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Retirement and Ham Radio
11 January 2016 | by Last Monday, January 4th, 2016 marked my last official day as an employee. I am now retired. I made the decision a year ago, so I've had some time to get ready for the transition. I had a very demanding job and life was a very tight schedule. Now I get to decide when I get up in the morning.
Basically my last day in the office was mid-December, so I've had a nice taste of freedom from employment already. My schedule, or lack thereof, is starting to gel although I'm sure I will go through numerous "phases", I think the pattern is set. So below are few things that I've already experienced on how retirement will effect my ham radio pursuits.
Contacts can actually last longer than 10 seconds Cleaned out my shack Build the kits I've purchased Consider more expeditions
Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].Basically my last day in the office was mid-December, so I've had a nice taste of freedom from employment already. My schedule, or lack thereof, is starting to gel although I'm sure I will go through numerous "phases", I think the pattern is set. So below are few things that I've already experienced on how retirement will effect my ham radio pursuits.
- I've had time actually read the owner's manual for my radios.
- I've learned to set-up and use the frequency/band memory functions available on the K3
- I now understand more of the menu options for the radio
- I can now operate my HT.
- I'm reading books about antennas
- I love CW and have found that rag-chewing is a very enjoyable aspect of ham radio. I have met some very interesting people and I've started to make a lot of new friends since I've taken time to just call CQ and not append DX to it
- I joined the local 2 meter weak signal group and I actually check in to their weekly net.. When I'm home I monitor 144.200 on SSB/CW. VHF/UHF can provide a lot of excitement for a DX minded ham. The DX isn't as far, but it's just as satisfying.
- I've acquired a lot of new equipment over the years, but I haven't gotten rid of much. There are many avenues to sell gear, EBay, QRZ.com, eHam, etc.... Now that I'm retired I will have a more modest ham radio budget and getting rid of the old stuff provides a little cash for even more toys.
- I haven't finished this yet, but I've started
- I love SOTA and can now plan extended SOTA activation trips with no time lines.
- I've activated 10+ IOTA islands and can now consider planning more trips.
What I have come to learn is that Monday is just as good a day as Saturday and weekend crowds are to be avoided. There are no crowds on Tuesdays.
I'm sure I'll write more as I get settled into this new lifestyle.
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