{"id":11412,"date":"2018-04-06T22:06:50","date_gmt":"2018-04-07T02:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gars.org\/gars\/?p=11412"},"modified":"2018-04-06T22:08:00","modified_gmt":"2018-04-07T02:08:00","slug":"beginners-corner-april-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gars.org\/gars\/beginners-corner-april-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Beginner&#8217;s Corner April 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Ragchewing and a Breath of Fresh Air<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; Ragchewing is the art of amateur radio conversation. It is more than just a quick contact (QSO) on the air and wishing someone \u201c73\u201d (best regards).&nbsp; It is the art of having a lengthy conversation with either a friend or a stranger who happens to be on the air the same time as you are.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; Ragchewing can take place on any amateur band, and can be done by a voice contact, or it can be done digitally.&nbsp; Some of my most memorable moments spend on the air have been ragchewing conversations. I recall talking on the 20-meter band with a station in Texas one summer evening.&nbsp; We chatted for twenty to thirty minutes until the band closed.&nbsp; I do not recall what we discussed, but I still have warm feelings when I remember talking to him.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; Several other times I have been on one of the Atlanta area repeaters and have had nice long conversations with local area hams.&nbsp; Sometimes we talked about radio, and sometimes we talked about other subjects, but each time creates a special memory for me.&nbsp; Amateur radio is the original social network and is the best place to make new friends with whom you share a common interest.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; This column is about ragchewing and a breath of fresh air.&nbsp; What do these things have in common?&nbsp; Well, the weather is getting warmer and the pollen levels will decrease.&nbsp; That makes it a perfect time to go to a park or somewhere similar, bring your handy talkie (HT) or other radio and get on the air.&nbsp; This can be done day or night, depending on your schedule.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; I can go to the park by myself if I have to.&nbsp; I have a portable external antenna that I can throw up into a tree and work the local repeaters or get on a simplex channel.&nbsp; It is even better, however, to go to a park with a friend or spouse.&nbsp; My wife (XYL) is a licensed amateur radio operator, too.&nbsp; She is artistically, not technically minded, yet she loves to talk on the radio, especially with me.&nbsp; We both take radios to local parks, find a vacant spot on the dial and ragchew. We have sat on opposite sides of several parks and talked to each other for up to 45 minutes.&nbsp; It is a lot of fun.&nbsp; It gives my wife a chance to get on the air and learn proper operating procedures like identifying call signs every ten minutes and at the end of a QSO. We have been at several parks and gotten on several repeaters as well as simplex frequencies.&nbsp; We have tried to visit different parks in Gwinnett County.&nbsp; We have even thought of having a \u201cWorked all Gwinnett County Parks Award.\u201d&nbsp; One time we were on 442.100 and someone who was monitoring the repeater joined us.&nbsp; This was great!&nbsp; We enjoyed adding him to our conversation.&nbsp; It became a roundtable discussion.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; In 2016, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsored a \u201cNational Parks on the Air\u201d (NPOTA) event that celebrated the 100<sup>th<\/sup> year of our National Park System.&nbsp; It was an overwhelming success.&nbsp; Yes, it was done on the HF bands, but if there was a control operator around, Technician Class operators and even non-hams could participate.&nbsp; I was fortunate to be able to attend two events with GARS and had a great time.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; NPOTA sparked a great interest in activating parks. Now there is a \u201cParks on the Air\u201d (POTA) program, <a href=\"https:\/\/parksontheair.com\/\">https:\/\/parksontheair.com\/<\/a>.&nbsp;&nbsp; As far as I know contacts do not have to be on HF.&nbsp; VHF, UHF, or higher frequencies should be perfectly acceptable.&nbsp; Check out the web site.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; Back to the fresh air.&nbsp; Sometimes we amateur radio operators limit our activities to our \u201cshack\u201d (radio room or operating area) or to our vehicles.&nbsp; Why not take your radio outdoors and make contacts while getting some fresh air?&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>73 de KJ4CMY<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ragchewing and a Breath of Fresh Air &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Ragchewing is the art of amateur radio conversation. It is more than just a quick contact (QSO) on the air and wishing someone \u201c73\u201d (best regards).&nbsp; It is the art of having a lengthy conversation with either a friend or a stranger who happens to be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[17,18],"class_list":["post-11412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beginners-corner","tag-beginners-corner","tag-newbie"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Beginner&#039;s Corner April 2018 - Gwinnett Amateur Radio Society<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gars.org\/gars\/beginners-corner-april-2018\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beginner&#039;s Corner April 2018 - Gwinnett Amateur Radio Society\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ragchewing and a Breath of Fresh Air &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Ragchewing is the art of amateur radio conversation. 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