Been trying to figure out why radio is appealing to me. The serotonin bump is nice, yeah, but there has to be more to it.
Ultimately, I can't help but feel that it's a different sort of challenge. No routers to contend with, not nearly as much software to futz with, just throw some metal in the air and go. Probably why QRP operations, particularly mobile, interests me too. Somehow, declaring "Maximum firepower!" Just feels like cheating to me.
Besides, it also circles back to electronics, another interest I'm pushing myself back to.
@laren The sense of magic of radio that I felt when I was 8 years old has never left me. Back then it was listening to shortwave from halfway around the world.
To sit at a picnic table in a park with a 5 watt QRP radio, battery, 30 foot fiberglass pole clamped to the table, and some wire, and communicate with someone 2,000 miles away using a similar setup just seems impossible. Even though I know all the physics of how the antenna works, how the waves behave, reflection from the ionosphere, etc., it still seems utterly impossible that five watts of energy, radiating in all directions, reflecting off the ionosphere and spread over millions of square miles can wiggle the electrons in the receiver's antenna enough to produce a signal that can pass information. It's seems insane to even think such a thing is possible. Yet, sitting at that picnic table I can see the entire mechanism that's doing it in one glance, and pack it all back into a little carry bag.
The sense of magic is very strong. Learning as I did over the past 60 years and being a retired EE doesn't detract from the magic, somehow.
30 years ago I was a big-gun contester. There's an art to that too. These days I run barefoot. On Sunday I had a nice chat over an 8,600 km path using 35 watts (10m band). My all-time record I did in the 70s was a 12,000 km QSO using 3 watts on the 15m band. And the signals at both ends were strong, S9 (!) What? That's ridiculous, right? No way that can be done. Haha.
@shuttersparks Once I become better at CW, a small transmitter like that is definitely on my wishlist. A kit that I can toss in my purse? Why, yes, yes please. 😁
@laren Easily. A complete setup would fit in many purses I've seen. 😂
@laren The tobacco puck contains a 9-volt battery and some electronics to clean up contact bounce and scratchiness of some Morse keys.
@laren Here's the radio. The TR-35 is a four-band CW transceiver that can fit in your pocket.