11mo ago

Regaining interest in amateur radio

I'm wondering what you guys suggest to regain my interest in this hobby. I got my certification last fall (live in US) and was excited to learn the concepts and start using a radio. But after passing that my interest has dropped.

I don't have a radio club nearby or much money to spend on equipment. I had a UV-5R for a while but sold it recently since I needed the $ at the time. I was thinking of getting a slightly better handheld, and the idea of building a mobile station in my car is appealing. When I scanned the air with my baofeng I picked up some chatter every few days but could barely make it out. I also have a SDR that I connect to my computer and pick up some local FM stations.

I've heard that a club is the best way to get into it. The closest club is farther than I can usually drive with my work/life committments but I want to start trying to go at least once every few month. Are there any projects I could do on my own that could be exciting?

Thanks for your help.

11 comments

Amateur Radio is a niche hobby full of niches; most of them require a radio. Here's one list of things you can do with/in Amateur Radio:
🔗 https://hamradiofornontechies.com/what-can-i-do-with-ham-radio/
Clubs are highly overrated. They are only beneficial if your interests in Amateur Radio coincide with a sizable segment of the club membership or with the club's purpose. In my case our club is `primarily a social outlet for disheveled old folks who are only interested in DXing and contests; not my cup of tea.
- I'd second that amateur radio is way more than just chatting. There are so many digital modes, SDR, etc that can be explored. May be worth getting a mobile rig that can be pulled out and used in the QTH as well.
  As a ham I'm helping right now to establish a backbone of Meshtastic radios across our city. It's not ham radio, but it is something I can use my ham experience to build out and support others.
  Personally I've been enjoying VarAc on HF for long range comms on low power, but I see they just standardised on some 2m and 70cm frequencies too, which I still want to try out.
- if your club sucks, contribute and make it better!
  That's an idiotic, and more than a little bit insulting, kneejerk response.
  You have no idea what I do for my club.

First of all, this is a hobby, your hobby, so there's no "should" anywhere. It's entirely driven by you. The fact that you're here is a good indication that you're still interested in the idea of what amateur radio means to you, but it appears that you haven't found something that tickles your fancy.
Listening with an RTL-SDR dongle or an online websdr are great places to start. There's gobs of free software around for all platforms including mobile phones. These are "low barrier to entry" activities. Going to hamfests, subscribing to email discussion lists, reading newsletters, joining clubs as a remote member are slightly more involved.
I've spent the past 13 or so years wandering around the hobby and playing with the things that come across my path. I started documenting it and continue to do so in a weekly podcast "Foundations of Amateur Radio" (previously called "What use is an F-call?") They're available as audio, video, text, email and ebook as well as on several social media platforms. I also document all the other stuff I get up to within this amazing hobby: http://vk6flab.com
I host a weekly net where new and returning amateurs come for a chat, every Saturday for an hour at 00:00 UTC - called F-troop. You can participate without a radio, using software called Echolink or Allstar. http://ftroop.groups.io
The point I'm making is that there's literally thousands of things to do and people to ask.
Ask yourself what "exciting" means to YOU. Perhaps that will give you some ideas for your next adventure.
Welcome to the community. Stick around, it's loads of fun!
73 de Onno VK6FLAB

Can I recommend Meshtastic? The gear is all cheap. And it's a fun collaborative project to try to build a mesh with other nearby users.

Make a 2 meter 70 cm Yagi antenna and start talking on the satellites like SO-50. It's so much fun.

First of all, congrats on being able to sell a used UV-5R. They're worth literally nothing used, so you must have some mad salesmanship skills.
But since you had to sell your 'Feng to make ends meet, you might want to just sit back a bit before getting back into the hobby. It can be done very inexpensively, but that's relative, and someone who is hurting enough for an extra $5-10 to sell their Baofeng definitely can't afford what it would take to get more active in amateur radio.
I know this probably isn't what you were hoping to hear, but other than showing up to club meetings there isn't much you can do that won't cost more than the $20 to buy another UV-5R. Even homebrew projects like building antennas for your SDR will cost at least that much.

Not strictly amateur radio but RTL-SDR projects are cheap and fun.
- I'm hosting an OpenWebRx+ receiver using an SDR dongle. Quite a few of our local hams use it when travelling to listen in to our local bulletins. It even now has basic text chatting on it, for them to "call in".

Some clubs meet in person and on zoom simultaneously, does your local one? I'd get in contact with them anyway, someone might have a loaner rig you can use to get on the air and see what interests you the most.
Parks on the Air and Summits on the Air are popular an a lot of fun, but you'd need a radio first.
With some basic tools you could build your own radio from a kit.

I can only recommend that you try new things within your budget. Some people like to ragchew. I don’t. The most I’ll do is QSO only digital. Turns out, I like building radios. Don’t force it. It’s supposed to be fun. Explore. And it’s OK to take breaks and go do something else for a while.

11 comments