WEBVTT - Ham Radio and the Hams Who Use Them 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:03.320 Make your business official with Google in Squarespace. When you 0:00:03.360 --> 0:00:06.880 create a custom domain and a beautiful business website with Squarespace, 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:10.240 you'll receive a free year of business email and professional 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:13.840 tools from Google. It's the simplest way to look professional online. 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:17.720 Visit squarespace dot com slash Google to start your free trial. 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:20.800 Use offer code works for ten percent off your first 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:25.200 purchase Google in Squarespace. Make it professional, Make it beautiful. 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:29.400 Welcome to you Stuff you should know from house Stuff 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:37.760 Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:40.800 Josh Clark, and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, and there's 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:45.920 Jerry over there. So it's stuff you should know. Go ahead, 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:51.440 Josh Clark. This is Chuck in Oregon. Oh, well, seventy three, 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:56.000 Chuck seventy three. I don't know what that means. It's 0:00:56.000 --> 0:01:01.080 probably your age if you're a hand radio operator. Seventy 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:05.800 three is a term that means my compliments to you. 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:11.560 M guards. Yeah, it is ham code. Well I wasn't joking. 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:15.119 By the way. We're talking about ham radio, sometimes called 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:21.679 um amateur radio, sometimes called shortwave radio, although it's not 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:26.160 always short wave radio right like technically on the on 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:30.039 the electromagnetic radio spectrum. Yeah, but um, I was I 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:32.600 did make a joke about seventy three, but that is 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:38.040 actually in some countries the average age is eighty and older. 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:41.200 Is that right? Yeah? Which countries I don't know. I 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:44.600 don't know about the US UM. The most recent stats 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:48.279 I found, though, they're about eight hundred thousand HAM radio 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:52.320 operators in the US of A. Is that right about? Yeah? 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:54.920 Not bad. No, that's more than I saw. I saw. 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:58.600 I think six seventy two was the number I saw, 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:01.560 and then double that in Japan. Yeah, they're into it. 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:05.720 Had no idea. UM in the millions, two to three 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:09.000 million around the world, and in the United States. As 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:12.720 of this month, there are more than seven hundred and 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:19.800 forty thousand amateur radio station licenses, with California having the most. Well, 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:23.120 California is big into ham radio. Everybody knows that, and 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:26.519 I feel like it's obvious. But this is mostly men, 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:32.200 about a fift rate of women or females, young ladies, 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:36.360 whatever their ham radio enthusiasts. It just seems sort of 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:40.560 like a it seems like a guy thing, not just 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:43.960 a guy thing, but a ned Flanders guy thing. Yeah. 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:46.080 I don't want to knock them because it's a neat thing. 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:48.040 It is a neat thing. I was sitting there, I 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:50.160 was I was researching this a little more and more. 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:54.200 I was like, Okay, there is one corner of the 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:58.200 world where you can go to escape like humanity as 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:01.520 it stands, like on the internet totally, and it's it's 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:05.440 that's that's an oversimplification. Like with Ham radio, they are 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:08.960 very much known, very well known for being very polite, 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:14.799 very professional, very um you know, uh eagle scoutish. I guess, yeah. 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:17.280 They're rules and you have to get a license, right exactly, 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.440 And because you do have to hold a license to 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:24.200 operate a Ham radio. Um, they do think that that's 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:26.960 kind of where this tradition of professionalism came out of 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:29.320 a lot of jerks. At the very least, it does. 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:34.239 There are jerks on on Ham radio, some really bad jerks, 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:38.120 but they're they're very much the exception to the rule, 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:42.240 whereas like on an internet chat room, the polite people 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:45.320 are the exception of the rule. In Ham radio world, 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:48.200 it's just the opposite. So it's very refreshing that there's this, 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:50.880 you know out there, there's a place that's still like 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:54.400 kept polite and nice and like, hey, how are you? 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:56.560 I just wanted to see how are you? Oh you're 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:00.160 in Korea. Huh it's pretty far away. Yeah, didn't. Is 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:03.800 having a conversation like that just for it's just to 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:07.040 do it. That's basically the point of Ham radio or 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:09.720 one of them. There's a purity to it that really 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:14.160 spoke to me there. Yeah, the same here. Um. I 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:18.800 watched the little Vimeo documentary called Ham Radio Ancestors of 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:23.599 the Internet. Yeah, great, little it's true. But and this 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:28.800 got across to me. Ham radio, the the ethos or 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:32.840 the persona of Ham Radio. There's a segment where they're 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:36.479 talking about how one of the big foundations of ham 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:40.600 radio is public service in times of I didn't either, 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:44.160 but in times of like natural disaster where radio where 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:47.760 other communications are knocked out, shortwave radios draw very little 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.320 power so you can run them off battery, um, and 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:54.000 they they can communicate outside of the disaster zone when 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:56.320 cell phones and the Internet is gone, and they do 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:58.240 do that. They do. It's like part it's one of 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:02.480 the pillars of Ham Radio. Well, during this segment, the 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:06.120 um director of the Vimeo documentary, he was playing the 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:08.840 battle hymn of the Republic nice, and I was like, 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:14.360 this is ham radio. I love it. Uh, they are 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:18.000 called hams, so when we say that, we're not being derogatory, 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:22.560 although some call them radio amateurs is one word. Oh 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:26.760 really well, the word ham um comes from back in 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:30.080 the day when there were ships and coastal stations and 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:35.400 government stations and amateur operators increasingly all over the world 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:41.320 vying for the same signals. Um. Sometimes these amateur radio 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:44.640 operators would have powerful signals and they could jam um 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:49.400 like government operations, and so they in a derogatory pejorative way, 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:54.280 would call them hams, and that name stuck, although the 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:58.120 meaning of it, the being pejorative, has fallen away, and 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:02.760 they embrace it now like queer. Sure, it's the same thing, 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:05.400 same principle. It was meant to be a put down, 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:07.680 and that they adopted it with a sense of pride, 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:10.080 and it's like we're gonna take this from you, right, 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:12.200 like take the power from you. Yeah, it's a great 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:14.880 way to handle things. I think, you know, I saw 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:18.800 another origin story. Yeah, yeah, and I think with the 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:21.280 one you're talking about. When they said that they were hams, 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:24.159 they were saying they were ham fisted, like they didn't 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:28.000 have the delicacy needed to UM to tune into a 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:35.840 frequency correctly or no, they're very delicate hands. Actually it's 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:39.560 part of the requirement by the FCC. UM I saw. 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:46.960 Another origin story was that um in three Harvard men 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:52.640 founded a radio club and they called it the Base 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:56.719 on their last names the Hymen Almy Murray Radio Station 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:00.800 or HAM for short. It's also a law firm, probably 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:05.800 it is. Now Oh interesting? Is that? How verified is that? 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:08.000 Or is that just something we're gonna throw out and 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:10.640 say that could be interesting? This this one comes from 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:15.960 r F Cafe, which is a legit site. Uh, yeah, 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:20.080 I like yours more, Well, it's not mine. Oh you 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:23.640 didn't just make it out now, So I found this 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:26.360 great little piece that kind of helped explain to me 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:30.679 a little bit about how radio works and how amateur 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:34.080 radio works. So if I may, can we played Battle 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:37.760 Him of the Republic? We totally should? Is it writes free? 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:41.280 Oh it's gotta be sure. Um all right, So if 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:45.720 you look at an AM radio dial, well you'll have 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:48.679 to find an AM radio dial, right, go go find 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:53.240 your dad's old malibub. Yeah, actually you don't have you know, 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:54.640 you don't have to look at the physical dial. If 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:56.320 you have a radio in your car, this digital you 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:58.800 can just go to the bottom of it. It's about 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:00.800 five thirty five. All the way to the top, it's 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:04.200 about six five. Let's killer hurts? Is it killer hurts 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:06.320 and Mega hurts killer hurts? Is it really for a 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:11.560 M for AM radio? Um? And that is one band? 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:15.000 When you hear about a radio band, that entire spectrum 0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:17.480 is one band. Yeah, and the band is just an 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:20.760 arbitrary trunk, right, Yeah, it's a it's a group of 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:23.560 frequencies right from one to the other, right, and the 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:27.400 distance between those two from what you say for a 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:30.880 M radio five five to six five, So that would 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:35.040 be the band width between those two, correct, So you've 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:39.640 got that as a band. The FCC dolls out on 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:45.079 the spectrum available bands for the government, for the military, 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:47.320 for all these different people to use as their own, 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:52.480 and they have allocated twenty six bands for amateurs. That's 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:55.320 from one point eight mega hurts in this case, which 0:08:55.360 --> 0:09:00.400 is just above that radio broadcasts frequencies to two seventy 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:04.559 five giga hurts. That's a pretty significant swath of the spectrum, 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:07.400 it is, and and so much so that you're using 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:12.840 essentially different types of technology to transmit or receive on them. Yeah, 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:14.160 well this is gonna be a good one. I was 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:16.400 kinda worried. Oh man, don't worry. I feel like it's 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:20.559 heating up. This is us. So the way this person 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:22.680 put it is, if you think of the radio spectrum 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:25.920 like a measuring tape um. Between a half an inch 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:28.640 and about one point seven inches, is that a M 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:31.280 radio band. If you go all the way up to 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:35.520 like inches to eight inches, that's the FM radio band. 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:39.360 And between a half inch and thirty inches is this 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:43.839 very special place where the ionosphere It reflects off the 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:48.240 ionosphere depending on what type of day, uh, and what 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:51.400 time of day it is, right, And I can step 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:54.560 in and explain that if you're online. So, the ionosphere 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:57.400 is one part of the Earth's atmosphere. It's towards the 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:00.800 top right, and cosmic rays and solar rays and all 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:04.400 sorts of rays are constantly smacking into the ionosphere and 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:08.560 they're knocking electrons off the atoms up there, ionizing them. 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:11.840 These electrons don't just float away into our space, actually 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:15.960 form this kind of blanket layer and it's a really 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:20.000 great medium. This this blanket layer of electrons in the 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:25.720 ionosphere UM for bouncing radio signals of a specific type 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:30.280 of frequency back to Earth. Right. So, one of the 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:33.199 benefits of a short wave radio is that you're using 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:36.120 radio waves in a frequency that they bounce off the 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:39.240 ionosphere really well, and so you can shoot it up 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:43.040 into the ionosphere and reflect it back down. And because 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:48.679 of this angle, you can you can transmit this radio 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:52.800 over really long distances, hundreds of miles, thousands of miles, 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:56.360 because you're bouncing it off of the ionosphere. During the day, 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.880 the sun solar rays add this extra kind of dense 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:02.960 layer on the bottom of the ionosphere, so they tend 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:06.360 to get absorbed more than at night when the sun's 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:09.400 raised aren't hitting that part of the ionosphere, so they 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:12.680 bounce better, which is why you get better reception, or 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:16.760 your signals travel longer at night than during the day. 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:22.360 UM for shortwave radio, which really plays into hams right 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:24.920 does the idea of these always have is two o'clock 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:28.200 in the morning exactly, a dude in his attic talking 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:30.840 to someone in Taiwan. Yeah, you know, which is great. 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:33.640 We're talking to pinhead in Burma right before he opens 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:37.280 that box and becomes Pinhead and hell Raiser or talking 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:40.480 to Ronnie millsap. That's where this guy got me because 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:45.199 he's a celebrity hymn. Celebrity hymn. Unfortunately he waited until 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:47.720 like the last sentence of the entire article, but he 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:50.760 finally got me. Then, well we'll we'll get to that later. 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:54.000 There are other celebrity hams out there that'll be there. 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:57.880 Our last sense to uh So, like we said earlier, 0:11:57.920 --> 0:11:59.680 between if you're thinking of it as a measuring tape, 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:02.600 between a half inches and thirty inches is where you 0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:06.280 get this great reflection off the ionosphere, which you described 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:10.240 so well. Um, I like your measuring tape, well it's 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:13.920 not mine. Above that thirty inches, they stop bouncing and 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:17.520 it becomes what we call line of sight. So that's 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:19.880 like FM and TV and stuff. Yeah, Like you know, 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:22.040 when you drive out of town, you lose your reception 0:12:22.440 --> 0:12:24.440 because you have gone out of the line of sight 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:27.559 over from that broadcast antenna, and there's trees and buildings 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:29.760 and mountains in your way, all sorts of junk. But 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:34.480 if you're shooting stuff off the ionosphere, nothing sea in heck, mountains. 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:39.280 Uh So, between three inches and thirty inches that's called 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:42.120 the high frequency spectrum, and then from thirty inches to 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:46.840 about three inches and again these aren't inches measuring tape analogy. Uh. 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:49.760 That is called the VHF spectrum, and we're gonna get 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:52.720 into that later. But the VHS spectrum is really neat. 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:56.840 You can operate hand radio via that and use things 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:01.560 uh called repeaters where you basically share part of a 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:04.360 broadcast tower in a city. And you say, well, if 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:06.720 I can get my signal to you, you can repeat 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:10.280 it back out further because you have way more wattage 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:12.880 than I do. And I was looking to see, like 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:18.400 what the um tip for tat equation is with wattage 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:22.760 for distance, Not that I could find, no, but the 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:25.199 rule of thumb is that the more watts you have, 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:27.480 the more power you have, the further you can send 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:30.640 your signal. But yeah, I mean, like, if you're buying 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:34.440 a transceiver, which we'll get into later, it might have 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:37.320 anywhere between five watts and like a hundred watts, maybe 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:40.640 a little more if you're um, if you're running like 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:43.960 a radio station like Georgia State here has very famously 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:48.040 as a hundred thousand watt transmitter, So you want to 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:50.760 shoot your signal to them and then they change the 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:53.360 frequency a little bit and shoot it out on a 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:59.520 slightly different frequency greatly um empowered. Yeah, you're like piggybacking 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:03.080 off these antenna's basically like like Michelle Obama is talking 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:05.560 to you directly, kind of empowered, you know what I mean. 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:08.000 And that's just for the repeater UM that is not 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:13.199 that's if you're going to VHS VHS the VHF route, 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:17.680 UM you don't have like they're all kinds of different 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:21.120 frequencies below that that. In fact, I think probably, well, 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:22.600 I'm not gonna say that because I don't know. I 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:24.880 was going to say that people mostly don't use the 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:29.480 repeater method with VHF, but that I don't know the stats. 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:32.600 I think it's specifically FM that they use the repeater 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.600 for VHF FM. I think that's what you use the 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:37.640 repeater for. No, it is, but I'm saying that as 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:40.160 far as HAM radio operators, I get the feeling that 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:43.400 the majority of people don't use that method. Yeah, yeah, 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:46.160 but I might be wrong. No, I think you're right, 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:48.360 you think, yeah, I don't. I don't know if you can, 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:51.640 because everything I saw was anytime they were talking about repeater. 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:54.520 They called it FM VHF. Yeah, but you can still 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:58.200 operate ham radio that way, right, yeah, but in that 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:03.520 specific band, right, correct. I guess yeah, I actually, I mean, 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:05.680 I'm sure they're a handful of hands out there that 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:08.440 listen to the show that are groaning in pain right now. 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:10.480 I know. I do want to apologize, because anytime we 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:14.080 do a show where there are rabid enthusiasts, we're bound 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:17.320 to get some stuff not quite right. But hopefully there 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:19.360 are some of the nice enthusiasts that we've had over 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:22.080 the years, These guys, yeah, that say like, thanks for 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:24.120 helping to spread the word. You got this and this wrong, 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:28.720 Not like those chess players. Man, man, they were they 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:33.600 were so mean. I think it's interesting what kinds of 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:37.000 people are attracted to different. Of course, it's made up 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:39.520 of the spectrum of people, but they seem to be 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:42.720 grouped a lot of times, at least from the feedback 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:45.440 that we get birds of a feather flock together. I 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:48.360 guess that's the same, isn't it. Should we take a break, yes, 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:51.520 all right, we'll come back and we'll talk about just 0:15:51.520 --> 0:16:14.400 what in the heck piece hands are doing? All right? 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:17.280 What are these hams doing one thing you can do 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:21.680 if you have just a receiver or radio scanner, and 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:24.720 or even if you have a transceiver where you can 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:27.360 actually broadcast out. A lot of times are just listening. 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:31.360 They're just going up and down the frequencies seeing if 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:34.800 they can hear any interesting conversation. They're going down the 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:40.960 frequency like boring, you sound ugly, Uh, I don't like 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:44.920 your voice. Something comic book guy right from the Simpsons. 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:48.200 And then finally they're like South Korea. I've been looking 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:50.880 for someone to talk to you from there. And actually 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:53.880 there's a thing called the QSL cards where you get 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:57.800 in touch with somebody and um, from what I can gather, 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:02.080 they mail you a postcard saying this person got in 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:05.760 touch with me, and you collect these postcards QUSL cards, UM, 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:07.720 just to be like, look, I've spoken to people in 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:10.160 a hundred different countries. I'm remember of the Century Club. 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:12.880 It's like a little merit badge. I think pretty cool. 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:18.400 So you can listen in UM. The difference between let's 0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:22.280 say radio DJ who just talks at the world or 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:25.120 you know, or talks to their city is you're are 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:30.240 generally having a two way conversation with someone or a 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:33.600 little round table or a little network where people meet 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:36.119 at a certain frequency at a certain time of the 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:39.840 week to uh talk shop, I guess, or wrap or 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:42.399 talk about whatever you want. Basically like hanging out in 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:46.960 a general store, but on the airwaves, locker room talk, right, 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:52.200 because all guys do that, so um, they can use 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:55.640 all kinds of frequencies. Um. Like we said, they're above 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:59.200 the A and broadcast band. Uh and apparently a good 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:03.080 a good band. A good frequency range is from about 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:07.280 one point six mega hurts to about twenty seven mega hurts. 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:12.160 That's during the day. Fifteen seven is good for these 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:15.920 long distance communic ase. So if you're trying to reach 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.399 your friend in Taiwan, maybe log on. We'll not long on. 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:23.639 So weird to try and use the internet terminology because 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:26.119 these guys are the ancestor of the internet. Boy, what 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:27.800 if you need a license to get on the Internet. 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:30.600 Wouldn't be great? Oh yeah, you had to pass it, 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:32.760 like a decency test or something. It would be I 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:35.600 mean it definitely do away with that whole net neutrality thing. 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:40.679 But yeah, a decency test or maybe just to be 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:44.960 I don't know, on social media or something. Yeah, Facebook 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:47.320 is like, yeah, that'd be great, let's limit our users. No. No, 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:49.119 But at the same time, it's like, well, who decides 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:52.119 what's decent and who creates that test and who administers it? 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:54.240 And do you do it at the of a barrel 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:56.159 of an M one or something? No? I do it 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:59.720 no guns involved. But I mean I think of the questions. Yeah, 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:03.359 I'm pretty even handed. Give me a good give me 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:11.520 a good decency question on your test. Um if uh, 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:16.600 just just be nice and don't be a question be 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:19.320 hilarious if every single one of the questions start out 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:24.160 with let's see, uh, just just be nice. Yeah, don't 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:26.719 be a jerk, don't bait people. Yeah, well, let's just 0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:29.400 good rules to follow. Just be nice, just be nice, 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:32.159 don't be a jerk. Right, Yes, it's true. And again, 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:35.560 if you're looking for generally a place where most people 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:37.520 are nice and nut jerks, you would be happy to 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:42.040 get into ham Radio. If you're not already right, Another 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:44.440 thing you might be doing is you might be if 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:46.960 you are really into it and your old school, you 0:19:47.040 --> 0:19:50.240 might be chatting in morse code. Yeah, and they used 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:54.840 to to to become a licensed operator. Um, you have 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:56.680 to you have to take a test, and there used 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:59.080 to be a Morse code test, and apparently that sort 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:02.840 of people out pretty quick. I would spectacularly fail a 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:05.679 Morse code tests, not if you studied, even if I studied, 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:08.320 you do fine dots and dashes. My brain doesn't think 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:14.760 like that. They're thinking like, um, like, yeah exactly, Although 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:17.240 a pizza does look like a lot like a dot, 0:20:17.720 --> 0:20:19.720 and if you stretch a big mac out it could 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:22.080 be a desk. Maybe I could take on this Morse code. 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:24.320 I think you could. Well, it doesn't matter anyway now 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:26.359 because they did away with that segment because they're like, 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:29.639 Morse code is stupid and we all have voices, so 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:33.160 we're just gonna go with voice instead. Yeah. I don't 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:35.560 know if exactly that's how they put it, but that 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:37.879 was pretty much the thinging behind it. But I also 0:20:37.880 --> 0:20:42.040 get the impression that the purists still dabble in morse code. 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:45.480 They also write in perfect cursive. I can't do that 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:48.000 anymore at all, hard Like I could never do a 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:52.439 cue a capital queue. Couldn't do it. It's kind of 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:57.640 like a week to remember. Yeah, it's one of these 0:20:57.680 --> 0:20:59.000 I don't know. It's kind of sad to me to 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:01.520 be losing some of these things. Other people say it's 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:04.960 roll with the changes, like you can't fight progress. But 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:09.560 is it progress when you lose something? I don't know 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:12.040 if it was an albatross. I guess it's progress, But 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:14.760 I don't know if cursive writing is exactly holding us 0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:18.119 back as as a culture. I print weirdly now because 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:21.919 I write so seldom to my handwriting is sometimes I 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:25.320 can't even like read what I wrote. I can never 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:29.400 read what You're right. It's terrible. Not even a doctor anymore. 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:32.200 That's why we just type to one another or tattoo 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:36.960 one another with what we want to say. Or so 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:41.639 they've gotten rid of morse code purists are still into it. Um. 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:43.800 I guess we should talk a little bit about Well, 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:45.240 I'll tell you one cool thing you can do is 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:50.200 talk to people in outer space. Yeah, this article dated 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:53.920 itself by talking in the present tense about space shuttle missions. 0:21:54.359 --> 0:22:00.160 No more space shuttle missions. But astronauts are generally ham 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:06.920 licensed ye, not ham fested. No, no, no. You gotta 0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:10.080 have tiny, delicate hands to be an astronaut. For sure, 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:16.159 you just made lobster hands. But astronauts are generally ham 0:22:16.280 --> 0:22:18.560 radio people, and they will I think one of the 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:20.159 little neat things they'll do is get up there and 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:22.960 talk to people on Earth. Yeah, and you can talk 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:26.840 to them because I think they're using a VHF FM 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:31.400 handheld radio typically, although we may be dating ourselves too 0:22:31.440 --> 0:22:35.679 because from what this this article made mention of using 0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:41.280 um uh packets, which is an Internet term, which makes 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:44.439 me think that this this um technology has advanced by 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:48.280 leaps and bounds as far as like using satellites and 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:50.320 stuff like that. So I'm not sure if this is 0:22:50.359 --> 0:22:53.879 the case anymore, but ten years ago, when you were 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:57.440 communicating with an astronaut, they had to be directly overhead, 0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:01.600 but you could talk to him over Ham radio, which 0:23:01.600 --> 0:23:04.400 is pretty awesome. Yeah, And a lot of times when 0:23:04.440 --> 0:23:08.159 the when the astronauts having a conversation, they're talking from 0:23:08.240 --> 0:23:10.760 like one school to the next as they pass over, 0:23:11.320 --> 0:23:14.520 like elementary schools, and yeah, yeah, because I mean, everybody 0:23:14.560 --> 0:23:17.960 likes talking to an astronaut, but elementary school could really 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:21.000 love that kind of stuff totally, at least they did 0:23:21.000 --> 0:23:24.000 back in our day. Surely they still do, right, I hope. 0:23:24.040 --> 0:23:26.920 So I would like to think space will always and 0:23:27.000 --> 0:23:30.040 throw all the young I hope. Do you get a 0:23:30.040 --> 0:23:32.399 little older and you're like, what's out there? I like 0:23:32.520 --> 0:23:35.359 it still I do too. I'm kidding, what's out there? 0:23:36.320 --> 0:23:39.119 That's a good question, Chuck. All right, so I guess 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:43.000 we should talk a little bit more about licensing. Um. 0:23:43.160 --> 0:23:46.560 First of all, I don't understand this whole license thing, Like, 0:23:47.720 --> 0:23:51.359 can you be a rogue ham? Yes, there was a 0:23:51.359 --> 0:23:55.439 guy who was sued by the government for fine, so 0:23:55.480 --> 0:23:57.880 you can do it and set yourself up and they 0:23:58.000 --> 0:24:00.440 you're just not doing it legally. Yeah. So do you 0:24:00.480 --> 0:24:03.479