Hobo Hams
I had a notion a few years ago to found a new club inside the hobby. I planned to call it ‘Hobo Hams’ and use it as a means of focusing attention on frugal, dollar-stretching methods for enjoying amateur radio. It was a bit of social protest prompted by the announcement of several new commercial HF rigs with list prices that were more than I paid for my first house…
I figured a mailing list, periodical newsletter, a Web site, and some sweat equity would be the sum total investment for a very loose-knit, no rules organization that might be useful and fun. And why not – there are all sorts of facets in amateur radio, and what could be more true to our genesis than a group sharing ideas for expanding our enjoyment of the hobby without putting the family budget into hoc in the process?
I never followed through with that idea, but it might be back in play now that we all seem to be headed down the road to poverty together.
I tend to look at ham radio (and, in fact, most of my entertainment dollars) with a sort of cost/benefit analysis. How much does doing something cost, how entertaining is it, and how long does that pleasurable sense last?
Cheap things don’t need to be that entertaining. More expensive things are expected to last a bit longer. Really expensive items need to have lasting value.
My blog is cheap to run. It’s about $7 a month, and I find it pretty entertaining. My computer is a $1000 laptop, which probably has a lifetime of a couple of years, but I use it every day for at least an hour, which puts it in the “cheap entertainment” realm (It’s actually less expensive than the internet connection that feeds it). I have built a $29 Tentec direct conversion radio kit. That provided five hours of entertainment building it, and a few more using it (although I must admit, I mostly use my FT-817 even on 40m).
The joy of doing anything on the cheap is that it really makes you focus on what you find entertaining.
I like building stuff. Learning stuff. Understanding stuff. Sure, I’d like a new IC-756 Pro, but spending that much money on something sort of creates an environment where you feel like you have to use it. That creates a cycle of expenditure that continues, and really doesn’t necessarily provide your best entertainment buy.
In anticipation of the increasing solar cycle, I’m pondering building a 100mw or so 10m qrpp beacon. I figure it’ll be about $25. That’ll be fun, and should keep me occupied for hours. I’ve also begun to figure out how I might power the thing with a solar panel for added goodness. When it’s done, I’ll understand every bit of it. That appeals to me.
The best website I know for “poverty ham radio” is this one:
http://www.qsl.net/wb5ude/kc6wdk/
Can’t get much more rudimentary than that.
Mark VandeWettering
24 Sep 08 at 11:50 am
There are performance/value evaluation structures ranging from the idea “Appropriate Technology” dating from the original Whole Earth Catalogue and Whole Earth Review/Co-Evolution Quarterly to the Persig idea of “Quality.”
Often time there are axis of Utility, Novelty, Robustness and more measures we usually don’t quantify very well when evaluating whether something is a “good value.”
We shouldn’t forget Hobo’s did have their darkside - shabby personal habits were often reflective of vices, untreated mental illness and criminal pursuits. Hopefully “Hobo Hams” would drop those parts of the Hobo theme!
Back to Quality, you have well pointed out that a Quality Experience has no direct correlation with money spent.
However the premise that spending some money on gear abrogates Quality is likewise an inaccurate selective correlation. Its a weak argument I was told was called the “Fallacy of the Consequent” when I would try it on debating.
Labels aside I don’t think we can generalize that money spent has a one-for-one correlation, either positively or negatively with enjoyment of the hobby.
And we’re all too different for much of a generalization to work.
As always, 73
Steve
K9ZW
http://k9zw.wordpress.com/
Steve K9ZW
26 Sep 08 at 11:39 am