{"id":109,"date":"2015-08-28T22:54:48","date_gmt":"2015-08-29T01:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/va1der.ca\/?p=109"},"modified":"2016-07-30T22:45:28","modified_gmt":"2016-07-31T01:45:28","slug":"sex-appeal-nerdvana-and-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/va1der.ca\/index.php\/2015\/08\/28\/sex-appeal-nerdvana-and-operations\/","title":{"rendered":"iPhone vs Ham Radio: The Battle for Nerdvana"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"iPhone<\/a>

iPHone vs Ham Radio: Let Mortal Kombat Begin!<\/p><\/div>\n

A few years ago another blog writer wrote<\/a> that “ham radio will never have the sex appeal of the iPhone”.\u00a0 The writer was using that statement as a base to opine that despite this (airquotes) fact (end airquotes) there are more new ham radio operators now than ever before.\u00a0 It’s true, there are more new ham radio operators now than ever.\u00a0 However, I don’t accept the premise that it’s in spite of anything.\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t think\u00a0the\u00a0resurgence in amateur radio is despite<\/em> its lack of sex appeal.\u00a0 It’s because<\/em> of it’s sex appeal.\u00a0 If you are a ham radio operator, and you run into someone who thinks that an iPhone is sexier, then don’t be shy, call the guy out and challenge him to a sex appeal contest between your rig and his little toy.<\/p>\n

Seriously.\u00a0 You tell your friend you’re going to put your nerdy forty-year-old amateur radio gear up against his sleek iPhone in a raw sex appeal contest, and that his own little hipster minions can be the judges.\u00a0 And then when they finish guffawing, the encounter goes something like this:<\/p>\n

\"Call<\/a>

Call me!<\/p><\/div>\n

“Take your phone out”, you say, patiently waiting for him to stop posturing.<\/p>\n

When he finally does you say, “Ok, now call the International Space Station”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

Oh.<\/p>\n

That right there,\u00a0that’s sex appeal baby.\u00a0 By any definition.<\/p>\n

So now your frienemy has put away his phone with a roll of his eyes and his little hipster minions are all saying nothing but looking at him with a look that says “that’s nerdy as hell but he’s actually got something there”. So now you say “Ok, ok, that wasn’t really fair.\u00a0 Let’s try this again.\u00a0 Take out your phone again.\u00a0 No… really.”
\nNow, he may or may not do it again, but regardless, you say\u00a0“Let’s see who of us can be the first to talk to someone in Japan.”
\nThen you wait for the clue train to hit him… if he thinks about it (or if one of his sharper minions points it out to him)\u00a0 he’ll think he can actually win this one.\u00a0 So when S-M-R-Ty pants starts doing a google search for\u00a0the phone number to a taxi company in Tokyo, that’s\u00a0 when you say…
\n“Oh…ummmm….but do it directly, no infrastructure.”
\nHe’ll probably\u00a0look at you quizically.
\n“You know,\u00a0 like, without using a cell tower, and thousands of kilometers of\u00a0land line, no undersea transoceanic cables or satellite uplinks to help you… talk to someone in Japan\u00a0directly.\u00a0 You know, your phone transmitting right to his phone.”<\/p>\n

Oh.<\/p>\n

Ya.<\/p>\n

Splash one metrosexual granola iPhone-wielding hipster wannabe.<\/p>\n

\"Ham<\/a>

Ham Radio – Game, Set, Match!<\/p><\/div>\n

Ok, so maybe that’s not sexy at all.\u00a0 Maybe that one is just incredibly<\/em> nerdy.\u00a0 Or maybe it really is sexy after all, because\u00a0you know, I had someone inform me that nerdy is the new sexy.<\/p>\n

This all formulated in my brain as I\u00a0was\u00a0working on getting my different ham radio projects organized and documented.\u00a0 It was taking too long getting up on the air with my station.\u00a0 I had been floundering due to lack of time and an overabundance of “life happens” and decided to apply real project management principles to help focus my efforts.\u00a0 In a eureka moment I decided to divide up the tasks into a project hierarchy and from the top down gave them all mission statements.\u00a0 Reading back over it my top level “this is what I want to accomplish as a ham radio operator” project mission statement a while after I wrote it, I had realized that\u00a0 it was a little nerdly (nerdish?\u00a0 nerdific?).\u00a0\u00a0Ok, it’s a lot nerdly.\u00a0 So that you don’t have to scroll around looking for it, here it is, my amateur radio mission:<\/p>\n

Explore the science and<\/em> technology of radio and communications with special regard to those technologies offering the widest range and scope of communications with the lowest requirement for intermediate infrustructure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I was pretty proud of myself <\/a>when I came up with that little gem.\u00a0 And if tied down I’d have to admit I actually still am.\u00a0 It’s\u00a0compact.\u00a0 Concise.\u00a0 It perfectly describes\u00a0the kind of technolgies that interest me and even speaks toward why.\u00a0 But as I was\u00a0writing up\u00a0documentation for\u00a0my\u00a0HF sub-project, I realized my overall mission statement was\u00a0missing something.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Something rather big.\u00a0 I realized my amateur radio basic mission statement, the fundamental statement of purpose for my future amateur radio career, is basically a\u00a0complete dedication to technology for technology’s sake.\u00a0 A total Nerdvana.<\/p>\n

Not that there’s anything wrong with that (ha ha).\u00a0 \u00a0 If that’s really what\u00a0someone wants for a hobby, that’s great.\u00a0 There are many amateur radio operators that I’m sure would look at that mission statement and nod and say “yes, that’s what I’m in ham radio for”.\u00a0 But I’m not really that person.\u00a0 I left\u00a0my project management career behind for a reason.\u00a0 And that reason is… I’m a Pinnochio Nerd.\u00a0 That’s right.\u00a0 I’m not a real boy.\u00a0 Sure, I feel the call of the nerd – I feel the allure of technology, and I understand those that love it for its own sake, but I always get excited about what I can do<\/em> with it, not with having it.\u00a0 In the military\u00a0it’s called it operations, versus support.\u00a0 When I joined, I had no interest in the technical side of things.\u00a0 I wanted to do<\/em>, not play with the toys that other people did things with.\u00a0 Sure it’s easy to be blinded by the sheer sex appeal of\u00a0 having<\/em> tech that can talk to the international space station blinded me to the operational side of things when I wrote my mission statement, it’s the what I can do with it that excites me.\u00a0 Talk to people all over the world.\u00a0 Learn what’s going on internationally from the people it’s going on to.<\/p>\n

So… here’s what I’m thinking.\u00a0 I love what I have now.\u00a0 I think I want to just add to it a little:<\/p>\n

Explore the science and technology of radio and communications with special regard to those technologies offering the widest range and scope of communications with the lowest requirement for intermediate infrastructure with the intention to use this technology to:<\/p>\n