the reasons I love the PRC 320. Nothing to relearn. Yes, it really IS that simple. I'd forget the 7200 in a couple of months if I didn't use it so often. 70's and 80's Milpacks for the win... They may not be sexy, but a cavman (or infantryman) can operate one... |
You know, the only radio I always forget how to use is my IC-7000 in the truck. I've had this radio for 5+ years and can never remember which menu level to go to change basic settings. I was trying to call a DX operating SPLIT the other day on my way from work. 10 minutes later I was still confused and embarrassed. I never had this problem with any of my other radios.
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