That story on Adam Curry's blog was not written by Curry himself, but by a Richard Dougherty (NS0S) of Kansas City. The Reddit story it linked to was deleted, so take this all with a grain of salt.
That said, it doesn't surprise me in the least. There are a lot of wannabe-cop wannabe-military whackers in the amateur radio community, unfortunately.
Its one of the things that has kept me away from amateur radion. I'm interested in decentralized/emergency communications and have a good understanding of RF, I've even picked up a couple of Baofeng handheld units to listen in on things and get more familiar with that part of the spectrum but the other people involved in the hobby aren't exactly the kind of folks I want to hang around enough to learn from.
I'm a ham and I agree with you but you're missing the fact that the people you may hear locally aren't indicative of the broader hobby. Yes there are a lot of grumpy old elitists chatting up the airwaves every day, but there are also people who rarely if ever talk but still do things with the hobby (like myself). There are so many sub-genres in the hobby that someone can always find something they enjoy.
If anything we need more people like you to get involved so we can have more diversity of thought.
I rarely talk on mine, and the folks who are really into it aren't generally the type i'd want to hang with, but i want to be of service to my community in an emergency, and i want to be able to communicate with others in an emergency for purely selfish reasons.
also, it's kinda cool to be in a strange area, start talking, and find locals who can point you to a good place to eat, or spend the night, or whatever. ;)
Indeed. If you're athletic or want to get there, I highly recommend checking out Summits On The Air (SOTA). It's all about climbing mountains with backpack- or goat-portable ham gear and building clever but lightweight antennas on the summit for hasty conversations. It's a blast and the people are almost universally interesting and nice. The total opposite of the guy with the fake police car and yellow flashing light bar on the roof.
I like it for the electronics and hacking - like I said I've got an Amateur Extra class license and a 2x1 call sign, and I have literally NEVER keyed up - not even once.
Please note the channels you pick up on the Baofeng are VHF which are generally very close. As such the quality of the conversations will vary greatly from region to region.
Overall the HAM community is like any other in that it is varied and diverse. To truly enjoy HAM radio you will need to get a general license so you can get on 80,40, 15, and 10 meter bands. You will then get to find people all over the world, often times broadcasting from very remote or interesting places.
As a non-ham can you explain 7.255Mhz? I saw some youtube recordings of 7.255Mhz and it seemed like wacky people talking. What is the reason that frequency has a bad reputation?
> "WAR ZONE" of 7250 KHZ - 7260 KHZ primarially on the two frequencies of 7255 KHZ and 7258 KHZ with occasional excursions to 7253. Those excursions to 7253 force the inhabitents of 7255 to move up 1 KHZ to 7256 to avoid interference. Their 'buddies' purposely left on 7258 start "Cranking the Hate Machine" saying the resulting interference on 7258 KHZ is intentional. Of course the guys on 7253 have no intention of moving. And on and on it goes every day, every day, every day, every damn day.
> This stupid WAR has been raging since late 1968.
There are plenty of ugly people in any hobby, but getting your license and spending time on the air is the best way to hone your skills so that when the emergency happens, you'll be able to make a difference.
http://adam.curry.com/html/PleasecancelyourARRL-1508324966.h...
http://www.kb6nu.com/weighing-puerto-rico/
(FCC Amateur Extra class here)