TZUTC: -0500   
   MSGID: 3.fidonet-ham@1:2320/33 25963192   
   REPLY: 1:229/426.36 bf6a558d   
   PID: Synchronet 3.19a-Win32 master/5dd67f7dd Aug 22 2021 MSC 1928   
   TID: SBBSecho 3.14-Win32 master/5dd67f7dd Aug 22 2021 MSC 1928   
   BBSID: TBOLT   
   CHRS: ASCII 1   
   Alan,   
      
    AB> Anyone here into internet radio?   
      
     I am...because my neighborhood seemingly attracts lightning strikes   
   during thunderstorms. I'm a 2 time lightning strike survivor myself   
   (although I carry no electrical charge, and can be handled safely (hi hi)),   
   but I've also been under 2 tornadic funnel clouds, within a mile of 2 rain   
   wrapped tornadoes, and nearly drowned in a flash flood over 40 years ago.   
      
     The QTH is what once was my parents home...my Dad died in February, 2007,    
   with my wife dying 2 1/2 months later...and my Mom died in August, 2019.    
   My wife and I never had children, and my brother was almost killed in a    
   freak motorcycle wreck not 3 months after my wife died. Basically, we're    
   the last of our line.   
      
     Except for gender, he and I are as different as night and day, in   
   regards to hobbies, interests, etc. My late Mom's late brother was the   
   only other ham radio operator in the family. He knew I was licensed,   
   but he became a Silent Key nearly 20 years ago now. While I have the   
   hobbies of ham radio, the BBS, and square dancing, my brother has none.   
      
     While the "purists" vehemently declare that "any form of internet   
   radio is NOT ham radio", they fail to realize or accept that:   
      
   1) None of us is getting any younger.   
   2) One's health can change in the blink of an eye.   
      
     These are so true with me...in the last 6 weeks, I've had 2 attacks   
   of atrial flutter, and have been hospitalized twice. While I've never   
   smoked or chewed tobacco, or drank alcoholic beverages in my life, I   
   am wearing a heart monitor right now...and am leery about RFI.   
      
     An FCC official several years ago noted that "we are communicators   
   first, and ham radio operators second".    
      
     Recently, I was on one of these "internet modes" (i.e. CQ100, D-Star    
   with a ThumbDV, Packet Via Telnet, Echolink, D-Rats, and Winlink via    
   Winlink Express...which is what I operate), when I ran into an elderly    
   ham, who was in tears. He had been in the hobby all of his life, and his   
   health had suddenly taken a turn for the worse, where he'd have to go   
   to an assisted living center, where RF gear was a no-no, due to the   
   RFI that could cause medical devices to malfunction, resulting in   
   someone's death.   
      
     The old man was just devastated...and I told him that "you don't   
   have to give up the hobby...just how you operate". So, I told him   
   about those modes I noted above, and his tears of despair became tears    
   of joy. He asked "How can I ever thank you??", and I said to him "Think    
   nothing of it". I was doing a forum at a hamfest in Russellville, Arkansas   
   2 years ago (before COVID-19 shut everything down), and when I noted "Even    
   though I operate 'internet radio', I'm still on the air, and my license is    
   not just a sheet of paper"...I got an ovation of applause from the group.   
      
     Also, in central Arkansas, what D-Star and DMR repeaters are here,   
   are NOT on the gateway...you have to have a rig to use it. Yet, with   
   all the clubs around here bickering about which club is better (including   
   handling severe weather), and no one wants to combine forces to work   
   together for a central Arkansas hamfest (the last one in Little Rock was   
   2016), I've concentrated my on air work outside of central Arkansas.   
      
     A couple of years ago, I went to a central Arkansas area high school,   
   to speak with their ham radio club, and to do a demo of internet radio.   
   Most kids are not rolling in money (have you seen the prices of some of   
   the rigs lately??), and some of these rigs could cost as much as either   
   a semester's college tuition, or the required textbooks!! The kids were   
   thrilled that they could still get on the air (once they got their ham   
   radio license), and not have to worry about things like rigs, antennas,   
   towers, coaxial cable, power supplies, SWR meters, etc.   
      
     While I'm still webmaster for The Cabot Nightflyers Net, we can't get   
   a node to host it, and no one wants to be Net Control (the original one   
   had to quit due to work schedule, and burn out). I am the VE Team Liaison   
   for the University Of Arkansas At Little Rock (UALR) Ham Radio Club...   
   they have a license server that mirrors the FCC ULS.   
      
     I have a PDF file in my D-Rats shared folder, and in a link off of a   
   hyperlink on my QRZ bio, to things like "Operating Internet Radio",   
   "Setting Up Netlogger", and "Ham Radio Humor", among several other   
   topics.    
      
     Also at that hyperlink, are Excel Spreadsheets of selected D-Star,   
   Echolink, and D-Rats Nets, in the 4 main US time zones (Eastern, Central,   
   Mountain, and Pacific), with at least 200 monthly nets (truly, too many   
   nets, and too little time). I started that because what was at the nets   
   page on dstarinfo.com was WOEFULLY OUT OF DATE (and I understand, STILL   
   IS). I originally began the page as a page for Echolink Nets, but then   
   added D-Star and D-Rats. There are some other pages for DMR, CQ100,   
   HamSphere, and Christian Related Nets, but I do NOT maintain them.   
      
     I started the net listing with a PDF file, but then with the help of   
   Gary, VA3GDZ, converted it to Excel Spreadsheets. You need Microsoft   
   Office, LibreOffice, or OpenOffice for the spreadsheets...and a program   
   such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, Fox-It, etc. to view the PDF files.   
      
     Now, I realize that if my power or internet are off, I am QRT. But,   
   I have far too many health issues now to worry about doing emergency   
   communications. Never mind the fact that not even $1200 a month on   
   disability for me doesn't go very far. Besides, if you look in a ham    
   radio product catalog, and it says CALL/WEB, then that rig is WAY TOO    
   EXPENSIVE for you.   
      
     You will find tons of people ready, willing, and able, to check into   
   a traffic net, especially as "a bean for the count". But, don't even   
   think about asking them to be Net Control, a club officer, etc. --    
   because if looks could kill, you'd fall over dead!! I'm doing the nets   
   that I do (a file of such is at the hyperlink noted earlier), because   
   I enjoy it, and no one else wants to do the job as Net Control.   
      
     Many of these hams are what I refer to as "Hi, Bye, and QSY"...where   
   it's "Net Control, Please Checkin [Callsign], [Name], [Location], Short   
   Time, No Traffic"...and not a minute later, they're doing the exact same   
   thing on another net...sometimes several times in an evening. Rick, KA2BSM,   
   who works with the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) in the Memphis,   
   Tennessee area (he helped me get registered on the gateway), wonders "Do   
   these folks have a life outside of ham radio??".   
      
     There is NO PRIZE, BONUS, AWARD, CERTIFICATE, etc. for seeing how many    
   nets you can check into in an evening. To me, folks who are doing such are    
   in the hobby strictly for their ego. And, this is a HOBBY -- it should    
   NEVER take priority over things like church, family, health, job, or    
   especially honey-do's -- in the latter case, that rig you have your eye    
   on for your birthday or Christmas, is going back to the candy store    
   (hi hi).   
      
     It has gotten to be such "a mad rush pileup" with other nets, that I   
   either wait toward the end of the net to checkin, or I don't even bother.   
   The main time I am on the air is for nets that I am running, to take a   
   net for another Net Control (as I had to do last night), or for a sked   
   request. I have other things in my life right now, that are far more   
   important than my hobbies ham radio, my BBS, or square dancing. Without   
   one's health, you have nothing.   
      
     Again, I agree with the what the FCC official said years ago:   
      
     "We're communicators first, and hams second".   
      
     More info on me is in my bio at the hyperlink noted above.   
      
   Daryl, WX4QZ   
      
   ... Ham Radio QRP: When you care the most to send the very least.   
   === MultiMail/Win v0.52   
   --- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32   
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