Ham Radio operators

Having reserved 787 TGIF talk group specifically for ham radio I have started to interest a few friends who are into MSFS 2020 Flight simulator to actually get a basic Ham radio licence and get into digital radio at least. Then we could do some multiplayer using 787 TGIF as a private DMR talkgroup.

 

So I am throwing this out just to see if we might have any Hams interested in the two hobbies. Doing MSFS 2020 with hams would be a blast and and might encourage some members of either hobby to go for another hobby area. John VE7QJD

 

FYI An example of a reasonably cheap DMR radio --all you need .

OMG! I was active in ham radio back in the 40's - 50's, does it still exist with internet and all?

There are a lot of hams who also flight sim and there are several on this forum too :)

 

73 Steve G7RTA

OMG! I was active in ham radio back in the 40's - 50's, does it still exist with internet and all?

 

Yes, and while the old SSB and CW stuff is still alive and well, there are many digital modes, too, some using the internet combined with OTA.

 

73 de N8GGG

Sounds cool. My ham radio hobby is kind of dormant right now ever since a tornado in 2018 wiped out all my antennas. I got the insurance money but decided just to put my equipment in storage until we move to our retirement home (as yet not found) in Arkansas or Tennessee.

 

I do miss it though and this sounds like something I could mess with without having to put up an antenna farm!

 

73 de N9RZF

I was more of a bacon guy, than a ham!:rolleyes:

 

KA6GRH (inactive for a long time)

I was more of a bacon guy, than a ham!:rolleyes:

 

KA6GRH (inactive for a long time)

 

Sausage for me -- patties, that is, no links please :cool:...

 

At my local flying club I think almost half the active members are also hams.

 

Yes, I, too, have seen a lot of pilots who are hams. Riding motorcycles is another common pilot/ham activity.

Edited February 23, 2022 by lnuss

You bet and the digital side makes it so much easier, you can still old school if desired but through the internet there are thousands of digital talk groups all over the world.

 

OMG! I was active in ham radio back in the 40's - 50's, does it still exist with internet and all?

Yup--very simple and quite a number of new Hams only do digital--need a raspberry Pi driven hotspot (or local VHF access that does digital DMR or DSTAR links) and one radio handheld such as Anytone 878 and then go digital either through a local VHF access link or as I do just through my own hotspot and home internet.

Sounds cool. My ham radio hobby is kind of dormant right now ever since a tornado in 2018 wiped out all my antennas. I got the insurance money but decided just to put my equipment in storage until we move to our retirement home (as yet not found) in Arkansas or Tennessee.

 

I do miss it though and this sounds like something I could mess with without having to put up an antenna farm!

 

73 de N9RZF

Yes, and while the old SSB and CW stuff is still alive and well, there are many digital modes, too, some using the internet combined with OTA.

 

73 de N8GGG

 

Are the 80, 40, 20, and 10m shortwave bands still available for ham radio?

 

73 from former OZ8JO

Certainly they are, even 160 meters, and 6 and up. You can see the entire U.S. amateur band plan, from 23cm down to 2200 meters at: https://www.icomamerica.com/en/amateur/amateurtools/US-BandPlan-Update-1-2020.pdf

 

de N8GGG

I fondly recall the late 50's, early 60s when my brothers and I would hunker down next to dad's Zenith Transoceanic radio, with all the switches and dials, and seek out transmissions from distant lands. Fast forward to this decade and I was just having a lovely Zoom video call with a relative in Germany, with the constant option of listening to various live broadcasts over the internet from across the globe.

 

The advances in technology give us geezers pause, admiration and gratitude. Heck, 'high-tech' when I went through high school was a slide rule.

Another couple of modes I should mention are echolink and IRLP. echolink can be accessed from your computer, while IRLP is generally accessed via a repeater. I've actually sat on my porch with a handheld VHF (2M) radio and talked to Great Britain and Australia via IRLP, just talking on a local repeater.

 

Heck, 'high-tech' when I went through high school was a slide rule.

Ahh yes, slide rules. What a marvelous invention. No electricity needed, portable (even in a pocket), and fairly fast, once you learned how to use them. But it DID require some time to learn how, even though the principle (same as on an E6B, which is a circular, specialized slide rule) is pretty straight forward. Also only accurate to three significant figures, for the most part, but so often that's all that's needed.

 

It was about the time my second son was born that I encountered the first affordable (more or less) electronic calculator.

I got my first slide rule as a senior in high school. It was a fantastic tool! I made it through a major university with a degree in science, using just a slide rule. I also had a circular version as well as the more common stick (I think I still have 3 slide rules). My first professional job, I was issued a HP45 calculator, which was about $500.00 at that time. I was doing math intensive engineering work. The summer after high school, I got to work in a chemistry lab for the summer. This was 1966. They had a HUGE mechanical calculator that was the size of a large microwave oven. It was slow and very loud. The HP45 was much more powerful than the old mechanical, and didn't make any noise. When the 80286 came out, I got my first PC, complete with a math chip and a giant 24 MB HDD. The salesperson assured me I would NEVER use all that HD space. Edited February 24, 2022 by plainsman

This baby look familiar?

 

That looks a lot thinner than the one we had in that lab. It could do square roots as well as add subtract multiply and divide. The HP45 had all the log functions built in. You had to learn Reverse Polish Notation.

That looks a lot thinner than the one we had in that lab. It could do square roots as well as add subtract multiply and divide. The HP45 had all the log functions built in. You had to learn Reverse Polish Notation.

 

That's an old Frieden/Singer STW10 calculator. Does square root and all the other stuff. I worked for the company back in '72-76. I didn't work on calculators. I was in a different division.

 

Edited February 24, 2022 by mrzippy

...

 

It was about the time my second son was born that I encountered the first affordable (more or less) electronic calculator.

 

I intended to add that it was a Unisonic 757 "desktop" but could run off of either batteries (4 C) or 120V AC.

There are a lot of hams who also flight sim and there are several on this forum too :)

 

73 Steve G7RTA

 

HA HA

 

we have squawk box now anyone using it?

Here was the first LED electronic one (I think) offered to the general public back in 1973 or 74. The company offered us employees an generous discount on it $84. Price was about $130. Mine is still in my drawer!

 

My wife's first husband was into ham radio. I think if I bought one of those she would be my ex wife pretty quickly as she hated him more than anything. :)

 

But I would otherwise because I used to be a radio operator on patrol boats and it was good. What is wrong with using Discord or another of the many voice apps instead?

Nothing at all-- Life is full of options.

My wife's first husband was into ham radio. I think if I bought one of those she would be my ex wife pretty quickly as she hated him more than anything. :)

 

But I would otherwise because I used to be a radio operator on patrol boats and it was good. What is wrong with using Discord or another of the many voice apps instead?

Interesting to see how many of us are real old-timers with related hobbies. However, I sense a real lack of youngsters in the flightsim hobby, they seem to be more drawn to current fantasy games with heavy content of lightly clad young women.

I spent since the early 90's listening to Art Bell the King of Ham radio! RIP old boy.....