TZUTC: -0600   
   MSGID: 263.fidonet_ham@1:19/33 2dc42050   
   REPLY: 1:135/250@fidonet 695df160   
   PID: Synchronet 3.21a-Win32 master/04856e14d Nov 10 2025 MSC 1944   
   TID: SBBSecho 3.32-Win32 master/04856e14d Nov 10 2025 MSC 1944   
   BBSID: TBOLTBBS   
   CHRS: CP437 2   
   FORMAT: flowed   
    RR> Doesn't necessarily bother me, unless someone is waaaay out in   
    RR> left field.  I know my ITU phonetics backwards and forwards,   
    RR> and several other local public safety phonetics..   
      
     I've noticed in the police chase videos, that they use a different   
   set of phonetics for the vehicle license plate.   
      
    RR> Funny basic training story about that.   In the early days of   
    RR> training, I was so stressed with everything being thrown at me,   
    RR> I was relieved I was asked a question I could actually answer!   
      
     Thank you for your service.   
      
    RR> "What is the phonetic alphabet from A - some middle stopping   
    RR> point.)...  However for some inexplicable reason my brain   
    RR> settled on what the California Highway Patrol uses.. "Adam.   
    RR> Baker. Charles.."  "WHAT THE HELL KIND OF GIRL SCOUT PHONETICS   
    RR> IS THAT?!!!!...   GET DOWN!!!!"   
      
     Reminds me of the old Adam-12 and Dragnet series years ago.   
      
    RR> Yeah, that can get a little awkward, especially when someone   
    RR> breaks in and directs something at YOU...   "Ummm.  I will pass   
    RR> that back for NET CONTROL TO ANSWER..."   
      
     There is one net where the station says "station 1 will pass it to   
   station 2, station 2 will pass it to station 3, etc.", and noting "the   
   last station will pass it back to me". The thing is, if you have a bad   
   connection, you have no idea where they are in that rotation. I don't   
   check into that net when that person is net control.   
      
    RR> But.... My club IS the best!, because I'm in it! (My BBS is the   
    RR> best too!)...   
      
     I can understand being proud of your club, but it's not the only one   
   out there...the same for the BBS. I want folks to check into my nets,   
   or logon to my BBS because they WANT to, and NOT because they HAVE to.   
      
    RR> "Funny..  Sounds like you are using phone to me."  I stop by   
    RR> all the code key displays at conventions and sit there tapping   
    RR> out "CW SUCKS...."   
      
     LOL. For the OM and XYL, where he is Ham and she is radio, CW stands   
   for "continous whoopee" (hi hi). It's like anything else in the hobby...   
   you either love it, or you loathe it.   
      
    RR> Yeah, people on the local repeater talking about using their   
    RR> modified radios out of band comes to mind, especially to new   
    RR> hams.  Them when you chime in and explain that while you can   
    RR> modify a type accepted radio to transmit on amateur   
    RR> frequencies, doing the reverse is illegal because our radios   
    RR> are not type accepted, and you are told to pound sand.   
      
     I was never into electronics (I guess I should've sweet talked to   
   Violet (hi hi)). However, I joke that my ham radio girl friend is   
   named "Annette", because "I do her every night" (hi hi).   
      
    RR>  I was one of the early adopters of IRLP and ECHOLINK when they   
    RR> first came out, at the time I was dating a girl in Thailand I   
    RR> met on Yahoo Chat (Aged myself with both comments..).  I began   
    RR> using the local repater that had an EchoLink node to meet the   
    RR> local hams in Thailand.  Ended up having dinner with a group of   
    RR> the RAST (Radio Amateur Society of Thailand) on a couple of   
    RR> visits.  A group of angry hams in Thailand pushed the governing   
    RR> body to suspend the use of VOIP on 2 meters there. (2 meters   
    RR> 144 - 146) being the only freq. above 30Mhz they could use..).   
      
     When the nearly EF-4 tornado blasted through central Arkansas on   
   March 31, 2023 (much of west Little Rock, North Little Rock, and   
   Jacksonville were hard hit), they were using whatever means they   
   could to relay the location of the tornado, damage, etc. Nearly   
   60 people were injured, but there was a fatality (heart attack)   
   not related to the tornado.    
       
     What got me was that so many people had no idea the tornado was    
   coming. If they had purchased a Midland WR-120 NOAA Weather Radio,    
   they would've had plenty of warning.    
      
    RR> Novice.....  Advanced?   What are those?   
      
     One time US Amateur Radio License Classes. The FCC stopped issuing   
   them on April 15, 2000...the same day they dropped the 13 and 20 WPM   
   CW exams for US Amateur Radio Licenses. However, holders of these can   
   renew their licenses at the appropriate time, or ugprade to either   
   Technician or Amateur Extra. The only US Amateur Radio licenses now   
   are Technician, General, and Amateur Extra.   
      
     On Feb. 23, 2007, the FCC removed the CW requirement entirely for US    
   amateur radio licenses. Vibroplex, the company that makes a wide variety   
   of Morse Code keyers, had their phones "ringing off the wall" from early    
   February through early March, as folks wanted CW keyers. Many folks   
   discovered that "CW is fun!!". Now, folks are learning CW because they   
   WANT to, and NOT because they HAVE to.    
      
     I knew one ham who studied CW long enough to upgrade his license to    
   Advanced (he was fine with that). Once he passed the exam, he never messed    
   with CW again. Tragically, he was killed in a motorcycle accident by a   
   driver who failed to yield on the freeway access road. With several of   
   those incidents, many service roads next to the freeways in central   
   Arkansas are "one way traffic"...and they've added things to make it   
   safer for traffic exiting the freeway to get onto the service road.   
      
    RR> Again.. Thanks for the great response, and the opportunity to   
    RR> throw more than my 2 cents in.   
      
     It's a dollar 2 ninety eight with inflation (hi hi).   
      
   73,   
      
   Daryl, N5VLZ   
      
   ... Celebacy isn't all it's palmed up to be.   
   === MultiMail/Win v0.52   
   --- SBBSecho 3.32-Win32   
    * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (1:19/33)   
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