Mentoring = spend a lot of money

I came across this article by K0NR at hamradioschool.com, which is supposed to be a site that eases new licensees into the hobby. That's something that's sorely needed. There's a whole lot of stuff on the internet aimed at getting your licence, and more about selling you stuff, but not much about actually getting on the air and enjoying things. Instead, you find cranky old guys snarling at you because you violated some unwritten rule and you sour on the whole thing. I guess that, traditionally, ham radio clubs were supposed to fill this gap. But, as I outlined previously, that kind of "help" is very selective and sporadic.

When I came across K0NR's article, I fumed. It hit a large number of buttons. It's more designed to immerse a new ham into the "upsell" mentality permeating the hobby, rather than inform and advise.

In our Technician License classes, we encourage people to get a 2M/70 cm handheld transceiver as their first ham radio. This gets them on the air and using their new Technician privileges quickly. But, of course, this pipsqueak of a radio can only do so much.

Of course, that radio that was supposed to be your ticket to the world of ham radio is suddenly a mere "pipsqueak" now that you've taken the plunge. It can only do so much. Yeah, and that new car that you bought can't function as a submarine, so it's really crippled. It's not enough that you're on the air. You may enjoy talking to local people on the repeaters, but that's just because you don't know any better.

The next step in radio equipment depends on where you want to go with your ham radio activity. One avenue is to establish a more capable VHF/UHF FM station at home. Sometimes we refer to VHF/UHF FM as the Utility Mode for ham radio. While we don’t normally work DX with this mode, a lot of fun and useful ham radio activity gets done this way. A handheld transceiver is a start but with limited power and antenna, its range will also be limited.

OMG! My handheld radio's range is limited! I never knew that. Surely, I must get a radio that has unlimited range. Oh, and when we told you that getting a licence would make you an amateur radio operator, we didn't mean a real ham radio operator. You're just in the utility mode. If you want to play with the big boys -- and you know that you do -- then you've gotta spend a lot more money. Unless you don't want to be cool, of course. See, you thought this was all about talking to people. Yep, that's a common misconception with newbies. Once you get experienced, you'll find that it's about minimising the communication. Instead, it's about very short and meaningless exchanges with people as far away as possible. Sure, your cell phone and the internet can do that really well, but this is a radio, so it's really cool to do an easy thing with incredible difficulty and expense. You want to be cool like K0NR, right? You want K0NR's elderly buddies to think you're cool, don't you? Back in the day, there wasn't any good alternative, so we have to pretend that we live in the past. You'll understand once you spend a couple grand, but we're still in the early stages here.

Working through repeaters helps a lot but it is important to have useful simplex coverage. Think in terms of a worst case scenario, with all repeaters off the air due to severe weather or some other emergency situation.

Why is it important to have simplex coverage? For emergencies! I can count on one hand the number of people I have heard on simplex, and two of them weren't even hams. So it's not common. Yeah, somebody will tell you about that one buddy of theirs who used simplex twenty years ago, but like all stories told by geezers, it's a wash. So let's examine the ever-popular "emergency scenario", which ham radio apparently lives for. Okay, "severe weather or some other emergency situation" has knocked out every single repeater. Wow, that's bad. By some odd coincidence, however, you still have power to run your expensive and more-powerful simplex radio. Sure. And, even though all of the repeaters have lost their antennas, yours is still in great shape. That's just the way things work. Telephone service is out. Cell towers are down. But your little space is hunky-dory. Hey, let's look at K0NR's proposed antenna that will survive where repeaters and cell towers fail:
      

See how sturdy that is? Remember, this is what's gonna make the difference between that "limited" handheld and your shiny, new "unlimited" radio in an emergency. Because your "unlimited" radio is worthless without the antenna. K0NR doesn't mention that. He also doesn't explain how you get your HOA or landlord to approve that antenna. Because real hams live in single-family homes with big yards for their HF antennas. That wasn't in the exam, was it? If you have a really good imagination, you can figure out how to fit that pictured antenna into an attic, which is the fall-back scheme. All apartment buildings have attics, right? Landlords don't care what you do with them, either. HOAs that control everything are mysteriously silent when it comes to attics, too. 

Unsurprisingly, K0NR then goes on to recommend a $400 dual-band radio and a $120 antenna. Don't forget the $100 power supply (Switching? Really?), and you can set up your emergency simplex station for just over $600. There are cheaper Chinese radios, of course. But Bob doesn't play with cheap toys. You need something really good, because there are huge emergencies like every single week, you know.

I notice that K0NR kind of glossed over why you need a dual-band radio for emergencies. UHF simplex is a joke, because nobody uses it. Here in MN, there is only one frequency allocated for UHF simplex, and it's done somewhat grudgingly, with a comment about the limited range of UHF. Now, I could see the need to communicate with GMRS/FRS radios on UHF, but K0NR's wondrous $600 radio can't do that because those aren't amateur radio frequencies. Your cheaper Chinese alternative radio can do that, though. Really, if you are so isolated that you have only one repeater and have to rely on 50W VHF simplex, what is UHF supposed to do for you?

Some people will argue for just getting a single-band radio for 2 Meters. This is a less expensive way to go but I recommend getting a dualband radio that covers the two most popular FM bands: 2 Meters (146 MHz) and 70 cm (440 MHz). In most areas of the country, this sets you up to access a lot more repeaters and simplex frequencies.

So, UHF opens you up to "a lot more repeaters and simplex frequencies"? Yeah, but Bob....this is all assuming that repeaters are wiped out, remember? And there is only one UHF simplex frequency here. Is a one "a lot"? I wouldn't say "most of the country", either. Certainly, Wisconsin has a state-wide UHF repeater network. But that's just more of a case to have a monoband UHF radio there. Weird how the WI hams put their trust in UHF repeaters, isn't it? They don't know how unreliable they are, apparently. In "most of the country", if an area isn't covered by VHF, it's not likely to be covered by UHF repeaters. I would be interested in knowing how many hams here in MN even know what the UHF simplex frequency is. With the extra money that you save on a monoband rig, you could get a six or ten meter radio that could be useful in an emergency with a roll-up J-pole or tuned whip. But it wouldn't be one of the expensive rigs that Bob likes. Even if you were tied to UHF for emergencies, I could see a stronger case for a $30 UHF beam than the $120 dual-band antenna that K0NR proposes. Hell, just put a $30 roll-up J-pole on a $3 PVC pipe for your dual-band antenna. Then use your UHF beam to hit distant repeaters (or those few on UHF simplex), and you're pretty much getting by at half-price at lower power. If you have any brains at all, you can conceal that J-pole in the roof, under the eaves (or in the attic), or just drop it out of a window and you have no difficulties with your landlord or HOA. Next, cut that $400 in half with a Chinese radio and spend an extra $100 on a linear power supply. You can buy a couple marine gel cell batteries with the money left over, and have something useful in an emergency. Hey, that's actual mentoring. Maybe I should just parrot conventional wisdom like K0NR does: solution to problem = spend a lot of money.

I suppose that we can look forward to K0NR's future article about how you need an all-mode dual-band radio if you want to hang with the cool kids. Hey, you can always sell that $400 FM radio you just bought to some other newbie schmuck, amirite? Think about the emergency situation, buddy, and max out that credit card. Don't get left out! There's SSB, CW, and PSK31 out there -- along with an Apocalypse that will need some guy with a radio.

But is it good enough to work simplex 40 or 50 miles on FM or SSB? After that, you totally need a 10 meter rig for the really big disaster. And, as long as you've spent a grand, you might as well upgrade to General Class for the 10 meter FM privileges. Then you'll be a real ham. Yeah, I know that we said you were a real ham every time that you dropped a bundle of cash before, but there's real hams and real hams, if you know what I mean. And a real ham like you should be looking at a HF rig. For emergencies. But, you should do it right. Count on spending $4k. Maybe more. Remember those emergencies. And one for your car. And another for your lake home. Real hams have lake homes, after all.

Here's my "emergency station". I use my Puxing dual-band handheld (PX-888K). It's battery is already charged, and I have a spare that I keep charged. Because I actually use it. And, if the power goes out, it still works just fine. And I have a Wagan PowerDome as a backup supply. Then I have a mag-mount dual-band antenna that I put on my balcony -- because I live in a condo, Bob, like a fake ham. There isn't an attic. Sheesh.

If there isn't someone within 10 miles of me on either band in the city, then it must be one hell of a disaster. I think that, in that case, I'll have bigger problems than trying to talk to some geezer on simplex.

Also, most of the repeaters in my area have emergency power backups, and I'm pretty sure that the clubs operating them have a plan in place for emergencies. Emergency use is the big selling point to get approval for most repeater sites. There has to be at least eight UHF repeaters that I can hit with my "rubber duck" antenna from my living room. Are they all going to go down? Gosh, that would leave me with only the seven VHF repeaters that I can reach from my living room. I might have to put my mag-mount antenna on the balcony and reach six more (five more on UHF). Yeah, that's with my "pipsqueak" handheld. Gee, this hypothetical disaster has wiped out all of those repeaters. I'm sure anyone that I would talk to on simplex would be in great shape, though. Because....delusion, that's why.

We just had a really big storm here on the Solstice. One of the local repeaters was down for a couple of hours. I think it was the UHF HandiHam repeater. Imagine going a couple of hours without one of several repeaters being active! You'd sure wish you had spent $600 then, wouldn't you? I'm not sure why, because there was nobody on simplex then. But, yeah, let's fear-monger. I'm scared, Bob! How much money will it take to make the fear go away?

Why in the world would I need to reach someone 50 miles away? What are they going to do for me in an emergency? Realistically, they are going to give me nothing more than the publicly-available information that I can get from my weather radio, FM/AM station, or TV: stay calm and stay home. You are far better off in an emergency being able to talk to people close to you. They can tell you which roads are blocked, which areas have power, how much damage there is, etc. way better than some guy 50 miles away with his $600 simplex station. Good thing you have that "pipsqueak" handheld.

Look, this isn't the 1950's any more. There are redundant communication networks. Sure, in earthquakes or something like that, there will be problems. But cell networks stayed up through Hurricane Sandy in a lot of affected areas. In my area, there are repeaters run by the County for emergencies. They must be pretty stupid, because they didn't read K0NR's epistle of doom about how fragile repeaters are. These emergency preparedness specialists are counting on repeaters just like they're some kind of idiots with a pipsqueak FM handheld.

There's way, way too much "upselling" going on in the ham radio world. And it's deceptive, because nobody tells the people that they've browbeaten into getting a licence that they are going to continue to be pressured to spend multiple thousands until they die. You never hear about people who are just content with their inexpensive set up. You always hear about the guy drooling over the new radio, or the bigger antenna, or the latest gimmick.

The "limitations" that I face with my "pipsqueak" handheld are not those of range. It's being limited by the numbers and types of people that I can talk to. Buying a more powerful radio is not going to make the people that I talk to more interesting, nor is it going to make more people populate the repeaters.

Ham radio simply cannot compete with newer technology on range, yet that is exactly what the old-timers have chosen to do. The advantage that ham radio has over the newer technology is that you can talk to people that you don't already know. Sure, I can call someone that I know in Hong Kong on my cell very easily and cheaply. But I don't want to randomly dial numbers in Hong Kong and see who is up for a chat, do I?

Okay, so you spoke with someone in Slovenia. Cool. You must have learned about the lifestyle, politics, culture and unique challenges that average Slovenians face, right? Nope. You got a signal report and the temperature. Hey, can I get in on that? That sounds really interesting. I never knew that Slovenians had radios before. It's suddenly very important to me that I determine how many other people in different countries have functioning radios, and I'm willing to spend large sums and endless hours to do that. As long as I don't have to actually engage in conversation, of course. That's just boring.

To compound the idiocy, let's scowl about people that use the internet in conjunction with their radios. You know...Echolink. Cheaters. Losers. Those people just want to talk to other people, but real hams are all about the important work of enumerating the number of functioning radios in the world at any given moment. That's where the action is at. You can't do that with your cell phone or the internet.

Yeah, that's really our plan for the hobby in the 21st century, folks. How could it possibly fail?

And I'm not saying that there's anything inherently wrong with people that are in the hobby for that. It's just a really lousy marketing pitch, and it's made by people who are incredibly out of touch and who use ham radio to isolate themselves from the real world. When horses replaced cars, nobody tried to sell horse ownership as an emergency plan, and they didn't try to make horseback sound more convenient than auto travel. This upselling just makes ham radio seem less attractive, because people inevitably read stuff like K0NR's article and figure out that it isn't really about a $50 handheld. It's the thin edge of a wedge that will cost you a lot of money to do what you really can just do with your "pipsqueak" radio: talk to people.