Power Line Named Blog of the Year, and Ham Radio is an embarrassing hobby.

Time.com ^

[entreri]

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.

[struggle]

I loved getting QSL cards from pirate radio stations in the 90's. Hope Radio, RFM, Voice of Layrngitis, etc., it was always a surprise to have my Grundig signed on to 715.15, and while doing homework, hear a mysterious, illegal voice spring out of the static wilderness.

"This is Hope Radio."

[ProudVet77]

Do they still have the 5WPM code requirement?

[Bigh4u2]

Me too.

Nothing to be embarassed about.

As a matter of fact I'm PROUD to be a HAM!!

Kb2zlz

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I take exception to that as well. I've been involved with radio for many years and will be taking the test soon. Better people in Ham than most hobbies.

[Bigh4u2]

You forgot about AMSAT and SSTV long before the networks decided to launch the first TELSAT into space.

[shellshocked]

"LICENCEC"

Man, that's a series missspelling.

[reagan_fanatic]

What the hell is so embarassing about Ham Radio?

I've been one for 15 years, and I can think of few other hobbies that perform as critical a service as we do.

Geez...

[Blue_Spark]

Sheesh, this "hobby" has been useful to me over the years. On the air since Sept. '63. Yes, TIME is in the rack next to WEEKLY WORLD NEWS!

[_Jim]

Oh, I almost forgot - currently listening 28.400 USB and the band is open ...

[lonevoice]

a faintly embarrassing hobby on the order of ham radio and stamp collecting

Check this out ping

[Moose4]

Yet another reason why Time Magazine sucks.

Just donated my old Yaesu FT-101E to the local club here before I move next week, in fact. They get a servicable near-indestructible boat-anchor radio, and I don't have to lug it up to Virginia...seems like a fair trade. :)

73 de KS4RY (ham since 1992)

}:-)4

[petro45acp]

"You forgot about AMSAT and SSTV long before the networks decided to launch the first TELSAT into space. "

I certainly did! Embarassing hobby indeed!

Stoooooopid times!

Top sends

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

Northeast liberal elistists at Time Magazine strike again.

They just don't understand why their subsciptions are falling.

[TLOne]

I'm a No-code tech who has lots of respect for those generals and extras.

The hobby is embarrassing because, many of the participants are accomplished in technical fields, tend to be somewhat conservative politically, and it requires some intelligence.

KD5AIU

[headsonpikes]

For that matter, there's nothing wrong with stamp-collecting, either!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I had a SSB CB in my Minnesota car about 15 years ago. I regularly chated with a guy in Toronto on my way to work. It worked especially well on cloudy days.

[zx2dragon]

A hurricane ripped through the northern part of NC and worked itself upwards. My best friend is a ham and she and many other hams went to local shelters to set up emergency communications. Electricity went out, land lines were down, and cellphones were useless. Good thing there were a lot of people around here with such a "shameful hobby."

[KoRn]

Out of curiosity. Why use a HAM radio in this day and time, when all the HAM users can simply start an IRC channel or something? Or use FR lol.

[RightWhale]

I am a licensed amateur, and I don't collect stamps, anymore.

[A knight without armor]

Really?! I am also a Ham wannabe but I have not even got to the license phase yet. I don't know what to do..I am surrounded by these nay sayers that say, "You don't dare have a ham radio because it will interfere with all your neighbors' TVs." And the one I love, "Why don't you just use a cell phone?" I live in a condo situation and I don't want a mutiny or anything.