Friday, December 31th 2004
Update by: Purple Zero

This was posted on the Hamsexy Forums already, but the submitter sent it to me as well, so I thought our non-forums readers might get a kick out of seeing it.



I'm guessing the word 'passenger' isn't in this dude's vocabulary. All in all, it's not a bad setup. All of the power bits are close at hand, and easy to get to. But man.. it's... well... big... I see a few Motorola Maxtracs, A Motorola GTX of unknown flavour, some sort of Kenwood rig, ham rig, a direction finder setup, an FRS/GMRS rig, and a whole mess of ID badges. Let's move topside, shall we...



A whole lot of antenna to be had. But, aside from that, my favourite is the POLICE safety vest in the front seat. Now, I'm no expert, but I'd be willing to wager that this dude ain't no cop. And unless I'm totally off the mark and that vest says "Vanilla Ice", I'm guessing he ain't supposed to have that. But hey, what do I know.

Thank you "Wanted to be anonymous" contributor. Any comments, submissions or whatever, can be sent to [email protected]



Wedernesdye, December 29th 2004
Update by: Clyde McPhail

A few more developments in the "Hams are embarassing" department.

Some Hamsexy members have been weighing in the debate on QRZ (wisel not mentioning Hamsexy, lest they get kicked off). One is even getting off-list hatemail for his comments, and shared some of it on the Hamsexy Forums:

You like to smell hams? Smell my rectum, I live not too far from you, so you could make it in 45 minutes. Without the VE system, you would still be that no code rubber ducky guy. See you on 7.070 when I start up a high speed cw net. Now go tune up your shitty fm station xmtr. Real men work at am stations, ass smeller.

Wow - way to spark an intelligent debate. Not all of the posts on QRZ are embarassing... there are a few intelligent, measured and worthy comments to wade through the dreck. Chip N1IR wrote:

Why do we so vehemently deny this perception? It is, unfortunately, a common perception among non-hams. It's going to take a heck of a lot more than an (unpublished) letter in TIME to reverse it.

We are a fragmented group, with too much self-indulgency and activism tarnishing the public service and enhancing technology aspects. Most people still see hams as Herman Munstster sitting behind a bunch of glow bugs with a Jacob's ladder buzzing away...

How are YOU using ham radio today to make wireless better? I'm working on a new HF antenna. Others are passing health and welfare messages to the WAVE calamity areas.

..and you're writing a huffy letter to TIME? Think about it...

That wins the award of the most intelligent post ever to come out of QRZ. Nice job, Chip... Honestly. W2ANZ also had a good comment:

Jeesh you guys have thin skins.  I've been a ham for 35 years, I love the hobby, and became an engineer because of my early involvement with ham radio.  

I will be the first to admit... ham radio is more than a little embarassing.  It is a geek hobby.  So what?

If anyone has any comments about this, feel free to write us at [email protected]. Have a good new years everyone!

Wednesday, December 29th 2004
Update by: Clyde McPhail

Wow - it doesn't take much for the hamsexy feathers to get flying.

In this week's Time magazine, the following capsule item appeared:

From this week's Time Magazine: Power Line Named Blog of the Year: TIME also names Power Line its Blog of the Year. “Before this year, blogs were a curiosity, a cult phenomenon, a faintly embarrassing hobby on the order of ham radio and stamp collecting. But in 2004, blogs unexpectedly vaulted into the pantheon of major media, alongside TV, radio and, yes, magazines, and it was Power Line, more than any other blog, that got them there,” writes TIME’s Lev Grossman.

This off-hand and somewhat innocuous comment has raised the ire of some of QRZ.COM's more hamsexy denziens. The orignator of the thread, KC7RAD, is now doubting the journalistic legitimaxy of the entire Time Magazine franchize because of the comment.

of course Ham Radio is an embarassing hobby - the reaction of some of the humps on QRZ is proof of that. Gene W5LE wrote the following letter to the editors of Time, further cementing the geeky embarasment that is Ham Radio:


I haven't a clue where Lev Grossman acquired enough stupidity to make such a ridiculous statement about ham radio and stamp collecting being "faintly embarrassing".  Who does this person think rises to the occasion when natural disasters take their toll, establishing emergency communications and such?  The ham radio operator...
I'll not labor the issue, I just want to say that, as a ham radio operator, and as a member of the human race, we've more reason to be "faintly embarrassed" by personages such as Lev Grossman than we do of Ham Radio Operators.

Gene Lewis
Mounds, OK

Wow- thanks Gene. Way to stick up for the hobby. Another:

"I'm sure I join members of the philatelic community, as well as those of us who are amateur radio operators, in finding myself somewhat insulted by having my avocation described as "faintly embarrassing."

The contributions made by amateur radio operators around the world in times of disaster are well known and recognized.

Now, hanging all your private thoughts out in a blog, for all to see on the Internet . . . that really is embarrassing.

I think an apology from Mr. Grossman would be in order.

Peter Carss VE3XEM
Ottawa Canada"

Mr. Grossman should retract his article from being "Slightly Embarassing" to "Totally Embarassing".Bill K2WH even threatened to CANCEL his SUBSCRIPTION if he doesn't get a retraction. Wow - I'm embarassed to think that my fellow hams have such a thin skin - no wonder Hams turn out to be such useless first responders. He further writes: "Yes sirree.  I'll not spend another $ 25.00 with them.  That will make them listen.  Yes siree." - Yeah, moron... Like you're the first person ever to cancel their subscrption bceause they disagreed wits something that was published. I'm sure that the entire AOL Time Warner empire will go bankrupt because some whiny ham moron cancelled a $25 subscription. What a fish to dangle... Get over yourself, asshole.

Probably the most embarassing letter was from Jake KC9CRM:

"Hello everyone, I sented a e-mail to the address showen and this is what it said:
Hello Sir, My name is Jake Saverynski, age 15 and i live in Buffalo City, WI and MY FCC ISSUED CALLSIGN IS KC9CRM. You are disrespeting 670,000 US amateurs and 3 million amateurs world wide. To name a few of the "embarrassing" amateurs are Chet Atkins W4CGP, Ronnie Milsap WB4KCG, Patty Loveless KD4WUJ, Joe Walsh WB6ACU, and Sen. Barry Goldwater K7UGA and for many others visit  http://users.tellurian.com/gjurrens/famous_hams.html. Sir please do not call amateur radio embarrassing because we provide communications when others can't, including when your cell phone goes down. If we are so "embarrassing" then why are amatuers helping to provide communications in Thailand (after the big storm) why aren't you down there with your cell phone? So again don't knock something that you don't know a thing about. Thank you for your time sir and please feel free to e-mail me back but if you don't I know why."

Yeah, thanks kid... go back to your magic cards and wondering why girls don't ask you to things. Keep up that ham radio thing - getting laid is WAY overrated anyway. And if you're 15 and using words like "sented", I think maybe you should put down the call book and perhaps study your English lessons. It's absolutely shameful that a child of 15 has such a poor grip on the English language he has to use words like "sented". Where are the parents? The fact he's referencing country music stars who are hams explains a hell of a lot, though.

Check out the thread ... it's full of comedic gold, and you aren't human if you don't blush at least twice. The ironic thing is that everyone who participated on the thread on QRZ just proved Mr. Grossman 100% right. Ham Radio *is* an embarassing hobby, and we have no one to blame but ourselves



Friday, December 28th 2004
Update by: VE3HBD

Disptach to unit 911... Armed robbery in progress... Steve's Surplus store corner People's Drive & 124th street...

Shit, they look like they came out of a timewarp that leads to this present day from the set of Hill Street Blues. What's with the terrible dollar store decal lettering? And look how those lightbars are dimpling the roof. Terrible, terrible stuff. It looks like "Fleet day" at the Redneck Police Department. Who the hell uses Dodge Diplomats anymore?

(Thanks to r0f/VE4UO for the submisison.)

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