Ham Radio..... the original social media!

Many years ago this was the social media. The only social media

Surprisingly its still alive with over 7 million members around the world being amateur radio operators! Why?  

There is something about actually speaking to someone from another country who you’ve never met or seen. You can become quick friends, much much sooner then trying to figure out if your “friends” or “followers” are worthy of ever meeting in person. Many of you have already figured out, that these so-called online friends are never going to be invited to your house. So what value do these on line friends really have? Getting a thumbs up or a like is all you need for an daily (somtimes hourly) ego boost? Really, your missing the world around you. Once you talk to people around the world on ham radio, you will discover that they are not that different from you, no matter what language they speak or what culture or what religion they grew up with. Admittedly it is mostly an older generation thing. Meaning the average age of the amateur radio operator is probably late 40’s to mid 50’s. But still the current political topics are the same, the issues are the same, the real conversation and the laughs and jokes are real and can be heard quite clearly litterally around the world.. Think of it as a free phone“partyline” if you remember that term or even heard of it. Ever think you’d be real friends with someone from another part of the world? I mean like China? Vietnam? India? Africa? Well you can with amateur radio. You will find that most people on the air ( yes thats right your not just stuck behind a keyboard your ON-AIR ) are really very gracious and good natured.

So what are you waiting for, discover someone who has a ham radio and go listen for a bit at their home and see the world that you didn’t know existed. Here is a good place to start. 

http://www.wa2ooo.com/index.htm                  index of all pages, introduction to ham radio

http://www.wa2ooo.com/antennapictures.html        pictures of ham radio antennas

http://www.wa2ooo.com/antennadesigns.html        how antennas are designed

http://www.wa2ooo.com/antennadesign2.html        eznec software antenna design

http://www.wa2ooo.com/Quads.html                      cubical quad antenna

http://www.wa2ooo.com/wireantenna.html    build a wire antenna

http://www.wa2ooo.com/propagation.html            ham radio propagation

 

http://www.wa2ooo.com/yagistrikesback.html       yagi antenna 

 

http://www.wa2ooo.com/antennagain.html     ham radio db gain

http://www.wa2ooo.com/SWR.html                    antenna tuners and  SWR

http://www.wa2ooo.com/ACDC.html          how antennas work

https://www.qrz.com/db/WA2OOO             QRZ.com home page

http://www.wa2ooo.com/credits.html            where I got this info from

http://www.wa2ooo.com/hamradiovideos.html        some you tube videos ham radio

https://www.wa2ooo.com/yagicalculator.html        yagi antenna dimensions

https://www.wa2ooo.com/cubicalquadantennacalculator.html     cubical quad antenna dimensions

http://wa2ooo.com/Wire_Antenna_Calculator.html       wire antenna calculator