I’ve been keeping my evenings mostly free to try to catch more nets. I’m so curious how well I’ll be able to transmit from my house when I’m licensed! Will I sound as clear as some of these other folks? Highly doubtful! But it kills me that I don’t get to find out until later in the year!
3/3/2020 ARES in North County
I listened in on a local ARES net (3/3/2020) in North County. It started promptly and ended 13 minutes later. Short and simple! I tuned in on 2m first. Got a little bit of noise, but not any more than what I got on 2m from the repeater that the EARS net was on. I didn’t think to check the 70cm repeater until the last minute or two, and found that there was barely any noise coming in. Wish I had thought to check earlier.
TWO people checked in on HTs. One was “half noise” as the net control (operator?) said. The other was a visitor calling from a different county (fairly close though), but very clearly and with less noise than most of the local folks! It’s really encouraging to hear people checking in with low power equipment like handhelds. That’s just so extremely my shit. I can’t wait to get licensed so I can explore things like SOTA and similarly “need to be self-sufficient and portable all at once”-type activities.
3/4/2020 SANDRA net
I was down in San Diego during the Wednesday SANDRA (San Diego Repeater Association) net, and of course, I had to tune in to see if I could get a better signal this time around, compared to my first day.
… Surprisingly, no. It might even have been noisier than when I was listening in from North County! But I imagine that San Diego city life vs. North County rural vibes would make a difference, right? More people, more equipment, more interference, more noise, etc.
I did find it easier to listen on the 70cm band. The noise was about the same but the voices were coming in louder so that helped.
3/6/2020 Friday night chatter
The San Diego Section of ARRL site lists a “Hiker’s Net” on Fridays, so I tried to tune in on that. But nobody seemed to show up on the frequency. I folded some laundry for a minute or two before I decided I didn’t want to give up just yet and went outside again with the handheld. Still nobody on the frequency, but I actually wasn’t 100% sure I was even on the right frequency, since I was going by my preset names. (Reminder to self: Look up how to switch display between preset names and frequency!)
So I dialed through my presets and although I never did find the hiker’s net, I did stumble upon some very casual chatter! It was so clear, pretty much noise-less, and strong enough that I could go back inside and start folding my laundry while still listening.
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However, after a few minutes, the more mature-seeming folks signed off, and talk turned…douchey, with one guy really trying to talk up his glory days partying with the hotties in Tijuana. After my 3rd eye roll, I switched presets and came up on some other chatter, this time on one of the repeaters I listened to on day 1. And wow! Things were 100% easier to understand than it had been then. I’ve heard hams talk about “radio propagation”; was today a good day for radio propagation? It seemed so much clearer today!
I guess I’m getting old and grumpy because I didn’t find this 2nd set of chatter to be much more charming than the first. They were cussing a bunch and one guy seemed to be listing off a grocery list for a college frat party. First off… I curse like a motherfucker, and I’ve done my fair share of stereotypical “young people in college” shit, so I’m not trying to be a prude, but damn, call me a prude, I guess! My tolerance for people bragging about partying has dropped to 0% once I hit my 30s.
If I can figure it out, I’ll include the short videos of chatter I captured (when it was just some harmless talk about hydraulic equipment).
I might regret posting these in case anybody gets mad that I called them douchey but come at me bro.
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