Promote the Hobby

My Local Club, Granite State Amateur Radio Association, was invited to a STEM High School Event in our local community. We set up a small display with full HF Gear and a Step-IR Vertical. It was an excellent experience for everyone attending, and it made me want to encourage everyone who is part of a club to get out and promote the Amateur Radio hobby.

Here is a quick excerpt from the article.

he GSARA table included an operating Icom IC-7300 HF station in a “go box” with an outdoor CrankIR portable vertical antenna and various hand-held VHF radios. Numerous hand-outs were provided by ARRL (Steve Goodgame, K5ATA, Education and Learning Manager), including Why Should You Give Amateur Radio a Try? and What Amateur Radio Can Do for Your School and Students. Students, parents, and teachers learned about our hobby and how it can initiate a passion for exciting, well-paying technical careers. GSARA provided other material.

Go check it out, and if you are involved in your local club, consider getting out in the community and promoting the hobby!

Ham Radio when All else fails…

Chronicle wrote an excellent article and video on how a local ham in the New Hampshire area was rescued from a few other Ham Operators.

It just shows that this hobby has some top-shelf people who care about others to save lives.

WMUR Chronicle - Ham Radio Saves Lives

Building the ultimate “no kit”

So this topic has been kicked around so much that I've tried to avoid it entirely.

Not because it's a taboo topic or the grand old debate about whether it is radio or not, but instead, it’s the “pink elephant” in the room. The Go-boxes I’ve seen make me think that the builder “threw the kitchen sink at it.” Trying to consider how to cram it into a pelican box—making it too complex and unwieldy in the field. I love a well-laid-out configuration, but do you need to pack four different antennas for the activation?

So, let us take a different slant, shall we?

Instead of setting out the goal to build an “ultimate go-box,” consider making for a purpose. Design modular “puzzle” components that are the “must haves” into small clear mesh bags. Build “home base” stations for charging and storage for your grab bags and use Lists.

Have laminated lists of what constitutes an HF activation, a VHF/Satellite outing, SOTA, or a drive-up POTA.

Then use a color-coded system to grab the necessary items quickly, throw them into a pack, and off you go.

Take this card system and test it out, see what is missing from each of these “trial runs” and revise and update.

I encourage you to give this a try and report back on your experience. As Ted Lasso always says “stay curious…”

Well Im doing this thing?

Edit: So, for those that are wondering what happened? Well, it’s been a busy life for us three! However, we are working feverishly to launch this, and I can say we are almost ready for the world to see. Sneak peek?  check it out here 

So for those who follow me on social media and this website! Thank you. I appreciate it.

But If you’ve been paying attention, you may have seen notifications and other “rumblings” about a new Podcast YT Channel titled “Live Free and Ham” popping up…

Before things officially launch, I wanted to let you in on a small secret squirrel project. I’ll post more about it later, but it will be great fun with a bunch of guys I call friends, and we’ll dive into topics surrounding Portable Operations, Ham Radio, and other cool stuff!

Stay tuned in 2023 for more details and where you can subscribe.

Thanks for Stopping By

Thanks for checking out my site. I am still in the beginning stages of building out content and sharing my ham radio experiences.

I am an avid POTA Activator and Portable Ops fanatic! I love to talk about the Ham Radio hobby with anyone who will listen, and I am happy to share my time and resources with everyone interested in the Amateur Radio Hobby.

Thanks for stopping by please make sure to check out my bio and please follow me on my Instagram account (N1JUR)