Why Ham Radio?

I got my Technician class back in August 2004.  My uncle had his tech class and told me I should get it.  He wasn't much of an elmer, and I really didn't understand what the hobby was.  Nonetheless, I took his advice blindly and bought a study guide at my local Rat Shack (Radio Shack) and tried that summer.  Yeah, I didn't get very far. 
Fast-forward 13 years later, and I was sitting on the bench at my consulting firm.  "Sitting on the bench" means you're between projects and waiting for your next assignment.  Given that this was during the 2001 recession, there were a lot of folks on the bench, and whereas typically one's on the bench for a week or two, one or two months was not uncommon at this time (Three months and you're probably one or two days away from getting let go.).


I still didn't know what Ham Radio was but given the free-time, I started reading up on it and found a free study guide to pass my Technician class.  I spent about 4 weeks and took the exam.  I was pretty stoked.  I woke up early in the morning to make the 2.5 hour drive to Wilkes Barre, PA.  I took the exam and passed.  To celebrate, I drove from Wilkes Barre to Newcastle, DE to the nearest HRO dealer.  Not only was it the nearest, it was the cheapest, since Delaware doesn't charge sales tax.  As a treat for passing, I purchased a Yaesu VX-5R, and I was on the air with the local repeaters.

No Contacts To This Date...
So to this date, I've never made a single contact.  Back when I purchased the Yaesu HT, I was scanning a lot of the frequencies and listening in on the repeaters.  I quickly became aware that I wasn't really interested in talking on the repeaters.  Local Rag Chewing just didn't appeal to me.  That's when I realized I needed to get my General ticket to try HF.  Six years later, and I finally got my General.

Why Still Interested?
I'm a tinkerer by nature.  I love to fix, build and dabble with things.  From my teen years building and customizing paintball guns to building golf clubs during my freetime, I like to do things myself.  Ham Radio is a tinkerer's playground.  From antennas, transceivers, and radio accessories to stinkin' coax cables, you can building virtually anything.

I'm also burnt out from my other hobby, photography.  I've been doing photography, since college when I was a staff photographer for my campus.  Lately, I've not had the drive to pick-up a camera or even check any of the photography forums.  Sad, too, since I just acquired a new camera.  For instance, I came back from an overseas wedding a few weeks back, and I took less than 10 pictures.  I just didn't care.

So, I guess I'll try Ham Radio for a bit.  I figure by having a blog, maybe I'm putting more skin into this hobby.

Now that I've got my General, my first goal is to get equipment.  I haven't had any radio equipment since 2006.  I've just acquired a Yaesu FT-857d, an MFJ-941e, and a power supply.  Now I'll need to build an antenna; hopefully be on the air and make my very first contact.  73 de KB3LLE