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Good morning everyone.
This post was created to host "10x10", Ten for Ten, a small corner created by me. What is 10x10? There are 10 standard questions posed by me, sent to 10 radioamateur that I am thought to have something to teach to their experience, for what they have done for the amateur radio community, for their style and their way of doing radio.
This "virtual rank" absolutely personal and absolutely not in order of preference, may also be extended, and the extension rate will depend on the comments on the initiative. If you feel interesting the 10x10, write your feel here
.
Ladies and Gentlemens, the first "10x10" opens with Victoria "Vicky" SV2KBS:
ZL8X, XR0Y, VP8YLG, VK9LA: calls that still are in the ears of those who wait for the eternal "new one" into the white noise of the receiver and the hum of power supply in the shack.... Victoria, Vicky for friends, she did not expect to work them: she worked from them! Incredible read and feel on the skin while reading Vicky's blog the dynamism and the enthusiasm of this girl, who can send both SMS or calls in CW QRQ, and that one day she decided he wanted to be on the other side of the pile-up, and she did it, with so much determination and passion.
My first 10x10 is for Vicky, enjoy reading!
Q: How did you start with the radio, at what age and with what equipment ?
I started when I was 21 years old by coincidence. One of my other beloved hobbies is astronomy, so I read one day at the website of ESA about an astronaut who talked from ISS to students using ham radio equipment. I had never heard of this hobby before and thought immediately "I'm gonna do this, no matter what !!" and so I did !
Then my first equipment was a Kenwood D700 and a 2m vertical antenna. Soon I discovered that the real magic was far away from 2m and treated myself with an IC-7000 and Gap Titan DX vertical antenna.
Q: What is your primary activity on the radio now ? Your favourite
band and mode?
Right now HF Contesting is my primary activity as well as practicing CW trying to stretch it to QRQ levels. I also love travelling anywhere in the world along with radios.
Favorite band I think it is 40m, cuz it's open all day long and it's both DX as well as low band, sort of noisy (hum band !).
Favorite mode, without thinking twice: CW ! But I do operate phone with joy, no problems (I never operate digi though, never liked them)
Q: Contests and awards.Like or dislike it?
Well, before saying anything else, contesting is one of the aspects in Amateur Radio that I really love. I enjoy the action, the competition involved as well as the push you always feel to improve your station in order to achieve better scores for the next time. Awards, no, not really. I do not feel dislike but in general I'm not a paperchaser so they're indifferent to me.
Q: Tubes or solid-state?
Well I think that the correct answer is "it depends". Depends on what you want it for. Solid-state stuff are so easy to transport when at an expedition, on the other hand, tubes are fixable in case something goes wrong and they're also sturdy to withstand a continuous operating cycle while on a contest. And they are damn sexy too ! :-)
Q: SDR or traditional radio?
Unfortunately the SDRs are still very expensive to afford, so the answer is easy to give: traditional radio. But even if SDRs were cheap, I think I'd definitely go with a traditional radio. I enjoy touching the knobs, the dial, looking at my TRX !
Q: The most exciting thing you remember about our hobby?
I've been lucky enough to have been on both sides of a pileup so I have memorable moments both as chasing DX as well as being the DX.
It's hard to pick out one moment, since all the journeys I've been to were awesome, a treat to my eyes & soul and I also regard exciting the fact that I've met people through ham radio with whom I've gotten so much attached, that I consider them to be part of my family.
But I can pick a very emotional moment out, which was my first EME CW QSO. I was so enthused that I was holding the headphones tight to my ears while RXing, made tons of keying mistakes out of my excitement and after the QSO was over I was jumping and dancing in the house !
Q: The worst thing you remember about our hobby?
Fortunately the bad things to remember are very few. They involve few bad behaviors I received and as well as when my HF amplifier burnt out. I had also gotten very sad when not chosen (among others) to join Willis isl DXpedition.
Q: better the "old days" or now?
I'm very fresh to this hobby, so this rather it's impossible to answer. But I can say what I feel.
I believe that the old days involved more constructional action (since the only "real" thing that you can build today from scratch is an amplifier) and better -let's say- emotional IQ on the air. On the other hand, today we enjoy high-end equipment like precise TRXs, mechanically sturdy and precisely designed ants and so on. Contesting is also enormously progressing today thanks to technology. Apart from this, the ham population today is bigger than ever in the hamradio history, without all those people in the past who used the hobby as a substitute of a mobile phone.
Q: Radioamateur will survive to digital era?
Not only it will, but it will also get better. Things are changing and progressing. As long as there (and there will always be) people who are passionate for communications and studying RF, Amateur Radio will keep evolving and changing, like anything, eg like aviation did from Wright brothers til today with near-space flights and everybody who can safely taste and enjoy flying on the cheap with air sports.
Q: What would you say to a fresh license, if you were "the elmer" ?
That Amateur Radio is one of the most exciting hobbies out there with which he/she can embrace the whole world (and out of it in the space !) and acquire a great perception of our globe from any aspect: from the obvious aspect of geography til the social-political by getting acquainted with what's going on in the rest of the world, like totalitarian-governed countries.
I'd strongly suggest to try any activity in Amateur Radio in order to settle down to the one he/she will love most, because Amateur Radio is not just a hobby, but a collection of diverse different hobbies so let yourself indulge into all these options you can enjoy !
Last but not at least I would say to a freshman something that unfortunately I was not told in the beginning: that CW is so easy and fun ! CW it's definitely a great tool to have available, no matter what you do, and it's just matter of time that you'll learn it, master it and will eventually become a second nature to your ears and brain.
Thank you so much Vicky to share your state of mind with us at Hamradioweb. I hope to catch soon your call on 40 meters, but in your specific case something whisper to my mind that phone is *far* better than CW
Thank you all readers, vy 73 de Cristiano IZ0IEN !
This post was created to host "10x10", Ten for Ten, a small corner created by me. What is 10x10? There are 10 standard questions posed by me, sent to 10 radioamateur that I am thought to have something to teach to their experience, for what they have done for the amateur radio community, for their style and their way of doing radio.
This "virtual rank" absolutely personal and absolutely not in order of preference, may also be extended, and the extension rate will depend on the comments on the initiative. If you feel interesting the 10x10, write your feel here
.Ladies and Gentlemens, the first "10x10" opens with Victoria "Vicky" SV2KBS:
ZL8X, XR0Y, VP8YLG, VK9LA: calls that still are in the ears of those who wait for the eternal "new one" into the white noise of the receiver and the hum of power supply in the shack.... Victoria, Vicky for friends, she did not expect to work them: she worked from them! Incredible read and feel on the skin while reading Vicky's blog the dynamism and the enthusiasm of this girl, who can send both SMS or calls in CW QRQ, and that one day she decided he wanted to be on the other side of the pile-up, and she did it, with so much determination and passion.
My first 10x10 is for Vicky, enjoy reading!
Q: How did you start with the radio, at what age and with what equipment ?
I started when I was 21 years old by coincidence. One of my other beloved hobbies is astronomy, so I read one day at the website of ESA about an astronaut who talked from ISS to students using ham radio equipment. I had never heard of this hobby before and thought immediately "I'm gonna do this, no matter what !!" and so I did !
Then my first equipment was a Kenwood D700 and a 2m vertical antenna. Soon I discovered that the real magic was far away from 2m and treated myself with an IC-7000 and Gap Titan DX vertical antenna.
Q: What is your primary activity on the radio now ? Your favourite
band and mode?
Right now HF Contesting is my primary activity as well as practicing CW trying to stretch it to QRQ levels. I also love travelling anywhere in the world along with radios.
Favorite band I think it is 40m, cuz it's open all day long and it's both DX as well as low band, sort of noisy (hum band !).
Favorite mode, without thinking twice: CW ! But I do operate phone with joy, no problems (I never operate digi though, never liked them)
Q: Contests and awards.Like or dislike it?
Well, before saying anything else, contesting is one of the aspects in Amateur Radio that I really love. I enjoy the action, the competition involved as well as the push you always feel to improve your station in order to achieve better scores for the next time. Awards, no, not really. I do not feel dislike but in general I'm not a paperchaser so they're indifferent to me.
Q: Tubes or solid-state?
Well I think that the correct answer is "it depends". Depends on what you want it for. Solid-state stuff are so easy to transport when at an expedition, on the other hand, tubes are fixable in case something goes wrong and they're also sturdy to withstand a continuous operating cycle while on a contest. And they are damn sexy too ! :-)
Q: SDR or traditional radio?
Unfortunately the SDRs are still very expensive to afford, so the answer is easy to give: traditional radio. But even if SDRs were cheap, I think I'd definitely go with a traditional radio. I enjoy touching the knobs, the dial, looking at my TRX !
Q: The most exciting thing you remember about our hobby?
I've been lucky enough to have been on both sides of a pileup so I have memorable moments both as chasing DX as well as being the DX.
It's hard to pick out one moment, since all the journeys I've been to were awesome, a treat to my eyes & soul and I also regard exciting the fact that I've met people through ham radio with whom I've gotten so much attached, that I consider them to be part of my family.
But I can pick a very emotional moment out, which was my first EME CW QSO. I was so enthused that I was holding the headphones tight to my ears while RXing, made tons of keying mistakes out of my excitement and after the QSO was over I was jumping and dancing in the house !
Q: The worst thing you remember about our hobby?
Fortunately the bad things to remember are very few. They involve few bad behaviors I received and as well as when my HF amplifier burnt out. I had also gotten very sad when not chosen (among others) to join Willis isl DXpedition.
Q: better the "old days" or now?
I'm very fresh to this hobby, so this rather it's impossible to answer. But I can say what I feel.
I believe that the old days involved more constructional action (since the only "real" thing that you can build today from scratch is an amplifier) and better -let's say- emotional IQ on the air. On the other hand, today we enjoy high-end equipment like precise TRXs, mechanically sturdy and precisely designed ants and so on. Contesting is also enormously progressing today thanks to technology. Apart from this, the ham population today is bigger than ever in the hamradio history, without all those people in the past who used the hobby as a substitute of a mobile phone.
Q: Radioamateur will survive to digital era?
Not only it will, but it will also get better. Things are changing and progressing. As long as there (and there will always be) people who are passionate for communications and studying RF, Amateur Radio will keep evolving and changing, like anything, eg like aviation did from Wright brothers til today with near-space flights and everybody who can safely taste and enjoy flying on the cheap with air sports.
Q: What would you say to a fresh license, if you were "the elmer" ?
That Amateur Radio is one of the most exciting hobbies out there with which he/she can embrace the whole world (and out of it in the space !) and acquire a great perception of our globe from any aspect: from the obvious aspect of geography til the social-political by getting acquainted with what's going on in the rest of the world, like totalitarian-governed countries.
I'd strongly suggest to try any activity in Amateur Radio in order to settle down to the one he/she will love most, because Amateur Radio is not just a hobby, but a collection of diverse different hobbies so let yourself indulge into all these options you can enjoy !
Last but not at least I would say to a freshman something that unfortunately I was not told in the beginning: that CW is so easy and fun ! CW it's definitely a great tool to have available, no matter what you do, and it's just matter of time that you'll learn it, master it and will eventually become a second nature to your ears and brain.
Thank you so much Vicky to share your state of mind with us at Hamradioweb. I hope to catch soon your call on 40 meters, but in your specific case something whisper to my mind that phone is *far* better than CW
Thank you all readers, vy 73 de Cristiano IZ0IEN !
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