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My late grandfather (mom's dad) was a Ham Radio operator all of his life, from teens until his death at 93 (about 6 years ago. When I was about 8 or 9, I remember walking into his radio room while he was on the radio with a nice guy from the middle east, so he had me chatting too. It wasn't until I was much older that I finally realized that I had been chatting with the late King Hussin of Jordon!!!!
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Wow Michele that is something!!! Imagine talking to a king.... Can someone tell me what a ham radio is??? I've heard of them before but never really knew what they were....
Seeded: 63.49.143.176
quote:Originally posted by loz: Wow Michele that is something!!! Imagine talking to a king.... Can someone tell me what a ham radio is??? I've heard of them before but never really knew what they were....
I'm a ham. For the past 9 years. Callsign is KB2SMS. Ham radio is another name for amateur radio. For more info on it you can check out:
I've talked to people ALL over the world and I even talked to an astronaut living on the Russian Space station Mir, which was brought down a few years ago. You can hear that contact on my web site:
Ham radio is fun and also helps out in times of disasters and emergencies. It's a fun hobby.
Tom
* * * * My memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Plants: 233 | From: Dutchess county,N.Y. | Registered: Oct 2003
| Seeded: 157.15.37.204
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Liked your site Tom. My Grandfater's call sign was W3QLW and he lived in Honesdale, PA. I don't know if the "Hams" still do this, but they used to send out little postcards to each other to verify contacts with other countries. I think my Grandpa had like 106 countries that he had spoken to someone in. He enjoyed being a "ham" very much, even though in the last few years of his life, he was too sick to get on the radio very often.
quote:Originally posted by mich168: Liked your site Tom. My Grandfater's call sign was W3QLW and he lived in Honesdale, PA. I don't know if the "Hams" still do this, but they used to send out little postcards to each other to verify contacts with other countries. I think my Grandpa had like 106 countries that he had spoken to someone in. He enjoyed being a "ham" very much, even though in the last few years of his life, he was too sick to get on the radio very often.
Yes, we still send out cards, they are called QSL cards. I have a few from my Mir contacts and a few Space shuttle contacts as well using a digital mode called packet. Packet is kind of like using a BBS, remember those before the internet? You "dial in", connect then get a special contact number. In this case dialing in means sending a request to connect to the shuttle's ham radio packet computer. If it hears you it connects you, gives you the number and then disconnects you so someone else can get a contact. Neat!
Some celebrities that are hams are Joe Walsh, Patty Loveless, Barry Goldwater was a ham, Lance Bass from In Sync became a ham a year or so ago in preparation for his cancelled space flight,Walter Cronkite is a ham, NBC Science reporter Roy Niel (he passed away this year), etc. There's a whole list on the net.
Tom
* * * * My memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Plants: 233 | From: Dutchess county,N.Y. | Registered: Oct 2003
| Seeded: 216.221.131.251
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Tom, Is that the radio type used in the movie made many years ago, called Red Dawn, where we were invaded and didn't they use them to contact everyone.??
I know they used them in the movie "Independence Day"....
Weezie
* * * * Weezie
Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. - Bible - Hebrews 13:2
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Tom thanks for the explanation....I find it fascinating that you could talk to people all over the world.....heck, they must be pretty powerful radios right???
Seeded: 63.49.143.137
quote:Originally posted by weezie13: Tom, Is that the radio type used in the movie made many years ago, called Red Dawn, where we were invaded and didn't they use them to contact everyone.??
I know they used them in the movie "Independence Day"....
Weezie
Not sure about Read Dawn, I never saw that one. There was a movie a few years ago that featured ham radio but I'll be darned if I can remember the name of it at the moment. Anyone who watches the show "Insomniac" with Dave Atell on Comedy Central would have seen a bit of ham radio in a recent show where he went to Ireland. Dave stopped into a ham's home over there and he let Dave talk to folks back in America. I was surprised to see that on the show! Dave's funny as hell.
Tom
* * * * My memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Plants: 233 | From: Dutchess county,N.Y. | Registered: Oct 2003
| Seeded: 216.221.137.153
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Tom, We don't get comedy central anymore, with the package we got, used to watch a few shows on there.... Funny older shows, that were like from outter space or futuristic shows, and then one guy and two robot like puppets sit next to him and critic the show and add funny and not so funny comments to it. Like they'd be sitting at it like a movie theatre.
For your Ham radio can you get like weather stations/? for emergency's and things like that? Up on the hill where we used to live, the guy acrossed the street is very big into them. I will have to find out his number............. He loves it, talks to alot of people around the world.
Weezie
* * * * Weezie
Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. - Bible - Hebrews 13:2
quote:Originally posted by weezie13: Tom, We don't get comedy central anymore, with the package we got, used to watch a few shows on there.... Funny older shows, that were like from outter space or futuristic shows, and then one guy and two robot like puppets sit next to him and critic the show and add funny and not so funny comments to it. Like they'd be sitting at it like a movie theatre.
For your Ham radio can you get like weather stations/? for emergency's and things like that? Up on the hill where we used to live, the guy acrossed the street is very big into them. I will have to find out his number............. He loves it, talks to alot of people around the world.
Weezie
There is a ham radio activity called "Skywarn" which is a weather spotting net used during severe weather events like tornados,hurricanes,etc. We relay info to the National Weather Service. For instance, radar can see a strom cell but can't see the individual *parts* of it so we relay what the cells are doing. For instance, a thunderstorm cell can produce what they call a wall cloud at it's base. It looks like a big round protrusion coming out of the base of the cell. If it starts to slowly rotate it is an indication that conditions are very possible for a tornado to form. Radar can't see this wall cloud. Weather spotters can so we relay this info to them so they know what's happening and can warn the public. Actually anyone can take these Skywarn coarses, your local NWS should be able to provide the info.
Do a Google search on Skywarn for more info.
Tom
* * * * My memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Plants: 233 | From: Dutchess county,N.Y. | Registered: Oct 2003
| Seeded: 216.221.131.170
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Tom, I will take a peak at it tonight. After dinner. Sounds very interesting... We have alot of outages sometimes with electricity, and have wondered about such. No tornado's or anything here oH, maybe the tip of one, once in a while. Just Blizzard's!!!! Weezie
* * * * Weezie
Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. - Bible - Hebrews 13:2
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There was a movie a few years ago that featured ham radio but I'll be darned if I can remember the name of it at the moment
The movie was called "Frequency" I think it came out in 2000???
We don't get comedy central anymore, with the package we got, used to watch a few shows on there.... Funny older shows, that were like from outter space or futuristic shows, and then one guy and two robot like puppets sit next to him and critic the show and add funny and not so funny comments to it. Like they'd be sitting at it like a movie theatre.
That's "The Mystery Science Theater" it used to be on the Si-Fi channel!
quote:Originally posted by mich168: There was a movie a few years ago that featured ham radio but I'll be darned if I can remember the name of it at the moment
The movie was called "Frequency" I think it came out in 2000???
We don't get comedy central anymore, with the package we got, used to watch a few shows on there.... Funny older shows, that were like from outter space or futuristic shows, and then one guy and two robot like puppets sit next to him and critic the show and add funny and not so funny comments to it. Like they'd be sitting at it like a movie theatre.
That's "The Mystery Science Theater" it used to be on the Si-Fi channel!
Oh yeah, MST3000! I LOVED that show! They put out a book a few years back autographed, I bought one. The fan club is still around and still sells DVDs,videos and other stuff MST related. Wonder what the cast is doing now? I didn't see the movie "Frequency". HEard about it though.
Tom
* * * * My memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Plants: 233 | From: Dutchess county,N.Y. | Registered: Oct 2003
| Seeded: 157.15.37.223
posted
My late Father was into Ham Radio's big time. He loved it and us kid's found it intresting to listen to the radio with him. Laura
Seeded: 170.215.46.91
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Can someone tell me what a ham radio is??? I've heard of them before but never really knew what they were.... ![[dunno]](graemlins/dunno.gif)
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