a rare time I actually use my amateur radio license

[katster]

So, one of those little known facts about me is that I hold one of those amateur radio license thingies. I rarely use the things, but occasionally, it comes in handy.

You see, I’m sitting at home not just to clean my room, but to also be the emergency contact between my sister’s Brownie troop and the various Brownie parents. Of course, Little Grass Valley is way the heck up in the woods, where the wonders of modern communications devices fail to work.

But a good old fashioned amateur radio and two folks with licenses (that would be my dad and me) and we have a secondary channel of communication that doesn’t involve somebody driving into La Porte, which is about the edge of cellphone signal land.

Of course, I don’t plan to have the thing on all the time — there’s only so much battery power, after all. But it’s still kinda nifty.

[No, I'm not procrastinating; I'm out here because I just finished the 1 PM call.]

Originally published at retstak.org. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

That's pretty darn neat...and battery life can always be supplemented by solar or hand-cranked...

[katmoonshaker.livejournal.com]

I can still remember my late father's call sign from... oh... when I was 9? W4WXH

[katmoonshaker.livejournal.com]

And this is a seriously cool way to keep track of a camping troop!!

[jaeai.livejournal.com]

Pete Joyce, my father: K5VKV (Passed away in 1996)
Ronnie Joyce, my eldest brother KG5MD (still broadcasting)

[katmoonshaker.livejournal.com]

Cool. What amazes me is that I can remember my late father's call sign and I haven't heard it since 1970. I remember the white station wagon we had then with the huge whip antenna and the mobile ham radio in it with his custom plates bearing his call sign on them. Before he died he was the emergency coordinator for his county. I just wish his mother (Gran Alice Bitch Queen of the Universe) hadn't stolen all of his equipment... I was planning on donating it. grrrrrrr