Time to get serious!
That’s right folks… there’s no more screwing around. Yesterday, March 1st, was the first day I have been “unemployed” in 25 years! Some of our friends like to use the word retired instead of unemployed, but the result is the same. It’s kind of a scary situation but of course, it was inevitable, and necessary. Rebecca will be continuing to work at our old gym, helping with the transition to the new ownership, until the end of April. I, on the other hand, will be… hmmm, what will I be doing?
If Katana was back in the water, or even if it was a bit warmer, there are a number of upgrades that I could be working on. We’ll see how the weather cooperates on that front. It is supposed to be warmer and sunny later in the week!
In the meantime, one of the projects that I have committed to is finally acquiring that HAM radio license. I have had the study resources for a long time but have procrastinated on studying. I wonder why though? I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone who simply wants to use a radio like this, as opposed to building one, would need to know all this stuff. There are areas of the material to be studied which are just plain old memorization (why not just have a little list beside the radio?) and there is also some serious electrical and electronics theory. I went to college to study this stuff so it’s not way over my head. Had I not though I think it would be crazy!
Ham Abuse is making me memorize all this stuff!
Speaking of electronics, the guys from Bebi Electronics in Fiji contacted me last night to say that the lights, which they told me wouldn’t ship until near the end of this month, left there yesterday! Contrast this with the Garmin chartplotter that I ordered from a supplier not 3 hours away from me here in Canada. They charged my credit card for 100% of the purchase price and now 3 weeks after ordering it they still haven’t even shipped it yet! WTF? Do these guys need to go to Fiji or Australia to learn about customer service? Or perhaps I should start posting the names of the companies that give crappy service instead of just the good ones?
I’d post their names. Why not? Word of mouth is powerful and it’s time people in the service industries remembered that.
As for the ham radio license… I am with you on that. I have never understood why one even needs a license, let alone have to learn all of that to get it.
Before I post their names publicly I’d like to give them the chance to actually do the right thing and GET ME THE PRODUCT!
By the way, EVERY company that has shipped me something recently and included a tracking number in their confirmation email should know that their tracking numbers DO NOT WORK!
Now, off to memorize a bunch of mindless stuff in the my quest for the elusive HAM radio license!!!
I hear ya about the being unemployed part being a bit scary. I’m two months away from being voluntarily “under employed”,when we relocate. I crunch the numbers a million times,but it’s still scary jumping off the edge! It would be easier if I could stay busy with the boat,but for now,I just accumulate stuff!
So far all deliveries have been faster than I ever expected like your friends at Bebi.
If the GPS guys gave you a killer deal and you can wait-great. Otherwise,if they don’t have a good answer,I would be calling the Credit card co to yank the purchase and put it in dispute-that will get their attention!
Happy retirement!
I agree about the HAM stuff. About 1/4 to 1/5 of what I’m memorizing will help me use our radio and I didn’t have it in college. I studied a bunch two weeks ago and will be back at it this week.
I have spent at least 3-4 hours today and a few hours yesterday. Saying that 1/5 of this will be relevant I think is being very generous! This seems like some silly initiation to join their secret club! Grrrr!
What happens if you use a ham radio without a license. Do they send the ‘ham police’ after you? Out on the open sea or way down in the Caribbean? Really?
I’d risk it.
I don’t know about the ham police but I can virtually guarantee that Rebecca is not going to want to spend the time to do the license thing, and she is much better on the radio than I am.
Don’t forget it is legal for a nonHAM to operate a HAM radio on HAM stations “while being monitored” by a licenced HAM 🙂
I definitely did NOT forget that. Thanks:)
Well, back in the dark ages when I got my license, there was a lot more to learn, and faster c ode speeds. For an extra ticket you had to copy 20wpm code. I had my advanced license, but never upgraded to extra. I had the technical part down, but never made it past that 20wpm mark! But I really enjoyed building radios, especially really tiny, low power ones. Iit was a challenge to see who could build the smallest functional radio transciever. And the first time I talked to someone in a spaceship, it was so exciting I forgot to log it! Tells you how long ago tha was!
LOL. The only code test now is for 5 wpm and that is optional. For people building radios all this stuff makes sense. In my opinion there should be a “operators” license or something similar that is not quite so intense. Computers are fairly complex things too and we don’t make people learn how to build them, or even how they work, before we let them use one!