By Dave Jensen, W7DGJ

I'm a positive, upbeat guy. Nothing bothers me more than a person who is constantly negative -- you know the type. Lots of complaints and continual grumbling of one kind or another. There's always someone or something getting them PO'd -- the government or a neighbor, even a spouse. Bump into that person at the grocery store and you know you'll hear about it again and again. 

And yet, despite the fact that I have always been the opposite guy, the other day I found myself realizing that as a ham I had turned into a complaining, griping son of a gun. Wow! I was doing everything that I hate, but it was somehow OK because the crowd I was with was doing the same thing. It was after this insight that I realized hams have, at their core, a negative streak a mile wide. Because mine isn't a serious sociological study, I have to define it more specifically . . . my thought is that it is the older hams who like to gripe. I haven't had a large enough sample of younger, newer hams to make comment on their tendencies here. (Young hams, jump into the forum below and comment!)

It's an International Phenomenon and Not Country-Centric

I'm writing this column today from my vacation on board a cruise ship headed from Seattle to Miami. Yes, that's an odd journey . . . it entails a long string of sea days as the ship travels down the West coast of the USA, down past Mexico and into Central America, crossing the Panama Canal and then up to Florida. Because my wife and I are on an Italian ship line, there are many different nationalities present . . . lots of Italians, Germans, Swedish, Brits and even quite an Asian contingent.

When traveling, I will often wear clothing that identifies me as a ham. (I'm sure your closet has more than one Amateur Radio T-shirt or jacket). This has led me to some interesting discussions with other hams, as there certainly are others present on a ship with 3,000 passengers. And over a beer or a coffee, I've had the chance to sit down and gripe with the best of them. 

These are some of the conversations I've had, without naming names or call signs. You may get the feeling (as I did) that we hams share a lot of the same "gripes" despite our geographical location on the planet. Radio is much the same from country to country, as are the amateurs who practice it.

Gripes about the Equipment

You've had it happen to you. You meet with a friend or a newly introduced operator and swap stories about what equipment you are using in your shack. Just be careful, because when that happens, it can get contentious quickly.

It was a Swede who introduced himself to me on the 2nd day of our trip, as he spotted my "I'm a Licensed Ham Radio Operator" T-Shirt in the buffet line. A big guy, taller than I am by several inches, he was clearly used to speaking his mind and not getting a lot of argument from the other party. He and his wife sat down with us over lunch and an ice-cold Arnold Palmer on a day when it was 100 degrees in the Los Angeles port.

I mentioned a radio that's been at the core of my station for more than a few years and he came back with nothing but negatives about the brand. The lousy reputation, the fact that he's had two units go back for repair and the length of time it took to get them back, the poor receive quality and more. It was an onslaught of negative energy directed to what is one of my favorite products and a radio that has put check marks on half of my DX list. So, in return, when he told me about his favorite brand, I regaled him with commentary about things I've heard in the field from dissatisfied users and the lousy signal reports I've had to share with the unfortunate owners of that brand. (I tried to use my QRZ credentials as a backstop against a guy with several inches and 75 pounds on me. I'll tell you right now that it did NOT have an effect.)

As good-natured arguments always do, it ended without further friction but with a shared gripe . . . both of us wishing the cruise line would allow QRP radios and antennas on balconies. I certainly would have brought mine, perhaps just a little WSPR unit and wire.

Gripes about the Operators

Two days later I was in the theater listening to the cruise director talk about a change in plans due to hurricanes in the area. (Just what I needed with a sea-sensitive wife . . . a great big storm to shake the ship up, down and sideways.) As we were walking out of the theater, I spotted a Costa Rican fellow whom I had seen earlier reading an issue of a British electronics magazine. I asked him if he was a ham and we started talking. Of course, the first thing that came up was that universal complaint that we weren't allowed to operate radios on the ship. Numerous "sea days" with nothing but a paperback book can get boring.

As the talk changed to operating, we moved on to discuss the lousy operators who hang around certain frequencies and argue, curse, and generally foul the airwaves. I joined right in, despite my desire to be positive. As we separated, pulled by our wives in separate directions, we were both griping about not enough frequencies to play on when a big radiosport activity is running. It must be those darn radio organizations that are manipulating the events to take away our freedom of the airwaves! Where can you put out a CQ when everybody and their brother is banging away in a contest! Gripe, gripe, gripe.

Gripes about the Organizations 

Each country has an organization that you must interact with if you are a licensed operator, and I'm not referring to the FCC in the case of the USA. You don't hear a lot of complaints about the Federal government side of amateur radio, but anyone watching the forums here or on other websites knows that the ARRL is a hotly disputed topic. Well, it turns out that in other countries, they tend to gripe about their organizations in much the same way. Most of those are associated with the IARU, as is the case with the South African Radio League (SARL).

A ham and I were talking about this. The SARL is a much smaller and more "club like" group but it has the same job as the ARRL in his country . . . licensing, band management and other very fertile gripe possibilities. Of course, when older hams get going, the topic of the digital modes and band management always turns into a gripe. In this fellow's case, he was radically opposed to the digital modes and to the idea of sitting in front of a computer screen with 10 or 20 second "QSO's" . . .

When the topic turned to ham radio clubs, I'm afraid that I jumped in as well, with my own sour commentary on how one local club hasn't changed from their "clique focused" mode over the last two decades. We swapped stories of two clubs, ten thousand miles apart, but with the exact same issues between them. It was our shared gripe that, unfortunately, ham radio clubs are apparently a dying social class.

In Conclusion

Is this bickering, complaining and griping phenomenon unique to ham radio? I'm sure that many of us have other hobbies as well and that we've experienced at least some of this in other groups, whether it's guns or classic autos. Maybe a group of stamp collectors can get together over a few beers and not find the conversation drifting off into complaints, but I'm afraid that we're stuck with it in the radio hobby.

Comments or questions? Please, jump into the forum discussion shown below. We'd love to have your input (your gripes as well).

73s for now,  Dave W7DGJ

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