[Discuss] Are any BLU members also HAM operators?

[kentborg at borg.org (Kent Borg)]

[I'm getting intermittent "open resolver" bounces from driftwood.blu.org 
today.]


On 10/19/26 7:17 AM, markw at mohawksoft.com wrote:

> You can get a rig that will hit a local repeater really really cheap.

I have radios that can, but that doesn't mean I do.

I'm disappointed that I can drive all the way across New England and 
back and never hear anything on the 2m calling frequency. In an era when 
there are really impressive universal and integrated repeater networks 
that can be accessed with tiny radios called "cell phones", simplex 
somehow is more appealing to me.

What probably stopped me most is I bought a *very* nice little HF rig, 
small enough for hiking, but operating at low power requires skill and I 
am essentially a beginner. And rigging a portable antenna for a 
wavelength measured in double-digit meters is tricky, too. Also, low 
power really wants CW and whenever I practice listening to Morse code it 
apparently exercises some very wimpy part of my brain and I get really 
sleepy after about 20-minutes.

-kb, the Kent who hasn't persisted enough.