Based on the listed bios of most radio amateurs, chewing the rag is a favorite pastime. Or at least the desire for a good “rag-chew” session is a consistent hope. It’s nearly impossible to pin down exactly what that means as the actual definition is pretty fuzzy. I’ve listened to both ends of a CW QSO that included the exchange of names, signal reports, locations, equipment and antennas, followed by profuse 73s that was later referred to as “a great rag chew”. Perhaps that was based on QSO duration given that some CW QSOs with precious little information exchanged can take upwards of thirty minutes or more?

When I think about a good rag-chew session it’s almost always a phone contact where I sit down at the radio without a specific purpose. I’m not chasing anything. A casual CQ sometimes results in a contact with someone who is an interesting conversation partner. No DX, no contest, no nets, no special events, just casual chatter.

I’ve often recounted the best conversation I ever had was a long 20 meter chat with a retired NASA engineer who was living alone with his parrot on a fifty-acre “ranchette”, as he called it, somewhere far from civilization in New Mexico. I could have gone on for hours with this old timer, our QSO eventually ended only due to the band fading into the night. I looked for that guy many times after but never worked him again.

There are simply some who are better at conversation than others. Any ham can bore you into a coma with the excruciating minutia of their station equipment and antennas. Yet others can spin those details in a manner that is actually interesting. We should never take for granted the elusive art of conversation as a skill worth honing. Some hams spend years, decades even, practicing CW, yet mastery of that skill doesn’t equate to popularity at a cocktail party. A little work mastering the art and skill of good conversation could go a long way towards making ham radio a lot more interesting for everyone.

Consider it a recruiting tool.

No one cares about your politics, even if they are part of your tribe and agree with you about everything, it still doesn’t make for a good rag chew. On the other hand, I always enjoy hearing theories about the JFK assassination, Bigfoot, UFO’s you’ve seen, and assorted tales of the paranormal. Who would ever get bored listening to a good ghost story? I like to learn about different places and would be interested in hearing something unique about your home town. Or the story of how you built your own house or rebuilt that ‘59 Chevy. What was the last movie you saw at the theatre? Last concert you attended? What pipe tobacco do you prefer?

The list goes on, but do make a list!

Ham radio QSOs don’t HAVE to be all about ham radio. I want to live in a world where hanging out in my ham shack and chatting late into the night is more interesting than watching yet another NCIS re-run on the boob tube.